One Hot Doctor by Sarah J. Brooks

Chapter 31

Cora

The doorbell rings, and I hurry to open it. It’s the third time that I’ve been alone in the house since I moved in. I open the door for my mom, and we hug and kiss. She has a look of wonder as she takes in her surroundings.

“Thomas has a beautiful home,” she says.

I shut the door. “That he does.”

She follows me into the kitchen, where fresh coffee is waiting for us. My tolerance for coffee has come back, though I’m limiting myself to one cup a day.

“Would you look at that kitchen,” my mother exclaims as she sits down at the table. “Is this where he lived with his late wife?”

I’d told my mother and Adeline about Thomas losing his wife so early on in their marriage.

“That was my first question, too, when I moved in. The answer is no, even though it doesn’t really matter. It was a long time ago, and part of his history that you can’t erase.”

I carry our mugs of coffee to the table and sit down.

“I love how mature you are about it. But then again, you’ve always been older than your age. You’ve handled it with more maturity than I have, I’m afraid.”

I take my first sip and let out a soft sigh of ecstasy. It feels like I haven’t drunk coffee in years, and I had a cup yesterday.

“What do you mean?”

Mom sighs and looks down before looking up again. “It’s taken some time to come to terms with the fact that there was another woman in Ian’s life whom he loved very much, sort of like your Thomas.”

That sentence is wrong on so many levels. How I wish that he were my Thomas. “I know what you mean, though. It was tough at first knowing there was another woman who had Thomas’s heart.” That much is the truth. “But over time, it ceases to matter.”

I came to terms with this even before Thomas told me about Tessa’s unfaithfulness. Loving another person doesn’t diminish a person’s capability to love another. In Thomas’s case, it did diminish, but that was because it was his choice not to open his heart up to love again.

I never told anyone about Tessa’s affair, and I never will. Thomas told me that in confidence, and besides, it wouldn’t even be fair to spread nasty stuff about someone who is not even there to defend themselves.

As far as I know, he didn’t tell Fran or Martin and has no plans too. He managed to push that whole heartbreaking business to the back of his mind, and I’m proud of him for that.

“That is true. I’m getting there slowly. I was used to being the one and only woman in your father’s life,” she says wistfully.

I cover her hand with mine. “Soon, that won’t bother you one bit, I promise.”

She smiles. “Thank you, and I think you’re a wonderful woman. Thomas is lucky to have you.”

I smile in response. I came clean to Adeline, but I wouldn’t dare to do so with my mother. She’ll make a great deal out of it, which is understandable, but I don’t want to deal with that.

Mom’s face lights up. “You won’t believe who came around for a quick visit.” At my blank face, she continues, “Emma! I can’t tell you how happy I was to have her for one night. She went back the following day.”

Emma is Riley’s mom. “Yeah? How is she?”

“She’s good and loving the change of being away. She sent her regards and warm wishes.”

I’m curious about what she had to say about my mother’s affair with Ian. I’m sure she was as scandalized as Adeline and I were. “Did she meet Ian?”

“She did, and they hit it off. That made me happy. Emma is my oldest friend, and I’d have hated it if she had hated him.”

So much for Riley’s mom getting scandalized.

Mom sighs. “We women really short-change ourselves. Emma confided in me about a man she met two years after she lost her husband. She fell for him hard, but nothing happened. She wasn’t brave enough to pursue it, and she was frightened of what her children would say.”

My jaw drops. “Really? I can’t imagine Riley’s mother embroiled in a hot, passionate affair.” I giggle.

My mother glares at me.

I grow serious. “Not you, though.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say. Of course, I worried about your reaction, and I was right to. Look at your sister. She and I rarely talk, and when we do, we argue. Your brother and Laura are the only ones who are supportive,” she says.

With the hindsight of time, I see now that Adeline and I might have come on too strongly against Ian. We could have toned it down a bit and tried to get to know him first.

Besides, our mother is an adult and has always been level-headed. Guilt floods me. “Didn’t I have a visit with Ian?”

She stares at me. “Yeah, you did,” she finally says.

I fidget in my seat as I recall how Adeline and I behaved toward Ian. It bordered on immaturity, and I’m sure it hurt our mother a lot.

“How are Caleb and Laura?” I haven’t spoken to either of them since I left the hospital. Thomas and I have taken to living in our own cocoon. I have to admit that it’s been nice not to have anywhere to go or anything to do. As Thomas pointed out, we’ve worked hard all our lives, and having some downtime to plan the future is a good thing.

