by Natalie Ann
Those lots of kids meant she wouldn’t work for a long time in his mind either. The settling down thoughts soon turned to being trapped.
He just wasn’t ready for any of what she was planning and she wouldn’t listen. Molly saw white roses, doves, baby booties, and rattles.
He saw dollar signs, no sleep, and years full of stress while he tried to finish up medical school and his residency.
He wasn’t saying no to all of her ideas, he was saying he wasn’t ready. He asked her to wait.
She said yes.
Then she changed her mind.
His heart was broken. Or was it just bitterness now? Maybe a tiny bit of failure too.
The more he thought of it, the more he realized that maybe they didn’t have as much in common as he’d believed. Maybe he was lost in some of her fantasies too, but just with different timing.
And any fantasy he might have wasn’t in his mind now while he looked at Cori standing in front of him with a grin on her face, her arms crossed in front of her chest, and her toe tapping. “So what did you want to see me about?”
“You know what,” she said, giggling.
“Nope, I don’t.”
Why not play with her? Wasn’t that what Sierra wanted to do? It was his colleague’s wife, but Jack was laid back and Cori was just a riot and full of fun.
“Aren’t you a little old to be having that kind of relationship with someone?”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” he said.
“I was at lunch with Sierra when she sent you the text that I knew.”
“Knew what?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Are you playing with me?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
She huffed out. “Still. Grown adults that can’t commit. Come on.”
Not the words he wanted to hear. Wasn’t that what Molly threw in his face? That other women did too. Even his brother brought it up. That he couldn’t commit. He was committed. Just not to Molly’s level. Or any other woman’s.
“I think you’re being a bit nosy right now.”
“That’s what friends do,” she argued. “Ask Sierra. I’m always this way. If it wasn’t for me you two wouldn’t have even met to get to this point.”
“You mean the blind date setup that we weren’t supposed to know you were doing to begin with? Nosy like that?”
She giggled again. “Maybe.”
“Cori.”
Cori turned her head to see her husband standing there holding their daughter in his arms. “Leave Grey alone. Not everyone likes to be beaten with a bat nonstop.”
“Like you,” she said sweetly, then turned back to him. “I almost had to hit Jack over the head with the bat to get him to see what was right in front of his face.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “She’s not lying, but that doesn’t mean you get to do that to everyone else. I love you and I get to go home to your smiling face and hyper ways. Grey, the lucky dog, gets to go home where it’s nice and quiet.”
“Yes, I do,” he said, smiling at the two of them.
“And it’s lonely, isn’t it?” Cori asked. “Just admit it to yourself if you won’t to me.”
He shook his head and walked away laughing. It was that or let his smile fall when she hit the nail on the head. Maybe even smacked it with that bat she was talking about.
12
Stand By You
That night, Sierra was home cooking dinner while the local news was on. It was pretty darn boring in her eyes, but at least it looked like there was warmer weather on the horizon.
Mid-March could bring anything. Snow, rain, eighty degrees. It beat Buffalo where it was still pretty much snow that you were watching and waiting to melt.
Her phone rang, so she reached over to see her stepmother calling, and picked it up. “Hi, Beth.”
“Sierra, I haven’t talked to you in a few weeks. How have you been?”
“Good. Just cooking dinner now. How about you?”
“Busy with the kids. You know how it is.”
Beth never had her own kids and Sierra never asked why. Maybe she felt she was too old to by the time she married Sierra’s father. She was pretty sure her father didn’t want any more at that point. Either way, it wasn’t any of her business. Beth worked with little kids and she loved it.
“I do.”
“Speaking of kids. Marissa is pregnant.”
“She is? I’m going to go out on a very tiny and shaky limb and say it wasn’t planned?”
“No,” Beth said. “She and Josh have been together for years, as you know, but they just never really talked much about marriage.”
“And now comes baby,” she said, letting out a little laugh.
“Yes. And marriage. They want to get married right away. It’s not really a secret she’s pregnant even though it’s early yet. Just six weeks, but she wants to be married before the baby comes and she doesn’t want to look pregnant in a wedding gown.”
“That’s nice,” Sierra said. Marissa was Beth’s niece and always had a flair for the dramatic when it came to things like that. She didn’t like to be talked about or judged. The fact she was pregnant and not married was probably causing her to buy stock in antacids.
“They’re getting married in three weeks. Invitations will be going out in a few days. I hope you can make it.”
“I guess that is pretty fast. How are they managing that?”
“It’s not going to be big. Just family and close friends,” Beth said.
Sierra wondered what Marissa considered her to be. “She might not want me there.”
“You’re family and you were close friends too.”
“Were being the keyword.”
“Sierra, that wasn’t your fault. You did the right thing and we all told you that.”
She didn’t want to get into it again. The last thing she ever expected was that she’d have to leave her hometown, but she did what she knew was the right thing and she couldn’t regret it.
