HOLLY
Four years later.
It had been almost four years since that unbearable day when Jake had said those nine horrible words to Holly Scallanger.
It is what it is, I’ve got to go.
No goodbye, no apology, no explanation. Just those words.
There were times when it was hard for her to accept everything, but she’d had no choice.
He had been so excited about the pregnancy, but then his residency started and things changed. He became cold and distant. She’d put it down to him being tired, but it hadn’t been that at all. He’d gotten second thoughts—cold feet—about the pregnancy and wanted her to get an abortion.
No matter the circumstances, there was no way in hell she could have gone through with something like that. She’d marched—in high heels—against abortion with his sister, Amelia, who couldn’t have children. Holly had had blisters for days, blisters that proved and shouted her beliefs to the world.
She’d wanted the baby, and leaving him had been the only way. In retrospect, she should’ve fought harder, should’ve gone to that stupid hospital and…
Oh, who was she kidding? What could she have done? Kill the bastard for what he’ddone to her?
She regretted all the things she hadn’t done, because it had been so clear that Jake was the one for her. There would never be anyone who would take his place in her heart.
With time, it got better and the future looked brighter, but then there were days—most days—when thoughts of him lingered in the back of her mind. Whenever a lecture dealt with neurology, or someone mentioned a neurologist, she’d think of him.
How she missed the old Jake. The one who’d taken her to meet lion cubs, the one who’d made her blood tingle, who’d made her laugh, who’d held that silly banner up during her high-heeled march and told her she could do it. She missed the Jake who’d lit up herlife.
Why had he changed his mind about wanting them, wanting to be with them? Things would’ve been so different if he’d never said those words. Though she couldn’t deny that some good things had come out of the entire situation; one of which was her plans for her future.
She was in her final year of med school and she was killing it. She’d be starting her residency next year, which would bring her one step closer to becoming a surgeon.
When she made the decision to go into medicine, it was because she wanted to help women with pre-eclampsia so they would never be in the position she had been in.
Gus Peters, Jake’s father, was one of the best gynecologists in the country and had developed a shake she had thought of as a wonder drug. It had regulated her high blood pressure—the biggest cause of her sickness and the one thing that put her and her babies’ lives in jeopardy—but without warning, he suddenly took it off the market due to some flaw in the formula.
She’d thought she could fill the place he’d left open in the market by inventing something similar and as wonderful as his shake. Her hopes and dreams were crushed when,during her first year of med school, he brought out something similar. All wasn’t lost,though, as she found a new interest—cardiology.
It was the one thing she had in common with Jake’s mother. She hoped she never bumped into Mara. That would be just her luck.
Every spare minute she had was spent learning everything she could about cardiology, and what she couldn’t learn from books and the Internet, she learned from her mentor, Dr. Somers.
He was old school and almost in his eighties; sadly his hands were no longer of any use. For the last year and a half, she had become his hands in his free clinic.
The one thing she would miss about her residency was the scrub-in time she got, something first-years didn’t get a lot of. She was so used to being in the OR by now that it seemed like she was taking a step backward.
Tears stung her eyes as she looked at Jake’s Facebook profile photo. He was still breathtakingly gorgeous.
Why hadn’t he wanted them?
She sighed. His Facebook account was private, which meant she could only see his profilepictures. And because she’d deleted her account, the only way she could see his was through Google.
It wasn’t like she cyberstalked him often, but from the few times she did, he was seeing someone else. And every time she saw the new profile picture, she wanted to scream.
It pissed her off that he had moved on so easily, when she was struggling to do the same. She felt pathetic, but the simple truth was that she still wasn’t over Jake. Even though he’d turned out to be the biggest monster to ever have walked into her life, she just couldn’t seem to forget him.
It didn’t help that her daughter was a mini version of Jake, and a Peters through and through.
Keys rattled in the lock of the apartment’s door.
She quickly clicked off Google, and a picture of a human heart accompanied by medical jargon filled the screen.
“Hi, sweetheart,” greeted her mother.
“Hey, how was your day?” Holly asked on a sigh.
“You need a break,” Jane remarked, taking a seat at the table.
“Mom, I can’t afford to take a break.”
“You’re really worried about this test. Darling, Somers has given you so many opportunities to scrub in, you could ace that test without even opening a book. You knowit. You need a break. Frank wants you and Jamie to join us on a trip.”
Holly rolled her eyes as she looked up from the screen.
“Sweetheart, you know almost everything about cardiology there is to know. You just need some downtime. Come with us.”
