Page 75 of Miracles and Marriage
“That’s the last of the blood work. We’ll get the tests results and move right along,” Dr. Wright said. “I’ve got the OR scheduled for next Tuesday. I know it’s a hard decision, but the relief from the pain will be well worth it.”
Zoe nodded. She was afraid to speak for fear she’d start crying again. She’d cried more in the last week than any time before in her entire life.
Cal had tried to talk her into giving them a few more months. She’d been steadfast in refusing. Chloe even suggested another month or two might bring Cal around to caring for her.
Zoe didn’t believe anything would change. Cal almost broke her heart when he showed up in the middle of the night at the cottage. He’d been very persuasive, in an analytical, logical way. She should have appreciated it more than she had. Normally she loved analytical, logical presentations.
If he’d only said one word of something personal. Anything to give her a hint she meant more to him on a personal level and not some surrogate mother for his child. But he hadn’t. She couldn’t have expected him to do so. He’d been clear on the terms, as had she at the onset. It wasn’t his fault she’d fallen in love with him.
When she left the doctor’s office, she almost bumped into Cal.
He took her arm and walked her through the vast lobby of the high-rise building. Once outside, he started left.
“There’s a café down here. We can have a cup of coffee and talk.”
“Cal, we talked at the cottage. It’s all been said. How did you know I was here?”
“Emily found out for me. And I have not said all I need to say.”
She could barely keep up with his rapid pace.
“What’s the rush?” she asked, glad when he paused by a coffeehouse and held the door for her. Midafternoon wasn’t a crowded time. He placed their orders and they took a table near the front windows.
“I’m putting the house in Richmond up for sale,” he said.
“You are? Why? I thought you were going to fix it up and then rent it out.”
He took a sip of his coffee. If Zoe didn’t know better, she’d suspect he was stalling.
“Why?” she repeated.
He looked at her.
“The renovation was my way to do something together—you and me. I don’t fit into your world, but I want to. I haven’t had much family life ever. It was just me and my uncle. And over the last ten or twelve years, I’ve been building the business, neglecting my uncle and going along as if life would never change until I was ready.”
Zoe could relate to a degree. She had loads of family, and lots of interaction, but she’d focused her life on one area. And now it was too late to do much else but continue to focus on that one area.
“He was proud of you. More than one person mentioned that at the wake,” she said.
She studied Cal as he sat beside her. He looked lonely. Could it be? Her heart began to beat faster.
“I thought you were keeping the house,” she said softly.
“I said I thought it might bring you and me together.”
“We are together.”
“No, we’re not. We’re married—there’s a difference.”
Zoe nodded. She and Cal certainly didn’t have the loving relationship her sister and her husband shared. If they did, she’d reach out and take his hand, linking with him so he’d know he wasn’t alone.
But she kept her fists in her lap, lest she give way.
“So if we’re not going to do that together, maybe you’d like to buy a beach cottage.”
Zoe blinked at that. “What?”
“You love the one that’s in your family. Maybe you’d like to have one of your own, nearby, of course, so you could run back and forth when they’re all there. But one that you could go to anytime you wanted.”
