Destined to Love (Starting Over Trilogy Book 3) (2 page)

I go into work carrying doughnuts and coffee for Sara, Brea, and me. They are already at their desks workin
g
when I get there. My friends warmly greet me.

“I brought breakfast,” I say, placing the bag of doughnuts and coffee on the break-room table.

Sara stands, looks in the bag, and is surprised to see doughnuts instead of the muffins that I usually bring.
 

“First Brea, and now you. If we keep eating these, we are all going to get fat.”
 

Brea stands up from her desk and rubs her big pregnant belly: “Who are you calling fat?”

We all laugh as Brea makes her way over to the table and takes a doughnut from the bag.

“Um, not you.” I smile.
 

“Good, I’m very sensitive about my weight, you know.” Brea picks up a vanilla cream fill doughnuts and takes a bite.
 

“Yeah, we can see that.” Sara laughs.

“How was your birthday dinner with Mason last night?” Brea asks.
 

“It was good; thanks for asking.” I take my coffee and head over to my desk. I don’t want to go into details about last night with them. I sit at my desk and my phone rings. Grateful for the distraction, I answer it cheerfully.

We are busy until lunchtime. I tell Sara and Brea that I am going to have lunch with Mason at his office. They both brought their lunches to work today and will stay in and eat at the office.
 

I park my car in the parking lot outside of Mason’s office. I have butterflies in my stomach wondering why he wanted to meet me here. He has never asked me to have lunch with him here before. Maybe he wants to end our relationship. Maybe it’s too much for him to handle. God, what if he doesn’t even remember last night. He was pretty drunk. His car is the only other car in the lot, besides mine. I send him a text and tell him I am outside. Mason opens the back door for me and greets me with a smile.
 

“Hi, I’m glad you made it.” He holds the door open wide for me to walk through.

“We had some down time, so I was able to leave,” I say, following him down the hallway and into his office.

“You look beautiful. Please sit,” he says, pointing to the brown leather couch, as he closes his office door.
 

“Thank you and all right.” I sit down and Mason sits across from me in one of the big overstuffed cloth chairs.

“Have you eaten yet?”

“No, not yet. I came right over to see you. I’ll get something when I leave.” Mason seems so formal and it is beginning to scare me. “Is everything all right?”
 

Mason leans up from the chair and rests his elbows on his knees. “Everything’s fine. Carla is bringing us food back so we can have lunch together here before you leave.”
 

“Ok, are you sure you’re all right? You seem a little… different.”
 

Mason looks at me with a sad smile. “I wanted to talk to you about last night.”
 

“Mason, look, if this is too much for you, I totally get that. I didn’t mean to drop a bomb on you like that. I had no idea you were going to propose to me last night.” I start to stand and Mason stops me.
 

“Don’t leave, sit down,” he says and I do. I always do what Mason wants. He carries such authority.

“Are you done?” he asks.
 

“Yes,” I say, straightening my skirt and picking at a piece of lint that doesn’t exist.
 

“Good. First of all, I’m sorry about last night. I should have handled things differently.”
 

“Mason, please…”
 

 
“Angel, let me talk.” 

“Ok.” It’s the only thing I say. Mason is never short with me; I know he has something important to say.

 
“Last night you told me you took three pregnancy tests. Is that right?” 

“Yes.”
 

“Where did you buy them?”
 

“What difference…”
 

“Where, Angel?”
 

“Publix.”
 

“Did you take them all at once or did you wait in between?”
 

“I took one, waited for the results, and then took another one. I couldn’t pee right away so I had to drink some water before I took the last one.”
 

“I see.”
 

“Look, Mason, I don’t see what difference it makes about where I bought them or how long I waited to pee in between the tests.”

“Angel, what does this say?” he asks, pointing to his nametag, smiling.
 

I have to smile, too. “It says, Mason Myles.”
 

“Look again, what else does it say?”
 

Damn him, I know where he’s going with this.
I lean forward and squint my eyes to make it seem like I can’t read the rest of it.

“What else does it say, Angel?”
 

“It says, Mason Myles, M.D.” I smile.
 

“Very good, do you know why it says M.D. after my name?”
 

I don’t say anything, I just look at him.

“I’ll tell you why. I went to medical school for a very long time to get those initials after my name. Believe it or not, I’m a pretty smart man and one thing I know a lot about is medicine.”
 

“Ok, doctor, I get it. What is your point?”
 

“Angel, my point is, sometimes those tests you buy in the grocery stores, supermarkets, or pharmacies are old and outdated. Sometimes those tests are not accurate or can give a false positive. My point is, maybe it was an old test and maybe, just maybe, it was a false positive.”
 

“Oh God, I never thought about that,” I say, leaning back into the couch.
 

There is a knock at the door. Mason stands and goes to the door to answer it. I don’t see anyone, but I can hear him talking to his office manager and friend, Carla. He closes the door and carries the food over and places it on the coffee table.

Mason sits beside me on the couch. He takes my hand in his and says, “Angel, look at me.”
 

I look up at him.

“I would like to get you an accurate pregnancy test; that requires me to draw some blood and send it out to be tested. I want to be positive so we know what our future holds for us.”
 