“What kind of trip? And where are we going?”
Jane smiled. “It’s at some over the top resort, for his brother’s kid or something—who’s apparently going to propose.”
Holly pursed her lips. “We won’t know anyone there, Mom.”
“It doesn’t matter. Just come with us. You and Jamie can lounge at the pool. The rest will do you some good.”
“When?”
“This weekend.”
“Mom,” she whined.
“Holly, how many times must I say it? Both you and Jamie need a break, and I’m not taking her if you don’t come with us. She misses you too much.”
“Fine, I’ll go,” Holly groaned.
Her mother jumped up and wrapped her arms around Holly, smacking her lips on Holly’s temple. “Who knows, maybe you’ll meet a handsome prince.”
Holly snorted. “I hardly have time for this break, so I sure as heck won’t have time for someone else.”
But that wasn’t the real reason. She’d already met her prince. He’d just turned out to be an asshole.
“Nonsense, but whatever you say. I’m going to change into something more comfortable.”
“Hang on a sec…I thought you and Frank called it quits?” she called after her mother.
Jane grunted, which made Holly smirk.
“Admit it, he’s your kryptonite.”
Jane’s laughter floated from the bedroom.
Keys rattled in the lock once again. The door opened and Rodney, Holly’s best friend—the one who’d taken Bernie’s place—walked into the apartment with the love of her life.
“Mommy!” Jamie’s head of black curls bounced as the almost four-year-old ran over to her and jumped onto her lap.
Holly wrapped her arms around her daughter and dropped a kiss on her head. “Did you enjoy the park, baby?”
“Yes, I did, and we had—”
“Our secret, Jamie,” Rod interrupted, clamping his hand over Jamie’s mouth, her laughter muffled in the palm of his hand.
Holly made big eyes, saying playfully, “Are you two keeping secrets from me? I thought we were the three musketeers!” She tickled Jamie’s sides, drawing loud cackles from her.
Rod had probably bought Jamie one hell of an ice cream, or some other outrageous thing she was not allowed before dinner, but Holly let it slide.
After all, apart from Holly’s father and Frank, Rodney was one of the only male role models in Jamie’s life.
“Nanna, help me!” Jamie cried through her giggles when Rod joined in on the tickling.
Jane came running into the room, brandishing one of Jamie’s inflatable toys and proceeded to hit Holly and Rodney on the head with it.
As soon as they stopped tickling Jamie, she let out a huge breath of relief, a grin plastered on her face.
Holly’s heart twisted every time she looked at Jamie—which was all the time—as she was the spitting image of her father. Smiling, she brushed a kiss on her daughter’s head.
“Come on, peanut, let’s go watch Disney Junior,” Jane said, picking Jamie up and carrying her to the bedroom.
Rod sat down next Holly. “Are you still freaking out about the test? You know these procedures. You could do half of these surgeries on your own if it came down to it. It can’t be that difficult.”
“I know. I’m just nervous and I don’t know why.”
“Because you need to take some time for yourself.”
“Ugh, you sound just like my mother.”
“Guess I must be right, then.” He chuckled and squeezed her shoulder. “I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She smacked him playfully on the shoulder. “Thanks for taking Jamie to the park.”
He opened the door, then turned around. “You’re welcome. Besides, it’s always a pleasure spending time with her,” he said, winking as he left.
Holly shook her head with a smile.
Jamie wasn’t like other normal kids her age. She was smart, and it wasn’t at all difficult to have a decent conversation with her.
When Jamie was just two years old, she’d asked the daddy question, wanting to know if Rodney was her father. That had almost had Holly in a spin, but she’d told her the truth, just a less monstrous version of it; her daddy wasn’t with them.
But of course, that wasn’t enough for her daughter’s inquiring mind, and she kept asking whyher daddy wasn’t with them. There was no way Holly could tell her that he hadn’t wanted them, so she made up a story about a rainbow, where he was helping other people get better.
But questions didn’t stop there, and Holly wished they had. Jamie wanted to know what her father looked like, so Holly showed her—it was easy as she knew exactly where to look. She’d hoped that would be the end of that, but then Jamie wanted to know if she had aunts and uncles, and other grandparents.
She should’ve just told her that her father had no family, but she didn’t want to add to the lie. So, the entire Peters family made it into her stupid story about the rainbow, and Jamie finally stopped asking questions.
Holly sighed. She never should have made up that damn story to begin with, even though part of her was glad that Jamie at least had some information about her father. Hopefully, when the truth came out one day, Jamie would be understanding.
