“Well? Anything?” He sounds breathless, his face flushed and a cocky ass smirk on his face.
“Nope, nothing at all.” I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. That’s when I hear tires skid to a stop behind Matt’s truck. We both look and I see it’s Donovan’s silver BMW. He jumps out the car, wearing khaki shorts and a white t-shirt, looking as sexy as ever. It’s his face that I notice first, and it’s contorted into one pissed off glare, right at Matt.
Oh, shit. This is bad. This is really bad.
My mind is racing. Matt turns to face Donovan, his arms crossed over his chest. “Who the hell are you?”
“Uhh...,” is all I can get out, my brain refusing to function and my mouth failing to form words. This is before Donovan shoves him as hard as he can to the ground and screams, “I’m her boyfriend! And keep your fucking mouth off her. ”
Chapter 26
Donovan
My heart races as I look at this bastard on the ground in front of me. I look at Allie, a look of terror on her face. I don’t know if it’s from me rolling up to kick this dude’s ass or the fact that he had his tongue shoved down her throat. Maybe it’s a little bit of both.
The guy, who I am assuming is no one other than Matt Bowman, is getting up and looking extremely angry.
Oh, it’s on, dude. Bring it.
He gets to his feet, obviously a bit off balance. He takes a swing at me and misses as I move too fast for him. He takes another punch and gets me in the gut. It knocks the wind out of me; I’m vaguely aware that Allie is trying to pull us apart. She starts yelling, “Break it up! Stop it! Both of you!”
Not happening, sweetheart.
I jab him right in his jaw and he swears loudly. Ha, direct hit and I feel a small triumph.
“Get off of my property, Matt. Right now before I call the police on your ass, again.” Julie storms out of the house and is heading right towards us. “You have no right to be here, and obviously, you aren’t wanted here.”
“Fine, I’ll leave. But uh, dude. Just so you know, she kissed me back and she liked it. Just ask her.” Matt has a bruise forming on the left side of his face and I don’t think I could have been dealt a lower blow then he just did. He hops in his beat up piece of crap truck and spins gravel as he leaves.
Julie looks at me, giving me a
what the hell was that
look and I shrug my shoulders. She gives me a slight smile and heads back inside to tend to a little boy who’s looking out the glass door.
I turn to Allie and I shove my hands in my pockets. “Is it true? Did you kiss him back?” My heart drops to my feet as I wait for her answer, which is taking far too long. I nod my head. “I get it. If you want him back, take him. I won’t interfere with you two. I wish you nothing but happiness, Allie.” I turn around, because I can’t stand to look at her. I understand that I hurt her, too, but this...this is like cheating.
“Donovan, wait!” she yelps and I stop in my tracks. I don’t turn to face her yet, but I feel her presence right behind me.
“What? What is there to say?”
“There’s a whole lot to say. We need to have a serious conversation, like now. But I need to take Jackson home first.”
“Jackson? As in your son, Jackson?” This time I do turn to look at her and her eyes immediately shift towards the house. The little boy comes running out and grabs ahold of Allie’s legs. Her hand rubs tiny circles on his back. She’s a natural at this mom thing.
“Momma, who is this?” He stares at me with the same green eyes as his mother’s.
“Hi, my name is Donovan. I’m one of your momma’s friends.” I bend down to his level. I’ve learned to do this when I have children as patients. If you get on their level, they aren’t nearly as scared of you. Too bad I don’t have a sticker or sucker right now. All the anger I had just five minutes leaves me as I look as the flesh and blood of the woman I love. “What’s your name, bud?”
“Jackson Marshall Anderson,” he says proudly. It makes me smile, even though my heart hurts right now.
“It’s nice to meet you, Jackson Marshall Anderson. My name is Dr. Donovan James Callahan.” His eyes become wide with fear and he hides behind his momma’s legs. “Don’t worry, I’m not your doctor. No shots, I promise.” I hold my hands up so he can see I don’t have a huge syringe. He peeks at me, and when he’s satisfied that I’m not going to hurt him, he comes back out.
