Page 28 of Like the Season
They arrived first and she chose a booth in the back, in a shadowy corner that offered relative privacy. The guy arrived ten minutes late and was busy scrolling through his phone even as he picked his way back to their table. He wore scrubs and a lab coat and a tense set to his jaw that didn’t look natural. Boyd slipped his cell phone into the front pocket of his shirt, where it sat just a hair taller than the pocket itself.
Rick made no offer to lean in and hug her or even shake her hand. He plopped down in the other side of the booth and finally laid his phone facedown on the table in front of him after sending a dark glare Boyd’s way.
“I need to make this quick,” he said. “I have to be back at the hospital in twenty minutes. What’s going on, and why couldn’t we do this over the phone?”
Boyd was glad he’d elected to be there but managed to remain silent.
Ella took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”
Boyd had honestly expected her to ease into the revelation, not dive in head-first.
Rick sat back. “So?”
“It’s yours.”
His green eyes narrowed, even as his voice dropped. “I don’t know what you want from me.”
“I just wanted to tell you.”
“How do you even know it’s mine?”
Maybe Ella was holding up better to this than Boyd had expected because Rick was basically giving her all the answers she’d expected Boyd to give her when she’d revealed he was her father. “Because you’re the only guy I’ve slept with in the past twelve months, and I don’t believe in virgin births.”
“You said you were on the pill.”
“I am. Was. Guess I’m ‘lucky.’”
He grabbed his phone and started sliding toward the edge of the booth. “I’m going to need to see some DNA results. If it’s mine, let me see the receipts and I’ll reimburse you for half of an abortion—”
“I’m keeping it.”
He froze and stared at her for a long, calculating moment before speaking. His tone dropped. “You try to fucking soak me for child support and I will makesureyou never work in another hospital in this area again. I don’t want kids. I don’t even want agirlfriend, and I made that clear when we hooked up.”
“You mean when she was drunk, don’t you?” Boyd asked. “Nice guy, fucking a woman who couldn’t give true consent.”
Now Rick finally pulled his focus onto Boyd. “Who the hell are you?”
“I’m her father, asshole. And you’re older than me.”
He let out a harsh laugh. “Isn’t this the guy you said you’d found? Isn’t that why you were drunk that night? That’s what you told me. Now he’s, what, your fucking sidekick? Unbefuckinglievable.”
Rick leaned in. “Dude, let me tell you something. I’m still trying to pay off the last of my fucking student loans, on top of my malpractice insurance premiums and my daily living expenses and alimony to my fucking ex-wife. I don’t know what fantasy land you’re living in, but I drive a ten-year-old car and live in a shitty apartment. I amnotrich, and I donotwant a fucking kid. She’s a goddamned nurse. She should have given me a condom if she wasn’t sure if the pill would work, or taken a Plan B pill the next day. I see this bullshit all the time, a nurse thinks she’s gonna snag herself a doctor, and—”
Boyd hadn’t realized he’d started moving, to slide out of the booth and go after the guy, until he felt Ella’s hands clamp onto his left arm.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “Please, don’t. He’snotworth it.”
“I’mnot worth it?” Rick laughed. “Honey, I can have any piece of pussy I want in my fucking bed every night. I sleep with nurses all the fucking time, and even hot little residents. Not my fault you weren’t smart enough to go to medical school.”
Boyd tried to move again, but Ella’s grip tightened on his arm. “Listen, you little prick,” Boyd said. “You have a goddamned responsibility.”
Rick slid out of the booth and stood there with a smirk on his face. “Hey, I’m offering to go halves on an abortion. She wants to keep it? That’s all on her. We’re done here.” He jabbed a finger in her direction. “You try to cause me any trouble in the hospital and I’ll have my buddies swear on a stack of Bibles in front of HR that you’re a fucking slut, see if I don’t.”
He turned and stormed out of the coffeeshop.
Ella softly cried next to Boyd. “Told you. This was a waste of time and now he’ll try to ruin me at the hospital.”
Boyd slid his cellphone out of his pocket, hitstopon the video camera, and smiled. “No, he won’t.”
