“God, Ian. She’s damn lucky neither of you ended up dead. Damn lucky.”
“I know. I’ve said that to her. She didn’t appreciate it.”
“I bet. You know…” She trailed off and frowned. “Kids would come into the ER all the time with head wounds or weird lacerations and bruises. Sometimes the parents would tell the story and my hair would stand on end. Just that feeling that you know something’s not right, that you’re being lied to. I’ve made the call to CPS so many times while I was nursing. Sounds like a lot of people dropped the ball with you.”
He ran his thumb under her left eye. “Given how I think you’re looking right through me sometimes, I don’t doubt you would’ve picked up on it.”
“I miss my job,” she said softly. “I can’t give up on being a doctor. Sitting in the waiting room today with sick babies in front of me…I had this really strong feeling that I’m needed. I can’t give up.”
“Who ever told you that you had to give it up, baby?”
“No one’s told me. I’ve been weighing my options. It did occur to me to go back to nursing, get a job here and forget med school.”
“I don’t think you should do that. No way, Gabby. You can’t want to do that, can you?”
“No. But you said it yourself, my support system is here.”
“I know. I was kinda in shock when you first told me. Sorry about that. I had this mental image of you completely cutting me out of your life except for visitation rights and child support or something. I’m not worried about that now.”
“No. I wouldn’t do that to you.” She drew a circle on his shoulder, weighing her next words. “I don’t expect to you drop everything and run to Dallas for me. Take your time and decide if it’s what you want.”
“I just want to be with you. But I’d rather not leave until Brian has someone else lined up to take my place—if he doesn’t fire me first, anyway.”
“And in the meantime…we both go nuts.”
“We can work out some visits, I’m sure.”
“What, weekends when I’m already tired and sleep deprived, and when we both know Brian needs you to work?”
He chuckled. “You’re a little pessimistic, aren’t you?”
She looked at him gravely. “I usually consider it realistic.”
Sighing, he rolled onto his back, bending his arm back behind his head, and gazed at the ceiling. Gabby rested her chin on his chest, her own gaze as far away as her thoughts. “What is it you want me to do, then?” he finally asked.
“I couldn’t expect you to do anything more, Ian, I promise. But it sucks. You have to admit.”
“All we can do is roll with it. I wouldn’t expect you to do anything other than what you’re doing, either.”
“Are you sure if you had things the exact way you wanted, I’d be staying here?”
“Hell, no,” he said, lifting his head to look at her. It was a relief to see the vehemence at such an idea in his eyes. “If I thought you were staying here for me, it would drive me nuts. I’d pack you up and take you to Dallas myself. Are we clear on that?”
“Okay, then,” she said simply. “All right. We’ll roll with it. We’ll do what we can.”
The smile he gave her—how would she make it without seeing it every day? Even for a little while? He stroked her hair. “It’s all gonna be okay, baby. I’ll make it okay.”
It was everything she’d ever wanted to hear from him. In fact, she thought it was even better than hearing those three little overrated words that people tossed around every day without really meaning them.
God, to think she’d been dreading to go back to Dallas before she saw that little plus sign on her test strip. Now, excitement fluttered in her stomach. She hadn’t really known then how much she wanted to reclaim her world. And she missed Tina and her Dallas friends fiercely.
Ian snuggled her close, and Gabby closed her eyes. It was the best night’s sleep she’d had in a long time.
Chapter Seventeen
Ian dreaded going in to work only slightly less than he had yesterday when he knew Brian was pissed. He’d expected a confrontation but hadn’t gotten it, and he hadn’t provoked it because he figured Brian was too mad to discuss the situation. Today, he had absolutely no idea what to expect. Brian hadn’t exactly said all was forgiven last night, but he was probably ready to talk.
Ian wished he could’ve convinced Gabby not to make a scene, but once that woman got an idea in her head…
Sighing, he let himself in the side door and inwardly cringed as he walked past Brian’s office. Sure enough, his boss’s voice called to him.
“Hey. You got a second?”
Now his cringe wasn’t so inward, but he turned and stuck his head in the doorway. It was weird seeing Brian in here without Candace, but she still wasn’t feeling well in the mornings and had been coming in later in the day. “Sure, man.”
“Shut the door.”
Damn. Maybe he should try to get an explanation in first…but no. He just shut the door and dropped into the chair across from Brian, meeting his gaze directly but not defensively.
“Look,” Brian began, granting him the same favor. “I really want to apologize for yesterday. It was nothing against you, all right?”
He figured it was against him, but whatever, he’d go along. For one thing, he didn’t think he’d ever heard Brian Ross apologize to anyone before. “Okay.”
