“Okay, so he has been functioning as myboyfriend.” I cringed a little at the word spoken aloud. It wasn’t fair of me to let him do all those things, to play that role, and then act shocked when he expected us to move in together before the baby was born and maybe even get married.
His plans weren’t unreasonable, even if it rubbed me the wrong way that he chose to declare them rather than ask me what I wanted. The question was, were they whatIwanted?
Was I willing to give up my independence for him? That was the real question. From the way Jake talked, it seemed to me like he expected me to cut my work hours and possibly give up my practice all together—and there was no way I’d agree to that. I worked too hard to become a veterinarian to walk away from it.
“I can’t,” I whispered to the room. “I can’t do that. And Not for a man who can spout the words ‘compromise and discussion’ but doesn’t have a clue how to go about actually doing either.”
Did Jake understand that? I honestly wasn’t sure. What Ididknow was that once he set his mind on something, he closed himself off to considering the idea of things going any other way. I didn’t think it likely that he would change, and I was unwilling to give away everything that mattered to me, like my mother had. Compromise required concessions from both sides and he never seemed to be willing to give an inch.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed Sofia.
“Hey, friend,” I said when Sofia picked up. “Do you have plans for later?”
“I’m working now, but I’ll be free after four. Do you need something?”
I explained about clearing out the room to become the nursery and needing to move some heavy items.
“Sure. I’ll come over and help,” Sofia said. “I’ve got awesome muscles.”
I could guess what Sofia was thinking.Why isn’t Jake moving the furniture for his baby’s nursery?But I appreciated that my friend didn’t ask the question aloud, clearly picking up on my unwillingness to talk about it.
“I’ll see you around five, then. Thanks.” After I hung up, I watched the play of light on the walls. “I think this room wants to be a nice sunny yellow.” I checked my watch. I had just enough time to make it to the hardware store to buy paint before my appointments started. That way, I’d have the paint handy for when I had time to use it.
TWENTY-EIGHT
JULIA
“I’m here and I come bearing gifts,” Sofia shouted as she walked in my back door. My last patient had cancelled on me, so I’d headed home early, eager to see what the yellow paint would look like on the wall.
“What’d you bring?” I called, coming down the stairs to greet her.
She held up the takeaway containers from Buckman’s. “I was in the mood for burgers, onion rings, and fried zucchini with that dipping sauce of theirs, and I grabbed some ice cream from Hastings for dessert.”
As soon as she said it, my stomach growled. “Oh that does sound good.” Buckman’s was popular as a destination because they offered ax throwing, but their burgers were surprisingly tasty. Even Aurora’s husband, Marc Diaz, had to concede that they were excellent, and he’d worked at a Michelin star restaurant in Las Vegas.
“Oh, that does sound good. Let me wash up and we can eat first, then move stuff around after. Sound good?”
“You got it. Kitchen table?”
I nodded and went to the sink to wash off all the dust from my hands and arms. I plopped down in the chair opposite Sofia and she reached out to pull a cobweb off my hair. “Looks old. No spiders in your hair that I can see,” she said and I leaned back and patted my hair just to be sure.
We both dove into our burgers while Fay paced around us, attempting her best pleading doggy eyes to get a piece of ground beef. Wellington chose a more passive approach and settled under the table, hoping for dropped food. I was careful to make sure that neither dog was successful. The burgers were heavily spiced and super juicy with whatever fat content they added to it, which meant it wasn’t good for dogs. Probably not humans either—at least, not regularly—but right now, it was exactly what this mom and baby wanted.
I dipped a zucchini stick in the parmesan sauce and swooned as the flavor exploded on my tongue. “I need to go to Buckman’s more often. Why don’t we do that?”
“Because it’s always crowded and you don’t like socializing?” Sofia said, popping the remainder of an onion ring in her mouth.
“That’s not true. I like socializing with you.” Then I thought about it. “Okay, maybe you’re right.”
“Amy wants to organize more girls’ night outs and is thinking about centering them around Buckman’s. She’s offered to teach us all how to throw axes. In fact, she’s thinking of starting up a league,” Sofia said. I liked the sound of that.
“That sounds way more entertaining than a book club or that quilting group that meets at the Lutheran church.” I was already imagining burning off all levels of frustration by throwing axesat a target. While I enjoyed reading, I didn’t have time to do it on any sort of schedule and while I knew how to make even surgical stitches, I had no desire to practice on fabric.
We held off on the ice cream and went upstairs to tackle the bedroom. “That’s a cute dresser. Are you sure you don’t want to keep it for the baby?”
I reached for one of the drawers, which wouldn’t quite pull out, then attempted the next one. Also stuck. “They’re all like that. Plus, as big and heavy as it is, the interior of the drawers is tiny.”
“So, you’re thinking wood pile?” Sofia asked and I looked at the dresser. I knew it was homemade—possibly my granddad or my uncle. Did I want to keep it? When Sofia attempted to move it, one of the block feet fell off. “Whoa. Okay, definitely a bigger job than I first thought.”