“I know. Not everyone agreed. Marissa didn’t like it because it brought unwanted attention to her for being friends with me.”
“She should have supported you, not turned her back.”
“Which means she isn’t going to want me at her wedding. That’s just as well,” she said.
“She will. I talked to Susan and she told me you were being invited.”
“I’m sure Beth and her mother fought over that,” she said. Susan always did have a soft spot for Sierra. Just another thing that drove Marissa insane.
Marissa was four years younger and liked having the attention on her. She was an only child and didn’t like to share.
“It doesn’t matter. Susan and Bob are paying for the wedding and they get to pick and choose who they are inviting too.”
“Geez, that doesn’t make me feel like I’m wanted if the bride doesn’t think I should be there.”
“Oh, dear. I didn’t mean it that way,” Beth said.
Sierra could almost see her stepmother’s eyes filling up. “I know you didn’t. But it’s probably best I don’t come.”
“Your father and I would love to see you. It’s been months since you came home at Thanksgiving. Won’t you please consider it? You don’t work weekends anymore.”
She didn’t work on the weekends, which was nice, but not in situations like this. “Maybe I’ve got plans,” she said.
“Please, Sierra. I’ve got a more active social life than you do.”
“That’s not true,” she said. “I went on a date this weekend.”
“Perfect. You can bring him.”
Shit. She should have seen that coming. “I don’t even know if I’m going and I doubt he could go either.”
“Why not? What’s his name? What does he do? You know your father is going to ask.”
Damn her for opening her mouth. “It was one date. There is no reason to say anything. I haven’t talked to him since our date.”
“That doesn’t sound too promi
sing then,” Beth said.
“Nope, it doesn’t. So anyway, let me get back to my dinner unless there is something else you wanted.”
“No. I just wanted to let you know to expect the invitation and I hope you consider coming. We’d really love to see you.”
“I can come visit and not go to the wedding, you know,” she said.
“You could but you don’t,” Beth pointed out.
Which was the truth because she really didn’t want to go back to her hometown any more than necessary. Things were still too fresh in her mind and she wasn’t ready to face it.
She hung up the phone and went back to filling her Instant Pot with her chicken, rice, and carrots. She loved the one pot meals and then had leftovers on top of it.
She was just putting the lid on when her phone rang again. She barely got one call in a week let alone two in a night.
This time it was her mother. “Hi, Mom,” she said.
“Sierra. I’m sure you heard about Marissa.”
She snorted. “How did you hear about Marissa?”
“She came and told me in the office.”
The oncology office that her mother worked out of was located in the same hospital that Marissa was a nurse in. The same one Sierra used to work at.
“I didn’t know you two still talked,” she said.
Marissa had stopped communicating with Sierra over a year ago. When they talked before, it was in passing at work since they worked in different departments. Marissa was an RN in the maternity ward. Sierra in the OR. If they weren’t talking at work, it was limited to social media interactions. Mainly Facebook.
Sierra got off of Facebook when everything went down over a year ago. She couldn’t stand the comments and harassment. Even unfriending people didn’t seem to matter. Closing her account was the only thing that worked.
“Now and again. I think she misses you.”
“She has a funny way of showing it since she doesn’t talk to me.”
“You could reach out to her, you know. Maybe send her a text congratulating her on the baby.”
“Is she happy about it? It’s unplanned and you know how she is about people whispering about her.”
It was one of the deciding reasons why she finally left town. Others didn’t need to be subjected to her problems. Those that talked to her were guilty by association and most backed away, not strong enough to handle it. She’d never been so alone before but wouldn’t seek others out for company knowing what was going to happen.
“I know you have bad feelings because she didn’t stand by you. She knew I wasn’t happy either. Some people just aren’t as strong as others, Sierra. What you did took a lot of courage. Very few people could have done that. You’ve always been the one to stand up to bullies and groups of people that others were intimidated by.”
“It was the right thing to do. I’d pick right over wrong every day of the week regardless of the consequences, but I paid the price. I’m here now.”
It went back to when she was in school. When her best friend, Dana, was picked on for being overweight. Sierra didn’t care, she just liked Dana as a person and she stood up to all those mean girls that made Dana cry every day.
Did that same group of mean girls turn on her in the eighth grade? They did, but she didn’t care.
Nor did she care in high school when the jocks were picking on an underclassman in gym class and knocked him to the gravel. Bobby Lewis had cuts and scratches on his knees and palms from falling. She went over and helped him up, used her shirt to wipe up some blood, then went to the nurse with him. Bobby had told her she’d make a good nurse someday. That she was calm, patient, and gave those boys enough shit that they actually looked nervous.
She hadn’t believed they were afraid of her, but they did leave Bobby alone. And from that day forward she’d looked into nursing and realized he’d been right.
She was calm in a crisis, fast on her feet, and caring.
She also hated bullies. She hated mean people. And she was damned if she’d tolerate it from anyone.