“You’re a doctor?”
“Yep, you got it.” I glance up to Allie and she’s smiling, watching her son’s interaction with me. I’ve always been good with kids. I wanted to be a teacher when I was really little, but that changed when I helped my baby sister with a really bad cut on her knee. Or at least, I thought it was terrible when I was six. She cut her knees on the gravel in the driveway, so I ran to get water and bandages. She was screaming and crying so loud, but when I put the band-aids on her knees, she calmed down. That’s when I knew what I was destined to be. Since then, I’ve always wanted to be a doctor.
“Are you rich?” His green eyes become bright and full of curiosity. I can’t help but to laugh.
“A lot of people think doctors have a lot of money. I only do it because I want to help people. It doesn’t matter if I make all the money in the world or nothing at all. I do it because I want to.” My answer seems to satisfy him.
“Do you cut people open?”
“Uh, no. I have, but not on a daily basis.”
“Cool! Momma, did you hear that? He’s cut someone open before!” He wraps his arms back around Allie’s legs and jumps up and down. I stand to face them. She smiles sweetly at her son and it makes me miss my own mother. I remember her smiling at me like that before, like she was proud of me. I haven’t had that in a long time.
“We don’t have to take him home right now. He can stay and hang out, that is, if your momma says it’s okay.” I wink at Jackson and he grabs her hand and yanks.
“Please, can I stay for a little while? Please?” he begs.
“Sure, that’s perfectly fine with me. You know I love having you around, bud,” she smiles, ruffling his dark hair.
He runs back inside to Julie, yelling, “Gramma Julie, I’m hungry. Can we have chicken nuggets?” He slams the door behind him.
We stand there, just staring at each other. Words seem to be failing us both. I try to speak, but I can’t seem to form a complete sentence. I want so bad to tell her my heart hasn’t been whole since she left me in Savannah, that I love her more than life itself, and that I want my forever to be her. She speaks first instead.
“Donovan, I know you drove up here to see me. And I’m sorry that you saw Matt kissing me. But yes, I did kiss him back; to get back at you.” Tears start trickling down her cheeks. “You have no idea the hurt that you caused when I realized you lied to me. I told you before, I can’t stand lying. I detest it, and you blatantly lied through your teeth to me. Why couldn’t you be honest?” She puts her face in her hands and I know she doesn’t want me to see her cry.
I take a small step towards her, wanting nothing more but to hold hold her. “Allie, I’m so, so sorry. I know I should have been honest with you. I was going to be; I wanted to tell you when we were alone and I could tell you myself. I didn’t want you to hear that shit from Frankie.” I look at the ground; I can’t bear to see the hurt I have caused her. “Can you blame me? Would you think differently of me if I told you to begin with? Would you even consider being with me once you learned that I slept with my best friend’s step-mom?” I feel the sting of unshed tears, but I try to hold them back. “I hate that I’ve lied to you and I hate myself even more for causing you all this pain. I wanted to tell you, I really did. But I was too much of a pussy to.”
I hear a muffled sob come from her and it breaks me down. I let the tears fall unchecked. Then she says exactly what I didn’t want to hear. “Donovan, you need to leave. Now.”
Chapter 27
Allie
Those five words I just said to him break my heart, but I needed to say them. I can’t think straight with him here. I want him to take me in his arms and take me back to Atlanta; I want everything to be like it was before this crap happened. But it’s not. It’s all different now.
“Allie, please...,” his voice cracks and it almost breaks me down. I inhale, find the courage to stand by my decision, and breathe out.
“I’m not saying goodbye forever. I’m saying I need to think and I can’t do it with you right here. I need to figure out if you’re the one I want to be with. I don’t even know if I can trust you right now. Please, all I’m asking for is time.” I back up, not bearing being so close to him. “Go home, Donovan.”
