Page 5 of Doc

Chapter 2

Harlow

Thank God it was Friday and a long holiday weekend for me—Fourth of July. The clinic would still be open, but since I was the lead nurse, I got my pick of which holidays I got to take off. I’d chose the Fourth, Labor Day, and New Year's Eve, giving up Thanksgiving and Christmas so that Polly, who was a mother of four, could spend it with her children and family.

I had no family, even before David and I had separated several months before. We'd been married for eight years, and like people in some marriages do, we'd grown apart instead of closer. Our biggest contention had been that I'd wanted kids, and he hadn't. David had been more interested in his career and amassing the kind of wealth that would allow him the power and privileges that went with it. Twelve years older than I, he'd been well on his way to accomplishing those things when we'd met at a charity ball.

He was a good man, he just wasn’t the right man for me, and I was glad that we’d been able to remain friends. Neither of us had any siblings. I'd been a change of life baby for my mother when was forty-five. My father, who was ten years older than her, had died a year later of a heart attack, so I'd never known him. Mom had passed away two years ago. She had loved David and had thought that we were a match made in heaven.

At least now, after accepting that our lives were going in different directions, I could find myself and learn to live for me. I'd gotten so used to centering my life around David when I wasn't working that it had taken me a long time to realize that I hadn't been fully happy, and that I'd just been going through the motions. It wasn’t as if we'd argued or fought all the time, but it had started to feel like we were siblings instead of husband and wife. And his disinterest in me as a wife had been apparent in the bedroom. We’d stopped sleeping together a long time ago, and it hadn’t seemed to bother either of us that the intimacy was gone.

Six months of separation had given me time to dissect our marriage and come to the realization that I hadn't been happy in it for a long time. It was time to sign those divorce papers and send them off to my lawyer. I was angry at myself for letting it go on as long as I had, content to live in the rut of a boring yet safe life. I wanted more. I especially wanted children. And at thirty-two, my clock was ticking. It was time to think about my future, and that, for some inexplicable reason, made me think about Liam.

I could admit now that I loved that man. That I’d loved him for a long time. And while I'd thought that he might have had feelings for me too, it was painfully obvious that he didn’t. He seemed to enjoy going out of his way to prove that to me in one way or another whenever we were around each other. Every time I saw him with another woman clinging to him it was like a knife being plunged into my heart. It was almost as if he was punishing me for being married, and that was just plain silly. No, Liam just wasn't into me as much as I'd thought. Why else would he have warned me to stay away?

The Beatle's “Revolution” ringtone on my phone alerted me that I had an incoming call. I reached to where I'd left it on the coffee table next to my wineglass and instantly smiled when I saw Lulu's name on the screen.

"Hi, honey." I sat back against the cushions and put my feet up on the table.

"What are you up to?" I could hear the smile in her voice.

"About five-six."

Lulu groaned at my quip.

"Just kicking back and enjoying some wine." There was no sound of Lilly in the background at Lulu’s. "Sounds awful quiet where you are."

Laughter floated over the line, along with a touch of relief. "Brody took Lilly out to the butterfly garden. I needed a break from the little monster."

A butterfly garden in Nevada—who would have thought? Lulu and Brody had managed to turn their backyard into a desert oasis, complete with an enclosure dedicated to butterflies. It was beautiful.

"How are you feeling these days?"

"Ready for this boy to get here," Lulu sighed. "He's an active one. I swear at night he wraps his little legs around my bladder and squeezes."

I laughed along with her, hoping that I would have that experience some day. "It's all worth it in the end."

"Definitely. Listen, I'm calling for a reason."

"I figured that."

"You want us to pick you up on the way to the cookout tomorrow?"

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