“You made that choice. No one said you had to leave. No one was forcing you out.”
She knew that. No one could touch her for what she did, but it didn’t change the way she was treated. “I couldn’t stay there any longer. It wasn’t the same. Anyone that talked to me got the brunt of it too. Why should other people be treated poorly for what I did?”
“I know, sweetie. You never liked to see anyone treated like crap and you always stood up for them. But in this case, I guess it was harder because they were treated that way as a result of something you did. We all understood. But Marissa regrets not defending you like you had for so many other people in life. She knew that about you and looked up to you for it, but when it was her time to do it, she chickened out. She would like you at the wedding, you know that deep down. Think about it and maybe send her a text. Just open the line of communication again.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“And if you decide to come, I’ve got a friend whose son will be in town that weekend. He’d take you if you want so you don’t have to go alone. I know you might not want to go because there will be a lot of old coworkers there. If you had someone on your arm it might help. Richie is an attorney. He’d be great to have by your side for the wedding.”
“Are you trying to set me up on a blind date? What guy wants to take some woman to a wedding for their first date?”
It made her think of Alexa doing that to Grey and that was how she ended up at Colt’s house. And why was Saturday night still popping in her head when it obviously meant nothing to Grey?
“I just think that you’d have more fun if there was someone by your side.”
“A stranger? No, thank you,” she said.
“Either way, I think you should come to the wedding and visit with family if you can.”
“Are you and Alan going to be there?” she asked, but already knew the answer. Her parents still got along well even though they were divorced. It was an odd situation.
“Of course. You know I’ve always been fond of Marissa and this is her day.”
She hung up the phone with her mother shortly after, then opened up a bottle of wine. If any night needed it, tonight sure did.
As much as she wanted to push what happened out of her mind, it was still there. She couldn’t avoid Buffalo and her family forever.
She was just sitting down with her dinner when her phone went off with a text this time. The last person she expected to see sending her anything was Grey. It’d been hours since she sent him the message about Cori and he didn’t even reply.
Sorry for the delay. Was busy with patients, then Cori cornered me. Thanks for the heads-up.
What the heck could Cori have said to him? How was she?
Can you talk? he typed back.
Guess it was worse than she thought. Sure.
Her phone rang in her hand and she started to laugh when she answered it. “What’s so funny?” Grey asked.
“Nothing.”
“It has to be something.”
Funny how they were just lapsing into a conversation as if they hadn’t talked in five hours rather than almost four days.
“I was thinking that I barely get one phone call a month and I’ve had three tonight.”
“Who else called you?” he asked. “Never mind, that was personal.”
“Not a big deal. Just my stepmother and then my mother. They were both calling to tell me the same thing.”
“That seems odd, sort of.”
“You know my parents and stepparents all get along. So not really odd. Anyway, what happened with Cori?”
“She cornered me. Or I should say stopped me in the hall. She told me I was too old to have that kind of a relationship with someone.”
She started to laugh. “Did you play it up or tell her it wasn’t that way?”
“I was evasive. I didn’t give her anything. Then Jack told her to leave me alone and she did.”
“She likes to be nosy. She means no harm, but I still think it’s funny to let her believe we are just getting it on and then going about our business.”
“Ah,” he said, “but we aren’t just getting it on. Matter of fact I haven’t reached out because I wondered if I was out of line with the way the date ended. You were doing me a favor and all, you didn’t sign up for any personal contact.”
She couldn’t control her laughter and picked up her wine to drain it. “Are you for real?”
“What did I say?” he asked.
“I wish I could see your face right now to know if you were joking.” There was silence on the other end. “Okay, maybe you aren’t. Grey, I’m a big girl. If I didn’t want your hands or lips on me, I would have kneed you in the groin and showed you the door. Instead you almost had to peel my hands off of you.”
He laughed. “I guess that’s clear enough. How come you haven’t reached out to me?”
“Good question. I guess I wasn’t sure and was waiting for you.”
“Why do we sound more like a couple than friends?” he asked.
“Heaven forbid,” she said, smiling. Good thing he couldn’t see her. “Friends do banter like this though.”
“How many of your friends do you kiss like you did me?”
“Good point. Well, we did say benefits...”
“Are you saying what I think you are saying?” he asked.
“Are you opposed to it?”
“I’m a guy. What do you think?”
“I’m not a guy and I’m not opposed to it. So where do we go from here?”
“I think the logical step is bed,” he said.
She heard the laughter in his voice but wasn’t sure she really wanted to do that either. “Yeah. I get it. The thing is, I’ve never been with someone for a booty call, so I’m not sure of the rules or how it works. Maybe it’s not a good idea.”
“I wouldn’t force or pressure you,” he said. “But you know, I’m a doctor and you don’t date doctors so it’s not like I can take you out.”
He had her there. “Sure, just throw that back in my face.”
