Page 47 of A Whirlwind of Color (The Light to My Darkness 2)

And my husband. So why didn’t I feel as guilty as he seemed to? “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“No deal. And I’m calling James.” He stood up from his chair.

“Melissa told me that once I made a pro-con list between choosing you and James. You won. Hands down. And I have no idea why I didn’t listen to my list. I love lists. I make them all the time. All I can guess is that I lost my freaking mind when I stopped being a teenager. Or James drugged me. Or…I don’t know. But I should have chosen you. This is where I want to live, not some stupid, loud, crowded, gross city. And you’re my type, not him. Never in my wildest dreams did anyone like James make an appearance. I swear there is nothing left for me in New York.”

“I think 20 year old you was smarter than you realize. And I’m positive that you never liked me all that much.”

“I disagree. I’m pretty sure that I did. I must have, I mean look at you. And I know you loved me once too. Tyler, I…”

“Tyler?” He started laughing. “Wow, this makes so much more sense now.” He shook his head. “My name is Brendan. We shared two kisses, years ago. And I promise, you never loved me. Not even a little bit. You couldn’t have turned me down any faster. Now come on. I’ll take you to the doctor and then I’ll call James.”

Brendan? Who the hell is Brendan?

***

I had confessed my deepest secrets to a man who lived in James’ old apartment building. A practical stranger who I kissed twice, apparently only to try to move on from James. And now the two of them were friends and he had zero feel

ings for me? Crap, crap, crap!

I tapped the back of my heels against the exam table. Coming here was a huge mistake. Trusting Brendan was an even bigger mistake. For all I knew, he was calling James right now. I had been tempted to insist that he come back here with me, but I doubted we were close enough for that. Not only was my escape going terribly wrong, but I was more curious than ever who Tyler was.

There was a knock on the door and a doctor came in. He was about my dad’s age.

“It’s nice to meet you, Gwendolyn Alabaster,” he stuck out his hand.

That was the one thing Brendan agreed to let me do. Give the doctor a fake name. I quickly shook his hand. “Thanks for seeing me on such short notice.”

“It was no issue at all. Now what can I help you with, Gwendolyn?”

“I had surgery a few weeks ago, and I can’t remember what for. I was hoping you could tell me.”

“You can’t remember? Was it minor surgery, or…”

“I’m not sure. I was blacked out.” Drinking seemed like a good excuse for this. I didn’t want him figuring out who I was and calling James or something. I was hoping there was still some way to prevent Brendan from calling him.

“I see.” He wrote something down in his notebook. “Do you often blackout after you’ve been drinking?”

“No, it was just a one-time thing. I was deeply depressed. But I woke up with these scars on my stomach.” I lifted up the bottom of my shirt.

He lowered the glasses that were on the top of his head and bent down to take a closer look. “That wasn’t minor surgery, Gwendolyn.”

“So you know what it was for?”

“The location of the sutures are consistent with a bilateral oophorectomy. But I can do a more thorough exam…”

“No, that’s okay. I don’t really have time.” I didn’t trust Brendan on his own out there in the waiting room. “What does it mean? Bilateral oopho…what was it again?”

“A bilateral oophorectomy.”

“Yeah. That.”

“Well, I can’t be certain that’s what it was. It’s highly uncommon with someone your age that doesn’t have any other health issues to need such a surgery. And you’ve said you’ve never been pregnant or have had any type of cancer?”

“No, I haven’t.”

He frowned. “Are you certain you’ve never been pregnant? The stretch marks on your stomach would usually indicate that you…”

“Are you calling me fat?”

---