Page 12 of Perfect Imperfections

Boom. There it was. Done beating around the bush, her mother tried horribly to slide in the question of the good doctor’s relationship status into the conversation. Honestly, she had no idea if Sullivan—Dr. Green—had a wife. Charlotte had mentioned not having a mommy with sad little eyes that broke Ellie’s heart, but that didn’t mean the girl’s father wasn’t involved with anyone. How could he not be? Not only was the guy a doctor and genuinely sweet—if his treatment of his daughter was anything to go by—but he was also one of the most handsome men Ellie had ever seen. And Ellie knew hot guys. She worked at the zoo. She could create a whole Instagram page on the DILFs of Sunlight Zoo. But she didn’t need to…because Cam had.

“I don’t know if he has a wife, mom. They just called him, and he left with Charlotte. No one else came.”

“Oh really? That’s interesting.”

No, it wasn’t. Not unless you were a retired music teacher who watched way too many romantic comedies and was constantly trying to push your only daughter down the aisle despite her abysmal track record on dating. She loved her mother, but the woman saw romance everywhere. Their local grocery manager smiled at her. Start shopping for save the date cards. The cop who pulled her over gave her a warning instead of a ticket. Reserve the church now. A man on the train gave her his seat in a crowded car. Buy the white dress because wedding bells can’t be far behind!

It got exhausting trying to talk her mother down from her starry-eyed fantasies.

She just wants me to be happy.

Ellie sighed, rubbing at her chest, where guilt ached. The small meal of crackers soured in her stomach, like the smelly water still clinging to her clothes and skin. She felt so ungrateful for thoughts like that, but what her mother didn’t realize was that Ellie was happy. Mostly. She was working on it, but her and her mother’s visions of what happiness looked like were very different. Ellie didn’t need a man. Sure, it’d be nice, but it wasn’t necessary.

Maybe it was a generational thing.

Whatever the case, she knew her mother loved her and that was all that mattered. But it would be nice if the woman could at least pretend like her daughter was a whole person without the help of a man. The prodding for a husband and the pitter-patter of little feet had only gotten worse since her older brother recently separated from his wife of five years. At least when Oliver had been married, her mom had laid off her love life for a while. Now that his wife left him, and there was little chance of grandkids from that failed marriage, her mother had again set her sights on Ellie.

Yay.

“He’s a rather handsome man,” her mother mused at her continued silence, Beverly Clark always comfortable filling in empty spaces in conversations. “And the way he dotes on that child, well, the sign of a good man is through the love he shows his children.”

Couldn’t argue with her mother there.

“He seems like a wonderful father.” There, a nice generic statement. Her mother couldn’t read too much into that. Could she?

“Just how well did you two get to know each other after you saved his daughter’s life?”

Guess she could.

Ellie wouldn’t be surprised if her mother was planning her wedding to Dr. Green in her head as they spoke. The woman let her fantasies take her away far too often. Better to nip this thing in the bud before her mother ordered monogrammed his-and-her towels.

“We barely spoke more than a dozen words to each other, mom. But he was concerned and kind. He didn’t yell at Tammy or blame the zoo.”

“Well, of course not! It wasn’t the zoo’s fault. From what the lovely reporter lady told us, it was some hooligan bullies. Shame how cruel kids are to each other these days.”

True, but it wasn’t anything new. Kids had been mean to each other since the dawn of time. She knew that firsthand. Having an anxiety disorder for most of her life hadn’t led to being the most popular girl in school. Quite the opposite, in fact. Friends had been few and far between in Ellie’s life. Bullies? Sadly, those had been plentiful and painful.

“Their teacher said they’d receive proper punishment.” And she knew Sullivan would follow through to make sure of it. It’d been in the determined set of his hard jaw, the cool gaze of his emerald eyes. He would make sure the parties responsible for hurting his little girl would face the consequences. While she knew next to nothing about the man, she could see he was fair and loved his daughter. He’d fight for her.

A pang of longing pinched her chest. How she wished she had someone like that in her life. But no, she got stuck with a mother who was more concerned with marrying her off than facing her daughter's mental health struggles.

She needed to decompress and that would involve getting off the phone with her mother and into a hot shower to wash the smell and…weirdness of the day from her.

“Thanks for checking in on me, Mom, but I need to hop in the shower and get the smell of penguin off of me.”

“Oh yes, dear. Of course. I imagine you aren’t smelling too fresh after a dip in that bird water. It must be dreadfully uncomfortable. You were fidgety on the television.” Her mother’s voice lowered as if confessing some great secret. “I noticed you…tugging again, dear.”

Ah yes, the ear compulsion. When she felt nervous or overwhelmed—like during live TV interviews—she coped by tugging on her right earlobe. A small ritual that helped keep the anxiety from crushing her. Something her mother found extremely distasteful.

Ellie knew her mother hated that she wasn’t “normal.” Whatever the hell that meant. If only it was as simple as stopping those unseemly habits, as her mom liked to call them. She’d give anything to stop the rituals, the dark thoughts, the anxiety. But that wasn’t how it worked. There was no magic cure. Only hard work and acceptance. She was doing the best she could. It took her years with Dr. Mitchell to figure that out. Now if her mother could only see it, things would be aces.

“I gotta go, Mom. Love you.”

“Love you too, dear. And be sure to let me know if Sullivan stops by.”

Rolling her eyes—because she knew her mother couldn’t see over the phone and scold her for bad manners—she sighed. “Why on earth would Dr. Green come by my apartment?”

“Why to thank you for saving his daughter’s life. Perhaps he’ll take you out for a nice dinner and a movie.”

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