I just sit there. I hear him, but I don’t say anything. There is hope that I may not be pregnant, pregnant with Jim’s baby.

When I look at him, he asks, “Would you be willing to take another pregnancy test? I’ll send your blood out with an alias listed on it, so no one will know it’s you.”

“You think maybe those tests were wrong?”
 

“I don’t know,” he says, stroking my knuckle with his thumb. “I just want to be 100 percent positive so we know what to expect.”

“Of course, I will. Whatever it takes to know, I’ll do it.”
 

“That’s my girl,” Mason smiles. “Let’s eat first, then I’ll get a blood sample from you.”
 

Mason
 

I walk Angel out to her car and open her door for her.

“It will take a day or two until we get the results back. There’s no need to worry or stress about this until we know the results.”
 

“I know, but it’s just so hard.”
 

“Beauty,” I say, cupping her cheeks with my hands. “Don’t worry about this, we can’t change anything by worrying about it, and we’ll deal with the news when we get it.”
 

Angel takes a deep breath and leans her cheek into my hand before closing her eyes.

I kiss her forehead and leave my mouth there, “I love you.”
 

“I love you, too.”
 

“I’ll meet you at home tonight; buckle up and drive safely. We’ll talk more about this then.”
 

“Ok, have a good day at work,” she says as she climbs into her SUV.

I watch as Angel pulls out of the parking lot before I run my hands through my hair. This is going to be a stressful couple days. I don’t want her to worry so I’ll do what I need to do to plaster a believable smile to my face.

I head inside and ask Carla to call the lab company to pick up the stat lab draws. I know it’s early, but I want them sent out as soon as possible. Usually they pick up the labs at the end of the day, but I don’t want to wait any longer than I have to.

Carla doesn’t ask me any questions, and I wouldn’t expect her to. She is an excellent office manager. She calls the lab for an early pick-up, and I return to my office to get ready to see more patients.

I arrive at home and am surprised to see Angel is already there. I walk into the house and the aroma of Italian food hits me immediately. Chicken Parmesan and pasta. Angel has her back to me as she stands at the stove. She is still so easily startled; I clear my throat before walking further into the kitchen.

“It smells delicious in here,” I say, walking up behind her and wrapping my arms around her.

“Thank you. I thought I would make your favorite … well,
one of your favorite meals.” 

“That was thoughtful. What’s the special occasion?” I ask, wrapping my arm around her and kissing the top of her head.

“Just because I think you are wonderful and the best thing that has ever happened to me.” She turns around and steps away from the stove, before standing on her tiptoes to kiss me.

I lift her up off the floor and she squeals. I laugh. “Well, I think you are pretty amazing yourself,” I say, kissing her back.

I set her down gently until her feet are on the ground. “Do I have time to shower first?”
 

“You have about 20 minutes.”
 

“Perfect.”
 

“Do you want to eat in here or outside tonight?”
 

I look outside and see that the tide is going out. “How about we eat outside, then we can walk on the beach and look for sea treasures, since it’s low tide?” Angel calls seashells, sea rocks, sharks’ teeth, and sand dollars, sea treasures. Well, anything that comes from the ocean is considered a sea treasure when it comes to Angel.

“Oh, that sounds great. I have a glass vase that needs to be filled up with seashells,” she says, excitedly.
 

“All right, just give me 20 minutes and I’ll be ready to eat,” I say, walking into the master bedroom.
 

After dinner I help Angel clear the table and help her clean up the kitchen. Once everything is put away and cleaned up, Angel grabs two Baggies from the drawer and hands one to me.

“Here, this is for your sea treasures.”
 

“Thank you,” I say, taking the Baggie from her.
 

I take her hand in mine and we walk on the beach. Angel picks up seashells and rocks and puts them in her Baggie. I find a few sharks’ teeth and place them in my Baggie.

“You’re good at finding sharks’ teeth. I have never been able to find one on my own.”
 

“It’s because you don’t know what to look for.”
 

“What do you mean?”
 

I stop near a pile of seashells and let go of Angel’s hand.
 

“What do you see?” I ask, while looking down at the pile of shells.
 

Angel looks down at the pile of seashells and frowns. “I see some broken seashells.”
 

“Yes, but what else do you see?”
 

She looks at the pile again with furrowed brows.
 

“Beauty, look beyond the broken shells.”
 

Angel looks at the seashells and kicks a few shells around with her feet. She smiles and bends down to pick something up. She stands and holds two sharks’ teeth in her hands.

“Look,” she smiles, “I found some.”
 

“Very good, now you know what to look for.” I take her hand and we turn back towards the beach house.

“Thank you, Mason.”
 

I smile and say, “You’re welcome, Beauty.”
 

“Hey, I was thinking that we should go to church on Sunday,” Angel says, while looking up at me.
 

“I think that is a great idea,” I say, looking down at her.
 

“You do?”
 

“I do. Do you have a church that you go to?”
 

“No.” She frowns.
 

“We could find one together or we could go to the church that I went to as a child. Mom and Dad still go there. It’s not a Catholic Church, though.”
 

“Sounds perfect. God is God, and I don’t believe it matters what church or building you’re in to worship him.”