“I’m not giving you up that easy, David.”
He looked at her with pity, a bitter smile on his lips. “You already did.”
Chapter Nineteen
“I’m sorry to dump this on you, Mother, but I need a bed for the night. Is it okay if I come over and sleep in my old room?” How degrading, having to ask if you can have your childhood bed but it was better than staying in the house with Elise and he wouldn’t foist her on his worst enemy. He couldn’t bear to be around her either.
“Oh, darling. Um, of course you can. I’m on my way out for dinner but you’re more than welcome. You know that.” Her voice sounded uncomfortable somehow. Her words clipped more than usual.
“If it’s inconvenient I can go elsewhere. I don’t want to intrude.” He also didn’t want to see who she was dating just yet either. Coming face-to-face with the man who was replacing his father wasn’t a good idea at this point in time especially when he couldn’t get his own love life together.
“Don’t be silly, darling. Come over, I’m not leaving for half an hour anyway. You can tell me what’s going on.”
Ten minutes later, he was sitting on the familiar couch pouring his heart out to his mother.
“I don’t know what to do. I made the mistake of walking out on April because I thought she was getting too chummy with Pierce, and never called her to apologize, and then she came over with a meal she’d cooked to make up with me and what happens? Elise is there trying to worm her way back into my life, which scared April off.”
“Sounds to me like you’ve got some explaining to do.”
“Oh, I know that. The thing is, how on earth will I get her to believe me anyway?”
“Well, I suggest you take the evening to think about what you really want, David. If you still have feelings for Elise, it would be cruel to drag April along. She’s a lovely girl and I like her enormously. But if you want to go back to what you had, well, Elise is here and obviously ready to recommit from the sound of it. I hardly think leaving things for one night will change anything.”
“I don’t get it, though. Why would Elise come back now professing to love me when she couldn’t bear the thought of being here before? All she ever wanted was to own a string of family practices, rake in the money and scoffed at the idea of being a local doctor’s wife. I’m hardly going to move back to Seattle now. My life is here, I get that now. My future is here and that’s not going to change.”
“Maybe she’s had a taste of what she wanted and found it was bitter on her tongue. Maybe she has a secret to hide, perhaps she’s not as good as she thought she was, who knows.”
“You could be right. Compared to April who isn’t scared to put herself on display, warts and all.” And he’d blown it.
“Such a loving soul, too. You could do far worse, David.” His mother patted his hand and stood up.
“But we’re so different. I keep thinking that’s a recipe for disaster as much as it pains me.”
“David! Really? Have you forgotten how different your father and I were? Do you not remember the arguments we had over music or art and then the laughter of making up? You’re already so in love with her and you can’t see it.”
“No, you’re wrong. It’s not going to work out between us.”
She gathered up her handbag and blew him a kiss. “Help yourself to whatever you want. There’s plenty of food in the refrigerator. And don’t wait up for me!” She giggled and hurried out.
A sense of loss washed over him as she closed the front door. Life seemed to be around the wrong way at the moment.
David sat on the couch until the light began to fade thinking about his situation. He didn’t want Elise back. She’d let him know what he meant to her and it wasn’t very much. Nobody wanted to come second best to a career. He wanted the woman he loved to value him over everything else, just as he would feel for her. And he didn’t want to sell the business.
No matter how much he tossed things over in his mind, the face he kept seeing belonged to the wild-eyed girl with flowers in her hair. The kind eyes, the wide bright smile, and vivid personality. April was all the things he didn’t think he wanted in a wife but knew he couldn’t live without. The big thing was, how on earth would he be able to fix things with her? It would take some thinking and he had all night to do it.
He got up and headed down to his room, hoping a spark on enthusiasm would trigger an idea. Sadly, the single bed with the shelf over it holding his basketball trophies didn’t inspire anything other than a burst of despair. Something his mother said irked him. Maybe she has a secret to hide or she isn’t as good as she thought she was.
David grabbed his cell phone and called an old work colleague. They chatted about mundane things for a moment and then he got to the reason for his call. “Michael, do you remember Elise?”
“Who could forget her? Steamroller on steroids that one. Don’t know how on earth you held her in check. Always after the big prize if I recall correctly.”
“Yes, she was.” And it still hurt.
“Hey, didn’t you try to get her to move down and do general practice in your old hometown with you?”
“She turned me down and that’s when we broke up. She always wanted to own the practices while I wanted to work them.” He glanced out the window, saw the moon throwing very little light over his
