Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
After chicken sandwiches and a bucket of fries, Wyatt told me he wanted to take me shopping.
“You’re joking, right?”
He shook his head. “No. This is one of those things I do every year. It’s part of my tradition. The town has the big Christmas tree in the center, but at my condo I have a tree also. It’s obviously much smaller, but every year I buy a new snowflake ornament. I need your help finding one.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, why am I going on this shopping trip?”
“I just told you, it’s something I love about the holidays. I want you to experience it with me.”
I sighed and huffed a laugh. “Okay. I will help you find the one unique snowflake of the year.”
He beamed and parked his SUV in front of the mall. Good God, the mall. Right before Christmas.
“Well, the good thing is we get to do something on my list tonight, too.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked, tugging the collar up on his jacket. The wind whipped around us, stinging my skin and stealing my breath.
“Yeah. One of the things I hate about this time of year is shopping. In person. At a mall.”
Wyatt laughed. “Yeah, it can get pretty crazy.”
I nodded. Malls were a form of torture on a good day. All the days from Black Friday to Christmas Eve, the mall was insanity. I had no idea why anyone would want to step foot in a mall.
Yet there I was, doing exactly that.
“Where to first?” he asked, like I would have any idea.
“Uh, I’m not a shopper. I don’t know my way around the mall. You’re going to need to direct this one.”
“Okay. Let’s go this way.”
He strolled casually over the black, white, and mauve tiles like he didn’t have a care in the world.
I watched the stressed out moms dragging kids behind them, the teenagers trying to hide that they were out with their parents, and the babies throwing temper tantrums. It was everything I hated, times ten.
“How are you so calm?”
“What do you mean?”
“Doesn’t any of this bother you?”
“Any of what?”
“You can’t seriously tell me that you haven’t noticed all the screaming kids and stressed out adults.”
He shrugged. “I don’t have that gene that signals kids to me. I’ve never planned on having any, so I pretty much don’t notice them. And the parents? I guess I don’t notice them because I don’t notice the kids.”
I shook my head. “I wish I could do that.”
“You’re a sensitive person, Dr. Peyton. What people are going through impacts you.”
I nodded. “That’s true. Does that mean you’re insensitive?” I teased.
A laugh burst out of him, drawing the attention of a few people nearby. The moms shot him dirty looks that he was out laughing and having fun and they were struggling not to scream at their kids.
“Maybe it does. I’ve certainly been called that by an ex or two.”
“You really know how to pick them, don’t you?”
“Yeah, something like that,” he said with a grin.
We walked along, dodging strollers and rushing adults, before we ducked into a store that looked like it could be promising.
“I think I come here every year looking for something.”
“Anything good?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Sometimes. We’ll see what they have this year.”
Wyatt led me to the ornament section, yes the store had an entire section dedicated to ornaments, and started browsing. I looked with him, but most of the ornaments were childish. Like cartoons. They didn’t suit him.
“I’m not really inspired by any of these,” he said finally.
“Oh, good,” I breathed. “I was going to worry if you liked one.”
He laughed. “They’re not really me.”
“I agree.”
“Next?”
I nodded.
When we were out of the store, a kid ran past us. I jumped closer to Wyatt so the kid didn’t run me over. He caught me around the waist and held me for a long moment. His eyes sparkled before he released my waist and reached for my hand.
“I noticed that kid,” he said with a nod toward the tyrant.
I laughed, shaking my head at him.
We went to another store that had home decor all over. Wyatt walked around and found one that he thought he already had. I suggested one that was pink and sparkly, but he wasn’t impressed with it.
We looked in a few more stores, not finding anything that was right for Wyatt. I could tell he was getting frustrated so I suggested we go to the food court.
“We just had dinner.”
I shrugged. “So? I always have room for ice cream, don’t you?”
I paused, then nodded. “I think I do. It’s like a secret compartment that’s only available to ice cream.”
“I agree. I told my mom when I was little that I had a second stomach, an ice cream stomach, and that I could still be hungry for ice cream even if I was full of dinner.”
Wyatt laughed. “You were a crafty one, weren’t you?”
“Oh, yes. I think I drove my parents crazy.”
“Do they live around here?”
I shook my head. “I grew up near Albany. They still live there.”
“Do you have any siblings besides Vicki?”
“Nope.”
“I’m kind of surprised your parents didn’t move here when you both ended up here.”
I shrugged, not telling him that it was definitely for the best. “They’re happy where they are. They both grew up there and have a lot of friends. I don’t think they’d like living here.”
“Now, as the mayor, that’s hard to hear.”
I grinned. “No offense, Mr. Mayor.”
“I’ll try not to be offended.”
“What about your parents? Are they here?” I asked after we got our ice cream and found a booth.
Wyatt nodded. “Yep. My parents, my brother, and my sister are all here.”
“A brother and a sister? Where do you fall?”
“I’m the oldest.”
“Being the oldest sucks!” I blurted.
