“If you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’m going to scream.” Debbie shut Melissa’s office door and leaned against it. “I’ve tried to ignore your ghastly appearance in the hope you’ll tell me, but you just keep holding it in. And don’t even think for a minute that I didn’t hear you being sick this morning.”
Melissa touched her face. Did she look that bad? She couldn’t remember doing more that morning than brushing her teeth. Perhaps she should have taken time for makeup, but she’d wanted to go to Dekalb General before coming in to the office.
James had been sitting at the kitchen bar, working on a glass of orange juice and reviewing a stack of papers, probably things to do with the new school semester. He’d watched her pour a glass of juice and force her way through it and a piece of toast.
“Will you be here tonight?” she’d asked.
“Yes. We need to talk.” He’d insisted she go to bed when they’d gotten home the night before and, for the first time ever, he’d slept in the guest room. “If our relationship means anything to you, you’ll prove it by coming home so we can spend the evening discussing our future. Can you be here by six?”
Knowing he was right, that they had many things to work out between them, she’d nodded.
“Hello.” Debbie snapped her fingers in front of Melissa’s face. “Earth to Dr Melissa Conner.”
Melissa blinked. “Sorry.”
Debbie crossed her arms. “I’m not letting you out of this office until you tell me what gives.”
“I’m pregnant.”
Debbie smiled in an I-knew-it sort of way. She clasped her hands together and wiggled excitedly. “Omigosh. This is fabulous. What does James say?”
Melissa sighed, knowing she couldn’t keep this bottled inside her any longer. She needed to talk and Debbie was her best friend. “Right before I broke the news he announced he’s moving to Nashville.”
“No way.” Debbie looked appropriately stunned, then outraged. “The jerk.”
Melissa shrugged, not wanting her friend to think unkindly of James. “He didn’t know I was pregnant when he told me.”
“Now that he knows?”
“He mentioned marriage, but I don’t know.” Maybe before he’d stated his intention to move she might have considered it. Now she only felt like she was forcing him into yet something else he didn’t want. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life with a man who didn’t want to be with her and their baby. A man who, on the surface, would do and say all the right things but he’d never let her touch the real him.
A man who would insist she give up a career she loved, just as he’d once insisted she give up her dream of a baby or give him up.
Debbie sank into the chair next to Melissa’s desk. “I can understand that. It would be hard to accept a proposal from someone who was planning to leave you until he found out you were pregnant.”
“Exactly.” Melissa closed her eyes. “I think he’s met someone else.”
“You’re kidding!”
“I wish.” Melissa rolled her neck, trying to ease the tightness gripping her muscles. “I met her once. Tall, gorgeous, brunette. Think super-model with a stethoscope and a penchant for hearts.”
Debbie shook her head. “James isn’t the kind of man to be taken in by just looks.”
“She’s a cardiologist at Vanderbilt. She and James share a research grant on the prevention of damage to the heart during myocardial infarctions by administering certain types of medications. He thinks she’s brilliant.”
Wincing, Debbie mouthed an O. “So, what are you going to do about this woman?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Fight for him.” Debbie’s face took on a thoughtful expression. “I’ve seen how James looks at you. Despite whatever problems you are having, the man loves you. You’re carrying his baby. And at the moment he sleeps in your bed. You have the advantage, Melissa. Take it.”
“He’s never told me he loves me.”
“Doesn’t make it any less true,” Debbie pointed out. “Have you told him?”
“No.” She hadn’t really thought about how she felt about James. He was a part of her life. A good part, even if he did keep so much of himself locked away. She cared for him, wanted him in her life, but love?
Loving someone was just begging to be hurt.