9. Indie
INDIE
DECEMBER
“Ican’t believe you did this.”
I glance around the bar, seeing pretty much everyone I know crammed into this building, drinking and laughing and mingling and celebrating.
Me.
They’re celebrating me because Teddy organized this party.
For me.
“You deserve it,” Teddy says against my neck, pressing a kiss there, and then he nuzzles the skin like he can’t help himself. “And more.”
I turn to kiss his lips softly, my eyes taking him in—his dark hair is, for once, not in a hat. Instead, he pushed it back from his forehead with a pomade. He’s wearing a crisp white button-down with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms—thick, hairy, insanely attractive forearms—and black slacks.
It’s very rare that I see Teddy dressed up, but when I do, it’s quite the sight.
As I look at him, I can feel his eyes traveling over my body, lingering in a way that makes my skin warm. I’m in a little black dress, backless—the kind he always goes absolutely feral over—and heels that make my legs look a mile long.
We almost didn’t even make it here after I opened my apartment door for him. His jaw dropped when I did a little twirl, and he took one slow, deliberate step toward me, like he was genuinely considering canceling all our plans.
“No one’s ever—”
“I know, honey,” Teddy murmurs, his eyes going a little soft and sad. “But I did. I always will.”
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve thought through our relationship, no one has ever done this for me, I would be debt-free, and then some.
But no one ever has. Not when I studied for and got my GED at sixteen. Not when I graduated from college at twenty. Not when I graduated from med school at twenty-three.
Teddy did this for me, and my eyes trail to the blue banner hanging across the ceiling.
Congratulations, Doctor Indie Miller!
Blue balloons are tied to the backs of chairs and bunched in the corners, and there’s confetti scattered across the sticky bar and the little round tables.
A huge blackboard with Teddy’s blocky handwriting lists custom mixed drinks and beers available—Miller High Life, Cape May Bay Breeze, Indie Sour—with little syringes, a stethoscope, and a perfectly drawn Rod of Asclepius done by my talented boyfriend.
And somehow, horrifyingly and sweetly, everyone is wearing buttons with my official hospital portrait pinned to their shirts.
Teddy had said this was just a date night for us, my first weekend off since Thanksgiving, to celebrate my attending position at Bluewater.
I jumped when I walked into the bar and people yelled, “Surprise!” at me.
I don’t know how he did it, but he contacted my coworkers and invited them. Even Phoebe, who is sitting at the bar with her wife, both of them grinning at me over their drinks like proud parents.
The chaotic last couple of weeks feel like just a preview of what the next seven months will be like.
I’ll be finishing out my residency, packing up my apartment and Teddy’s condo, getting all of our things—including our cars—from Chicago to Cape May safe and sound.
Thankfully, Bluewater has given me a good signing bonus and relocation package. I’ve already reached out to the owner of the house we toured, and we are officially under contract.
I haven’t told Teddy yet.
He thinks we’re going to move into an apartment first, but I want to surprise him on Christmas morning by telling him I’m going to buy the house for us.
Ellie was ecstatic when we told her about Bluewater, and she gave Teddy the key to her storage container, which holds a lot of her and Ted’s old furniture. She said we could have a full shopping spree there and take anything we want.
I was completely struck by all the strong, gorgeous, well-made mid-century furniture and pretty much took it all, which Ellie encouraged. I asked her why she was letting us have it instead of Dawn, Robin, or June.
Ellie gave me a look and said, "Because Dawn called it all tacky. If it’s not found in a Neiman Marcus catalogue, she doesn’t want it.”
Teddy and I stand close by the bar, each holding our drinks. Every now and then, I feel his fingers trailing lightly up the exposed skin of my back.
“Congrats, Indie!” One of my second-year residents yells to me from across the bar, raising their Miller High Life in my direction.
I raise my own drink in return and smile, feeling so warm and buzzy that I almost don’t know what to do with myself.
Teddy invited his own friends too. Heath and Luke are currently up on the karaoke stage singing a romantic duet of Endless Love. Their girlfriends are cackling and recording them while they dramatically sing to each other like idiots.
I do notice that none of his family is here.
Not that I’m missing their presence, besides Danielle and Stephanie who are at their respective homes. I would have loved for Nana to be here, but she needs her rest.
I’m sure his mother would find some way to monopolize the night or use this opportunity to beg Teddy not to leave.