Not that I’ve been planning the future.

“They’re well. I spoke with them yesterday,” Mom says. “More importantly, how are you?” She peers into my face as if my well-being is written across it.

“I’ve been good. It’s been nice to just relax.”

“Aren’t you getting tired of staying in the house all day?” Mom asks. It’s a weird question from someone who spent almost a decade retired.

“Well, I am starting to become jittery,” I say, admitting to my mom something I wasn’t even ready to admit to myself. “Especially with Thomas busy with his interviews.”

“I can imagine. This house is beautiful, but you’d get tired of admiring it after a day or two.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m not bringing this up for no reason. We open the bar in a few days; I’m sure you know that.”

I’m embarrassed because I forgot all about the opening day at the bar. She sent me a text telling me about it.

She grins. “Can you imagine The Caroline will soon be operational? I can’t tell you how excited both Ian and I are. We’re not getting any sleep from anxiety and excitement.”

Her enthusiasm is catching. My mother’s life is more exciting than mine right now. She’s living her life and enjoying every moment of it.

“I’m happy for you, Mom.”

“Anyway, I thought you might come and work as a server for a few hours a day. The pay is not what you’re used to, of course, but it’s not about the money. It’s just something to get you out of the house and mixing with people again.”

I take a moment to take in Mom’s offer.

 

 

***

 

“Can you imagine me as a server in a bar?” I ask Thomas later as we’re having dinner.

“Actually, I can,” Thomas says. “You’re good with people.”

I have to admit that the idea has been growing on me since Mom left. I’ve been mulling it over in my mind since then. I didn’t give her an answer, just told her that I’d sleep on it. Her response had been that there’s a training tomorrow, and if I’m interested, I should just show up. I still haven’t decided what to do.

“I hope the hours are short. I don’t want you on your feet for too long,” Thomas says.

“Just four hours a day. Ten to two.”

“Good.”

I grin. It seems like the decision is made. “How did the interview go?” It’s an elimination process, and they are down to three candidates now.

“It went well, but it’s going to be a tight race. The other guys are hugely qualified.” Thomas looks nervous.

“You really want it, don’t you?” I ask.

He nods. “I’ve missed working in a large hospital, plus I like the variety.”

“You’ll get it. There’s something about you that screams responsible and serious.”

“Thanks for your vote of confidence,” Thomas says.

I made a simple dinner of pasta and a salad, and when we’re done, we clean up the dishes together.

Afterward, we settle down in the living room, Thomas with one of those large medical books of his and me with a laptop to get some waitressing tips.

We go to bed at ten, and upstairs, we pause between our two rooms to say goodnight.

Thomas holds me tight and then whispers into my ear in a tortured voice, “I promised myself I would not do this, but I can’t help it, and I’ll only ask once. Do you want to come and sleep in my bed?”

I have to laugh at how unsure he sounds. Pleasure swamps me at the knowledge that he has been wanting me in his bed but was uncomfortable to ask. It’s cute and sweet.

“I’d love to. It’s lonely sleeping on my own in that large bed,” I say. “I’ll just brush my teeth and change.”

I’m grinning as I get ready. All this week, Thomas and I have been sleeping separately. Of course, we’ve had sex every night, and each time, Thomas has gone back to his room after.

I’ve held back from asking him to spend the night for the same reason he left. Clad in my nightshirt, I turn off the light and pad across the hallway to his room. He’s already in bed, and he grins when he sees me.

He throws the covers back, and I slip in. I lie down on his chest and run my hands over his muscles.

“This is perfect,” he says and then plants a kiss at the back of my head. “You are perfect.”

I still can’t understand how Tessa found another man more attractive than her husband. Of course, I get that it’s more than just the physical aspect, but I’ve never met a man who exhibits as much masculinity as Thomas does. How would someone be satisfied by less than that? Plus, he’s very loving and expressive. I can only imagine how he must have been with his wife. He holds himself back with me, seeing that our relationship is different. And, of course, there was the fact that he loved her.

Thomas is super protective of me as the woman carrying his child. How protective was he with Tessa?

Pangs of longing come over me. A longing to be loved by him. I swallow hard and try to empty my mind of such thoughts. No point in longing for something that will never happen.

He rubs my back in that soothing way that he does, and soon, my eyelids grow heavy. I fall asleep in his arms with a smile on my face.