He lifts his head and I see the tears that dampen his cheeks. Oh my God, this is so hard. I turn and walk towards the house, not looking back. I can’t take it and I want to just spend some time with my son before he has to go home. I open the door and I hear Donovan jerk his car door open. It doesn’t shut immediately, but I refuse to look back. I let the glass door slam behind me and walk into the kitchen where Jackson and Mom are putting nuggets into the oven.
“Where is Dr. Donovan?” my son asks. He stretches his little neck to look behind me.
I sigh, then I hear the car peel out of the driveway. “He had to go home, baby boy.” I leave it at just that. I’m not going to tell him I sent him away, that I need to sort out my screwed up feelings.
“Oh,” his little face drops, then goes back to helping Mom. She gives me a sympathetic smile.
“You guys need some help?” I rub my hands together, ready to throw myself into something, anything, to get my mind off the man just drove all the way here to talk to me. The man that I just told to leave. My mom hands a masher to me and points to the silver pot of boiling water.
“Jackson wanted some of my homemade mashed potatoes with his chicken nuggets. It’s still boiling, so keep an eye out.” My mother knows me so well. She knows that I need distraction in order not to think about the problems in my life. However, I know the conversation that will happen later. I dread it, so I dive right in and help make Jackson the best mashed potatoes he has ever had.
I put the side dish on the plates while Mom gets the nuggets. Jackson set the table for us. We sit down and I ask my son to pray for us. He folds his tiny hands and closes his eyes. He clears his throat before he begins.
“Dear Jesus, thank you for our food. Thank you for Mommy and Daddy. Thank you for Momma, Uncle Jon, Aunt Jodi, Gramma Julie, and my cousins. Thank you for Dr. Donovan and his really cool car. Thank you for letting me meet him today. Amen.”
The last couple sentences almost make me burst into tears, but I refrain. I don’t want my son to see me cry. We eat the rest of our lunch, engaging in small talk with the little guy. He tells us how he does not like Kara and that she follows him around all the time. Jackson tells us about his little friends in the neighborhood, his toys, and how much he wants to go to a monster truck rally. I absorb everything he says like I’m a sponge, never wanting to miss a moment that I’m blessed with to have him around. I look at the clock and frown. “It’s time to go back home, Jackson. Let’s go, buddy.” He hops down off the chair and hugs Mom around her legs. She returns it with a bear hug of her own and gives him three kisses, which mean ‘I love you’. He runs to get his shoes and I stand in the kitchen with Mom. I know what’s coming.
“What exactly happened? And why isn’t Donovan here anymore?” Her face is stern and I know she means business. I gulp back my fear of the woman that gave birth to me. She doesn’t scare me often, but right now, I want to jump out of my skin.
“Because I needed to come here and think. I can’t have him here, clouding my ability to sort things out. I don’t really want to talk about this right now. Can we talk when I get back home from taking Jackson back?”
“Oh, you better believe it.” She turns away from me and it makes my heart drop. Why is she so pissed off at me? Why can’t she understand what I need is time? Before I really get the chance to think anymore about it, the super cute kid that I birthed comes around the corner.
“I’m ready, momma!” He has put his shoes on the wrong feet and it makes me giggle.
After I help him fix his sneakers, we walk back hand in hand to the Anderson’s. Mary is outside, weeding the flower beds when we come up the sidewalk. “Hi, Mommy!” he shouts as he throws his arms around her neck. I can’t lie; it send just a pang of jealousy through me. It doesn’t last, because I know this is the best decision I could have made for him. I bend down to his level.
“I’ll see you around, sport. I’m in town for a few more days, so we get to hang out some more.” The thought makes me crack a smile and he squeals.
“Yay! Can I see you tomorrow?”
“Sure thing, baby.” I wrap my arms around him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Will Dr. Donovan be around this time? I like him.” He rests his head on my shoulder. I try not to shudder.
“I doubt it, but we’ll see.”
“Okay, bye bye, Momma.”
I blow him one last kiss as he heads inside, probably to get back to his football game he left. Mary grins at me. “So, who is this Donovan? Is he your new boyfriend?”