“But that’s my sister, and she’s been through a lot of shit. When that guy dumped her, I wanted to break his f**king neck. Now she’s being put through a lot more shit. She drives me nuts sometimes, but she deserves a break.”
“The last thing I want to do is hurt her, man. It goes without saying that we didn’t expect this. Now that it’s happened, though, I’m there for her. I’ll be there for her as long as she’ll let me.”
“Good. That’s all I can ask. I’ve known you for a long time, and I know you’re a solid guy. So I shouldn’t have gone off the way I did. I’d much rather see her with you than her usual type.”
Wow. “It’s okay. I know when I told you, it was the last thing you were expecting to hear come out of my mouth. Thanks for not knocking me the f**k out.” He punctuated the words with a smirk. “How’s Candace?”
“It was fried pickles with ranch dressing and macadamia nut cookies last night. But she made those herself. I didn’t have to go anywhere.”
“Hey, I’m with her on those. I don’t know about together, but yeah.”
“If Gab has any weird cravings, tell her to come over. Given our stash, we can probably take care of it. They can share notes.”
“I’ll do that. She hasn’t had any that she’s told me about, though.”
“What has she decided about school?”
A pang hit him in the chest. More than anything, he wanted her to go back to Dallas if that was what she wanted. Knowing he wouldn’t be seeing her every day, watching her belly grow… “She’s not giving up, so…we’ll work it out. I’ll do everything I can for her.”
Brian tilted his head back in contemplation for a moment. “Are you planning on going back?”
He’d thought he might have some time before he had to get into this part of things with Brian, but that had been wishful thinking. It stood to reason his boss would wonder about his plans. Quitting a job you hated was one thing. Quitting a job you liked… That sucked. Sighing, he rubbed a hand over his hair. “Not in the very near future,” he said carefully, “but eventually, yes. Sorry, man. Again, I never thought anything like this could happen.”
“Yeah. I hear you. Well, we love having you, but you know…long distance will be tough. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to go through it.” Ian cast his gaze downward and reserved comment. Brian went on. “Don’t feel like you have to stay if you don’t want to. It was pretty rough before you got here, but we survived. I’m sure we’ll survive again.”
Why couldn’t Ian have had a family like this growing up? Brian was willing to sacrifice a little of his sanity at work for his sister’s happiness. He would almost think the guy was up to something, but no. That was only his suspicious mind at work. He’d had to grow up that way—questioning whether every nice gesture from someone was going to end with a fist upside his head. If not from his stepfather, then the kids on his street or the kids at his school. He’d grown up fighting. He still was wary and mistrustful of a world where it appeared he didn’t have to.
It was sad, and he was f**king tired of it.
“I’m cool with being here awhile longer. I keep thinking she’ll get to Dallas and decide she doesn’t want me there after all.” Yeah, who was the pessimist now?
“One thing about Gabriella,” Brian said, and Ian thought it was the first time he’d ever heard him say her full name. “If she doesn’t think you’re worth her time, you’ll know it. But if you are, then she’ll do anything for you. I’ve never known her to screw anyone over. She’s usually the one who gets screwed. Which is another reason for the way I acted yesterday.”
“I’m not out to do that,” Ian said, thinking he had that in common with her. “I couldn’t imagine hurting her.”
“Well, whatever you decide to do, keep me in the loop.” Brian fiddled with a pen he picked up from the desktop, then finally sighed and tapped it against the polished wood a couple of times with finality. “All right. As long as we’re cool.”
“We’re cool.” Both of them stood and shook on it.
Thank God that was done.
Walking up to her parents’ front door that afternoon, Gabby wondered if she should knock. Now, with the light of day hitting her between the eyes, she regretted her words to her mother last night and wondered if she was even welcome any longer. Gabby would be a mother herself in a few months, and she damn sure didn’t want karma coming around to bite her in the ass once her kids were grown and making their own (sometimes idiotic) choices.
But that was crazy. She’d never knocked to enter her parents’ house before, even when she came in for visits. She’d always just barged in and announced her presence.
Before she could reach for the knob, though, the door swung open, and her mother stood there with purse in hand and determination on her face. “How do you feel?”
“Fine?” Gabby said tentatively, so confused right now that it came out a question.
“Good. You and I are going shopping,” Gianna declared.
Gabby glanced down at her budding pregnancy uniform—cami and yoga pants. Her hair was still in its unkempt bun. “Okaaay.”
“You look fine. Let’s go.”
“Mom—”
“Shh. I’m not letting you go back to Dallas without a few things for when you start to show.”