“Thank you, Brookie.” She sniffles, then squeezes impossibly tighter. “There’s no one in the world I would want to do this with, but you.”
My eyes well up. Not many times in our thirty years have I felt that Ellie really needed me for something. Most of our lives it’s been me needing her help to get out of a jam, or her taking charge when I had no clue what to do. It feels good that I can finally be the one helping.
I squeeze her back, but then my bladder reminds me that it might rupture.
“Ahh, I have to pee so bad.”
Ellie pulls away laughing. “I’ll let you get dressed.”
I’m sliding on my skirt when Ellie glances at her watch.
“Oh gosh, it’s later than I thought. I really need to get going. I’m taking Max and Sadie to the pool this afternoon.”
Max and Sadie are the kids that live next to Ellie and Josh. Ellie babysits for them from time to time, and during the summers when school is out, she typically watches them a few times a week. Their mom is now pregnant with baby number three so Ellie has been trying to get them out of the house during the afternoons so she can rest.
“We’ll talk later.” She grabs her purse off the chair and turns to me. “Will you be okay leaving on your own?”
I refrain from rolling my eyes at her, I know she hates it, and I’m trying my best to not change the loving atmosphere in the room. “Yes, I will be fine.”
“Okay, don’t forget the paperwork.”
Ellie drops a kiss on my cheek, then she’s out the door. Putting my shoes on is extra stressful due to my bladder screaming the whole time, but finally I am dressed and rushing out the exam room door to find the restroom. After the longest pee in history, I emerge feeling refreshed.
I’m headed for the checkout desk when I remember I left the paperwork in the exam room. Ugh. I hate when Ellie reminds me to do something, like she knows I will forget, and I’m a thousand percent sure that I won’t forget, but I still manage to, you guessed it, forget.
I’m two steps down the hallway, heading back toward the exam room, when the sight ofhimhas me screeching to a halt. Cole.
Walking down the hallway toward me, with a white doctor’s coat over his slacks, button-down shirt and tie, is Cole. He’s looking down at the clipboard in his hand, writing something as he walks. Forget the whole doctor thing, writing while walking, this guy has skills. He hasn’t noticed me yet. A million thoughts run through my head. Does he workhere?I know he’s a doctor, but we never got to the specifics of what kind of doctor he is. This office is specific to women’s health and fertility, so he must be an OBGYN. Oh, god, he looks at vaginas all day?
If he’s professionally studied the female anatomy, that explains a lot. Finding my G-spot was like his super power. Memories of our night together come rushing back to me. His long, groping fingers, wet tongue, and skillful cock. Man, if I thought memories of sex with Cole were driving me wild, seeing him in a white doctor’s coat is only going to add to the fantasies I’ve been having about him.
“Ms. Ryan, you forgot your paperwork.” I turn around to find the nurse from my exam walking toward me from the opposite direction Cole is. She’s got the paperwork in her hand and she’s waving it at me.
“I’m glad I caught you.” She smiles while handing me the paperwork, which I quickly fold and shove into my purse.
Yes, that’s exactly how I feel. Caught.
“Have a great day.” She moves quickly down the hall and away from what I anticipate will be an awkward reunion in about two seconds.
“Brooke?”
I turn to find Cole staring straight at me, he has closed the distance between us and he doesn’t look happy.
16
Cole
“Oh, hey.” Brooke’s green eyes are like saucers. She sounds easygoing, but the way her hands fidget with the strap of her purse tells me she’s anything but.
“Hi.” The single word comes out sharper than I wanted it to. “What are you doing here?”
“I had an appointment.”
I nod. “Okay.”
Brooke doesn’t need to elaborate. I’m a doctor and sensitive to the fact that we’re in the hallway of a fertility clinic, so I don’t push for details that would make her uncomfortable. I know many women that start to look into freezing their eggs when they’re in their late twenties, early thirties. It’s actually the best time to do it.
With my specialty in Maternal-Fetal Medicine, I receive referrals from Dr. Yang and Dr. Summers’ clinic all the time. Many women with fertility issues can have high-risk pregnancies. And patients using IVF to conceive often times become pregnant with multiples, also putting them in the high-risk pregnancy category. If a patient that Dr. Yang or Dr. Summers is treating becomes pregnant and it is a high-risk pregnancy, they will refer them to me, or as of recent, our new MFM specialist, Dr. Applegate. Typically, a separate appointment is set up at our clinic, but Dr. Summers requested that I meet with her patient in tandem today.
