Surprise Delivery(49)

“Good,” I say. “I’ve been good. How about yourself? The – pregnancy – going smoothly?”

She nods. “Yeah. Pretty smoothly,” she says. “I’m doing pretty well otherwise.”

“That’s good,” I say. “I’m glad to hear that.”

Brad lets out a breath and very pointedly looks at his watch. Alexis rolls her eyes and huffs at him. Though, it gives me the perfect opportunity to get out of this awkwardness.

“Listen, I should probably get going anyway,” I say. “I don’t want to hold you up any longer.”

“Duncan,” she says, her eyes earnest. “Wait, just a sec –”

“It was great seeing you again, Alexis. You look great,” I interrupt. “And good luck with the baby and all. I wish you guys the best.”

Without waiting for a reply, I move around them and head off down the sidewalk, my mind and heart spinning and churning. Pregnant. That word – and the sight of her – stick in my mind, driving out all other conscious and rational thought. Even though I have no right to feel one way or the other about it, the depth of my hurt and anger is immense. I want to lash out. I want to rage and punch something.

I walk along the crowded sidewalk, silently hoping that somebody will look at me cross-eyed, that somebody will step up and give me an excuse to unleash the pain and fury inside of me. It’s not the mature, healthy response to the situation, I know. But beating somebody to a pulp would feel pretty damn good right about now.

I turn another corner and force myself to stop. I lean against the wall as the tide of people rushes by me and force myself to take a minute. To breathe. To relax. As a surgeon, the last thing I need to be doing is getting myself into a street brawl. My hands are my tools and getting them crushed because I’m trading punches with some meathead probably isn’t the smartest thing to do.

“You have no right to be upset,” I mutter to myself, drawing curious glances from the people passing by.

That obviously didn’t go the way I hoped it would go. Not even close. As I stand there on the busy sidewalk, the anger inside of me turns inward. What was I thinking? How could I have really thought she would have been willing to put her life on hold for me? Why did she give me the impression she would? She didn’t explicitly say it, but she certainly gave me the idea that she wasn’t going to be looking for anybody else and would wait for me.

With all of these thoughts and questions roaming through my head, I realize I need answers. And the only way I’m going to get those answers I need is to talk to Alexis. I need to talk to her – alone. I need closure and the peace of mind that it will bring with it.

Well, maybe not peace of mind, but at least the closure. At least, I’ll be able to move forward with the knowledge of where I went wrong in my thinking.

The debate settled in my mind, I push myself off the wall, turn and head back the way I came. Hopefully, I can still catch up with Alexis.





Sixteen





Alexis





The night air is cool but soothes my suddenly warm skin. My stomach is in knots and my head is pounding as we walk along the crowded sidewalk. Brad has ahold of my arm, and he’s guiding me quickly through the crowd. It’s as if he’s trying to put as much distance between us and Duncan as possible.

As we walk, my eyes burn with tears and my heart is stuttering. The knots in my shoulders are so tight, it’s painful. In a city that’s wall to wall people, what are the odds of running into Duncan on the street like that?

Seeing him brought back a flood of emotions – feelings I’ve been trying to bury for so long. But the truth is, he’s never far from my thoughts. Hasn’t been since that night at the gala. The connection we shared that night was more intense than anything I’ve ever felt before in my life – by far.

Brad tugs on my arm, pulling me along. “Brad, stop,” I say. “You’re walking too fast.”

I stop in my tracks and press myself up against the wall next to a coffee house, refusing to move a step more. I pull my arm away from him and fold my hands protectively over my belly. Brad looks at me and I see the darkness on his face. He’s angry. But as soon as his eyes meet mine, the expression of anger quickly disappears. His face is smooth, and he gives me a smile I can tell is fake.

“Sorry,” he says. “I was just trying to get us through the crowds.”

“You sure about that?” I ask.

“Of course,” he replies. “What else would I be doing?”

“Oh gee, I don’t know, trying to get me as far away from Duncan as fast as you can?”

“What?” he asks. “You can’t be serious.”

“Don’t think I didn’t notice the little power play you put on back there,” I snap. “You practically peed on my leg to mark your territory.”

“That’s ridiculous, Lexi,” he protests. “I did no such thing.”

“Yeah, you kind of did, and I don’t really appreciate it, Brad.”

I never really expected to see Duncan again. I honestly believed that for him, it had been a one-night thing. We shared a little time and enjoyed each other, and I thought that was it for him. But when I looked into his eyes a minute ago, I saw something totally different. I saw that the connection we shared was still burning within him. I saw the feelings that passed between us that night – a night that seems so long ago now – were still alive and well inside of him.