Page 47 of Doctor Daddy

“Brooke!” I ran after her. “Please, give me a minute.”

She stopped, let out a heavy sigh, and then looked at me.

“Thank you,” I gave her a slight bow with my hand on my chest, that was mostly just a tilt of my head.

“You have my attention for sixty seconds.”

I couldn’t believe what she was saying. Was I on a timer? “What is going on?” I asked.

“I think it’s clear what is going on, that you are continuing to attempt to talk to me while I do not want to talk to you,” she said in very clipped tones.

“Why are you so upset with me?”

She sighed and stared down at the ground between us. She crossed her arms. She wouldn’t look at me. “Mimi happened.”

“Mimi, your mom’s friend?” I didn’t understand what she had to do with any of this.

“Yes. You were a little too friendly, I think, up at the lake house.” When she lifted her gaze to me, her eyes were blazing with anger.

“What are you talking about, Brooke? I was just being friendly. I hadn’t done anything more than participate in conversations and attempt to direct her attention to Howard. He was interested, not me.”

She sneered and shook her head. “That’s not what it looked like. It’s not what it felt like.”

“What part of me trying to get you to sneak off, made you think I was paying too much attention to Mimi? I was there as your parents’ guest. I had to participate in their activities. The few times I did try to talk to you, you pushed me away. If anyone has a right to be irked at how the weekend went, it’s me.”

“I don’t think so, Mark. You were just as condescending as the rest of my parents’ friends were to me and Angela.”

It was my turn to stare at her. Had we been at the same lake house at the same time? This was coming out of nowhere.

“You and Mimi were too chummy. I didn’t quite get the sense that you were not interested. Especially not when she showed up here and had an appointment. She made sure to stop by my desk and emphasize that she was here to see you. Isn’t that against some kind of ethical standards? You know, dating a patient? It’s kind of gross, don’t you think?”

Was she calling my professional ethical behavior into account here? She was taking whatever had crawled up her attitude a little too far.

“That’s not what happened. Yes, I had lunch with her. Your mother strong-armed me into it.”

“I think I understand why you wanted to keep us a secret. And I don’t want to play that game anymore. I deserve better, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” She made no sense at all. “Are you even listening to me?” I stared at her dumbfounded.

“No, you don’t think I deserve better. Because you didn’t treat me any better. You wanted to keep me in the dark. You wanted to keep me in that janitor’s closet. Because that’s all I was good for. Hmm. Now, do you mind stepping away from my car so that I can leave, before I have to call security?”

I held my hands up and backed away slowly from her car. I didn’t know where any of this was coming from. I definitely needed to regroup before I could address this misdirected sense of indignation that she had.

I shook my head as I watched her get in a car and drive off. This was one of the reasons I hadn’t told anyone who I was dating. Now, I didn’t have to mention that we were over, and I was completely in the dark as to why. Maybe dating a younger woman hadn’t been the best move on my part.

22

BROOKE

Istood staring at my open closet not sure what to do about my clothes. In a few months, nothing I was looking at was going to fit. Once I got to Chicago, I was going to need a semi-professional wardrobe while I looked for a job.

I began pulling out dresses that looked like they had more room than a fitted suit would. I held the hanger of one dress up to my chest and swished around in front of the mirror. I would normally wear it with a belt, but I could wear it without one and it would have more space in the waist. I could wear it longer into the pregnancy.

As I looked at my reflection, there was a soft tapping at my door.

“Yeah,” I said.

Mom opened the door a little bit and stuck her head in. “Can I come in?”

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