Page 49 of Dr. Baby Daddy
Kate rocks us side to side before letting me go and dishing up the breakfast. “Everything is going to be fine with him. You know it is.”
I shake my head and take my plate. “I really don’t know that. He says that he cares about me, but I can barely get a message back. It’s like he suggested to take the weekend away and then really thought about what that meant and decided he didn’t want it.”
“Well, if he can’t see that you’re the best thing to ever happen to him, then that’s his loss. He’ll figure that out eventually, and when he does, it’s going to be too little too late.”
I do a little dance after taking the first bite of the pancakes. “This is amazing. Anyway, logically, I know that.”
“But hearts are a fickle thing, and you keep thinking that there’s a chance that he’s going to wake up and get his act together.” Kate smiles and cups her mug. “I understand that. It’s why I’ve avoided dating for the last couple years. The two of you seemed like a good match, though. You’re both ambitious and work too hard.”
“And I think that’s the thing that’s getting between us. That and the way I push people too hard.”
Kate scoffs. “Izzy, the last thing you are is pushy. Everything you’ve asked him to do was a question, not a command. He’s the one who keeps telling you that he can do things and then backing out whenhegets scared.”
I move some of the pancake around on my plate, sopping up the blueberry syrup. “I know that too. It’s just this narrative that keeps playing in my head.”
She nods and clears the dirty dishes away before pulling out a basket filled with gel nail polish. “Come on, we’re going to spend a day at Kate’s spa, and you’re going to get it all off of your chest.”
I take a seat at the kitchen island beside her as she starts to unload the supplies from the baskets. “There’s a part of me that wants to charge into the hospital and demand that he tells me what’s going on, but I know that won’t change anything. If he wanted to be with me, he would.”
“He’s working a lot, isn’t he?”
“More than he was, yes, but even on the days he has off, he isn’t coming around.”
“Pick which color you like.” Kate sets a couple different bottles in front of me and I pick out a deep, ruby color. “For what it’s worth, if you don’t feel like it will change anything, then why bother? Over the last week, you’ve been the one fighting for the relationship. Maybe it’s time that he fights for it.”
I roll my bottom lip into my mouth as Kate takes my hand and starts to shape my nails with a file. “I think I need to move out.”
The file drops to the floor as her eyes widen. “What?”
“I don’t think being here is going to fix anything. And the rent is expensive. I don’t have another show lined up after the first one closes yet. I’m going to have to prepare for the worst, and with the beginning of the month only two weeks away, I need to start figuring that out.”
“And you think that moving out is the way to solve things?” She leans over the arm of the stool and picks up the file from the floor. “Iz, that seems kind of drastic. I get it from the rent end of things, but are you sure running away is the best solution?”
“Distance makes the heart grow fonder, or something like that, doesn’t it?” I shrug as she files down the nails on my other hand. “It isn’t just because of him. Honestly, the rent is the biggest factor.”
“Then what part is Oliver playing?”
“The part of the man I never should have fallen for. He’s making it clear that our relationship didn’t mean as much to him as I thought it did. Which means that it’s time for me to pick up the pieces of my broken heart and move on.”
Kate raises an eyebrow. “And now you need a whole new apartment to do that?”
“The walls are thin.” I wince just thinking about it. “If Oliver brings someone else home, I don’t want to be around to hear that.”
“Well then, I guess I’ll give my realtor friend a call and tell him that you’re in the market for a new place.”
I smile, even as my chest constricts and the air in my lungs is hard to breathe. “Thank you. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“You’d figure it out. You’re a capable young woman who got herself to New York. Even if you had nobody else, you would be thriving in the city.”
Her words make me feel the best I have in days.
She’s right. I got myself to the city. I made my dreams come true. Over the last several years, I’ve put in the work to get me to this point. I’ve never been afraid of chasing after my dreams, even when it causes rifts in relationships.
I was willing to open up those dreams and make them work with Oliver in my life, but he doesn’t want the same thing. Even if he pretended for weeks that he did.
What I thought the next few months were going to look like has changed drastically. Oliver isn’t going to be part of them. There won’t be any weekend trips or meeting each other’s families. He won’t be in the front row at my first Broadway show.
The possibility of that future is coming to an end. He’s made sure of that.