Page 7 of Written in the Charts

“Yeah, Derek’s farmhand.” Her smile turned to a frown when my lip quivered. “What is it? It didn’t work out?”

“Worse than that.” I swallowed and took a deep, cleansing breath before I started in on the story. “I knew him, like, from when we were kids. I was eighteen and he was twenty. We were in love. To make a very difficult and painful story short, I got pregnant. He left without giving me the chance to tell him. I never told him...” I couldn’t look her in the eye. Fear over what had happened and shame over the way I had handled it trumped any positive emotion of Evan coming back into my life.

“It’s okay, Gypsy. You can tell me.” Maggie scooted closer, taking my hand. She carefully balanced Jenson against her hip.

“Lost the baby. She was stillborn.” My heart ached. I couldn’t stop the tears from coming. “I see your babies and think of her. I named her Chloe. She would be seven this fall.”

“God, I’m so sorry to hear that.” Maggie stood, finding Jenson’s pacifier and giving it to him before strapping him in the stroller next to his sleeping sister. When she came back, she had a tissue in hand and sat closer to me than before. “Let it out. I’m here.”

I cried hard. She wasn’t the first person I’d ever told. My parents both knew, and a few close friends at the time, but I swore them all to secrecy. I had been so angry with Evan that I didn’t want him to know.

“Am I a horrible person?” I blew my nose on the tissue, then hugged my stomach. I had wrestled with this since the wedding, not knowing if I’d ever see Evan again. The wound, however, had been reopened back then, and now that he was in my life, wanting to date me, I felt like the proverbial camel’s back was about to break.

“No, Gypsy. You were a baby. You had to do what you had to do. You made it through, okay?” As she spoke, she rubbed her hand in a circle on my back. Maggie was truly an amazing friend. “And you should definitely tell him when the time is right. He will understand. You couldn’t have done anything differently.”

I sniffed, my eyes scanning out across the park, back to the playground where children squealed as they pushed the swings as high as they would go.

“We have a date.” I wiped my nose again and turned back to look at Maggie. “He asked me to dinner. But now we have another complication.”

“What’s that?” Maggie scooted back, retracting her hand. She offered me another tissue, so I put the used one in the bag from my uneaten lunch to be thrown out.

“Well, he came to Dr. Marshal’s office for treatment, and I’ve been assigned to him. So ethically, I can’t date him or I’m breaking the law.” I shrugged, offering a sad smile.

“You can’t ask Cameron to reassign him to someone else? Seems like that would be an easy thing to do.”

“I haven’t asked. I’m going to, though. I don’t want to blow my shot at getting back together with him. I really loved him, Maggie. I’ve dated other guys, but none of them were like Evan. None.”

She smiled at me. “Remember that I had a very similar issue with Derek.”

“Hardly. You were his employee, not his doctor.” My pessimism would get the better of me one day. I regretted the complaint, looking up at her with a frown. “I’m sorry. I’m feeling a bit nervous about the whole situation.”

“It’s okay.” She glanced at her watch and back up at me. “You need to get back to work. Just go straight to Cameron and talk to him about it. He’ll understand. And leave this mess for me.” She gestured at the wrappers lying around. “I’ll clean up before we head out.”

“Thanks for being a good friend.” I stood, collecting my purse. “Here goes nothing.” After a quick hug, I headed back to the office, just a quick three-block walk from the park. It was such a nice day I hardly wanted to go back inside, but I forced myself to.

When I walked in, Dr. Marshal was with a patient, so I waited in his office for him to return. The conversation would be anxiety inducing for me, so it was good that I had time to think through what I’d say. But when the doctor came in, he appeared to be in a foul mood.

“What can I help you with?” He glanced up from the chart he was looking at then pored over it some more as I spoke.

“It’s my new patient. I saw him yesterday.”

“Yeah, what is it?” Cameron didn’t look up, which didn’t ease my anxiety at all.

“Well, I don’t think I can treat him. I mean, I think it’s unethical.” I fiddled with my fingers, picking at my fingernails as he scowled at his chart.

“What do you mean, unethical? Are you married to him?” He pushed past me, flopping the chart on his desk and unlocking his computer. He seemed too distracted for this sort of conversation, and I was too nervous to continue it.

“No, sir. I just used to date him, like, when we were younger.” I felt the gravitational pull of the outer office calling to me. I just wanted to leave.

“You’ll be fine.” He put his glasses on and started typing. “If there’s nothing else, I’ve got a few things to do really quick.” He peered at me over the rim of his glasses which sat low on his nose.

“No, sir.” I backed out of the room having not even divulged the fact that Evan had asked me out. Now was clearly not the time, anyway. I’d just have to take my bundle of nerves on the date with me and see what Evan thought. I didn’t have a choice.

CHAPTERFIVE

Evan

Gypsy twirled her fork in her spaghetti, twisting a few noodles onto the metal tines. She had always loved pasta—and anything Italian, for that matter. Watching her enjoy the meal brought back memories. The night I took her to dinner at that steakhouse before senior prom. She had worn this dress that was so low-cut in the front that her father had made her pin a handkerchief to the underside of her dress just to hide her cleavage. We’d ripped that sucker out as soon as we got in the car.

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