Wyatt laughed with me. “It kind of does. Of course, my brother and sister are both married. My sister has two kids. My brother said they’re trying for kids. Between them, there’s a little bit of pressure off me.”
“From your parents?”
He nodded, wide-eyed. “Oh, yeah. They’ve been asking when I’m going to settle down and have kids for twenty years.”
“No way.”
He snorted. “My parents were young when they got married. They were young when they had me. They think I’m wasting my youth by not being married already.”
“But you have to want to be married. It can’t just be something you do because they tell you to.”
“Trust me, I agree. I think it got worse after I broke off my engagement.”
“Whoa! You need to warn me before you drop a bomb like that.”
He smiled. “Sorry. I just figured everyone knew.”
I shook my head. “I live with my head in the sand. Or between a woman’s legs.”
He closed his eyes and fought his smile. “You know that’s killing me, right?”
I ate a bite of ice cream and grinned. “Yep.”
He took a breath. “Okay, getting rid of that fantasy image.”
“Ew! They’re my patients!”
“But if they weren’t?”
I rolled my eyes. “Not my fantasy. I don’t know how straight men do my job. I don’t think I could go home and have to look at a woman’s vagina and not have it appear clinical.”
“You’re crushing my dreams.”
“Well, that’s no good. Usually I make people’s dreams come true.”
“And you’re very good at it.”
“Thank you. Anyway, back to your engagement?”
I took a bite of my ice cream and waited while Wyatt warred with himself about how much to tell me.
“I thought I loved her. I guess I did. In the end though, she decided she wanted kids, and I told her I didn’t. She thought I hid it from her, but it was just one of the many things we never really talked about. It happened a lot in our relationship.”
“No communication?”
He nodded. “Yep. We both thought the other was on board, but the other one had no idea what was going on.”
“Well, it’s good you ended it before you got married. That would have been worse.”
“Yep. That’s what I tell myself.”
“Sorry that happened to you.”
He shrugged and finished his ice cream. He threw away both our empty cups and reached for my hand again.
“How about you? Any serious exes I should know about?”
I shook my head. “No serious exes at all. I dated someone in med school, but it was more fun than anything serious. The hard part is his wife is a patient of mine.”
“That’s not awkward at all.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“No one else?”
“Nope. I’ve been too focused on school and work to get involved with anyone.”
“That’s how I’ve been lately, too.”
“Less messy.”
“I like it that way.”
“Me, too.”
We stopped in a few more stores, just for the hell of it, but couldn’t find anything. Wyatt looked a little disappointed as we walked outside.
“Sorry we didn’t find anything.”
He shrugged. “It’s okay. Eventually the right thing will appear.”
“You make it sound magical.”
“It is. Everything about this season is magical.”
“Okay, now I’m starting to worry about you. You don’t want kids, you don’t want love, but you talk about Christmas being magical?”
He laughed. “Maybe I never had the right person to share the holidays with. Or my life, for that matter. I feel like a scrooge most of the year since I don’t want kids.
Most women have a biological clock that’s louder than the one in the square.
When I tell them I don’t want kids, they look at me like I’m either lying or insane. Sometimes both.”
“Trust me, having kids when you don’t really want them doesn’t do anyone any good,” I blurted. I immediately wanted to take back my words, but Wyatt didn’t pick up on anything beyond the words.
“That’s what I keep telling myself. It’s why I insist on condoms, even if the woman is on the pill.”
“Nothing is foolproof.”
He nodded. “Exactly. And I don’t need to end up with an accidental kid.”
“Trust me, I understand. I work with women who struggle, sometimes for years, to have their own natural kids. I’m just as crazy about pregnancy prevention as you are.
How would it look to my patients if I walked in one day, pregnant.
Without a husband, or a boyfriend, or anything.
Heck, even if I had those things, I’d still feel horrible. ”
“It would be hard for them to look at you if you got pregnant easily and they had to work for it.”
I nodded. “That’s what I’ve always thought, too.”
“So you don’t want kids?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I wouldn’t say I’m as opposed to them as you are, but I’m pretty much past the age where it’s likely to happen easily.”
“Women have kids into their forties though, can’t they?”
“Sure. Some can. I’ve never found someone I’d want to share that responsibility with. Someone that makes me want to give up my work.”
“You’d give up your work?” he asked, surprised.
I shook my head. “I didn’t mean for good. Just someone who could pull me away from work.”
“Like I did tonight?”
“Hmm. I didn’t think about that.”
He was right though. I barely thought twice when I saw Wyatt in the reception area. I wanted to leave with him immediately, paperwork be damned.
But it was just once. I knew he wouldn’t make a habit out of taking me away from work. He didn’t pull me out of an appointment or away from a patient. It wasn’t that big of a deal.
“Well, I’m happy you came out with me tonight.”
“I wish we could have found something for you.”
He shrugged. “We’ll find it eventually.”
“We?”
He smiled. “Yes, we.”