It seems that ever since Thanksgiving and the announcement that Teddy and I will be moving across the country together, his mother has stopped hiding how much she doesn’t like me.
I’ve started taking on more shifts under the guise of finishing out my patient care before I leave, but really, I can’t sit through another dinner of her glaring at me and throwing backhanded compliments.
“What’s there even to do in New Jersey?”
“Won’t you get tired of living near the beach?”
“Oh, my goodness! What about the hurricanes? Tsunamis? What about sharks?”
No matter how many times we’ve told her we won’t be living directly on the beach, that there’s a lot to do in that area besides the beach, that hurricanes this far up are few and far between, and there is usually ample notice to prepare.
I hate the seeds of doubt she keeps trying to plant in Teddy. His mother is so persistent, and now his father has even joined in, guilting Teddy about the business.
“Who else can I trust with my Dad’s business?”
“Someone more passionate about being an electrician?” I suggested, the escaped my mouth before I could stop them.
Teddy had pointed at me, as if I had made an excellent point. Dawn’s hand tightened around her martini glass, and Judd had just sneered at me like I had the audacity to speak in his presence at all.
I hadn’t backed down from his stare. I held eye contact until he finally scoffed and took a long pull from his beer.
It felt like a small victory, so I took it as one.
Still, though, their words landed behind my ribs and stuck there.
Am I being selfish?
Am I only concerned with my own dreams?
Am I making Teddy move when part of him wants to stay here?
Every time I bring that up to Teddy, spinning out worst-case scenarios about us breaking up, him resenting me, this move ruining everything, he kisses me softly and says the same words.
“Indie, you are the love of my life. There is no one else out there for me.”
And each day, I believe him more and more.
And his mother’s words cut me less and less.
“I love you, Teddy bear.”
“And I love you, honey,” Teddy says, squeezing me gently before Heath starts waving him over from the small karaoke stage. Teddy meets my eyes, grins, and clears his throat. “Showtime.”
“Knock ’em dead, Springsteen,” I tease.
He shakes his head. “You and the eighties.”
“It’s not my fault. Born in the U.S.A. is one of the greatest albums of all time.”
He smiles at me, kisses the top of my head, then jogs up to the front and takes the microphone.
Luke whistles loudly, catching everyone’s attention and directing them toward Teddy.
“Thank you for coming,” Teddy says into the microphone, looking unfairly attractive under the dim, warm lights.
“To celebrate the love of my life. Indie has brought me the greatest joy, not only from being my girlfriend—somehow, I managed to make that happen. Nana always says to never look a gift horse in the mouth. Indie is the greatest gift I’ve ever been given, and I’ll never take her for granted.”
A soft wave of awws moves through the room, making my cheeks burn.
“If you’re fortunate enough to know Indie, you know that she’s strong. She’s brilliant. She’s sexy as hell—”
“Teddy!” I grit out, my face flaming as his friends hoot and holler, good-naturedly.
“But above all, she is the kindest woman in the world, and I cannot think of anyone more deserving of this opportunity. After all the hard work, you deserve this and more. Indie, my honey,” Teddy places his hand over his heart, and everyone in the room lets out touched murmurs.
“I love you more than all the stars in the sky, more than all the fish in the sea.”
Tears sting my eyes as everyone in this building eats up Teddy’s heartfelt speech. I smile at him, even though my cheeks are flaming under the attention.
“I love you,” I mouth.
His smile goes softer somehow.
“And this is for you, baby,” Teddy says, nodding to the side where Heath and Luke each grab a microphone and climb onto the tiny stage with him.
“Oh my God…” I mutter as the trilling opening of More Than A Woman by The Bee-Gees plays.
Teddy starts singing in a desperate attempt to mimic Barry Gibb’s falsetto, though his voice breaks on just about every syllable.
Ellie had told me, during a passionate debate about the seventies and her love of disco, how her husband would play this record and twirl her around the kitchen. He would croon it into her ear, eyes fixed on her like she was the only person on the planet.
The way she described it made it easy to picture—because it’s the same way her grandson looks at me.
The way he looks at me now, his smile so wide, his eyes so full of love as he sings.
Teddy.
This wonderful, silly, clumsy, caring man is mine.
Forever, if he lets me.
He, Luke, and Heath all break into exaggerated, clumsy seventies disco moves, pointing and shimmying and nearly colliding with one another. The entire building, partygoers, and staff, laugh hysterically at them.
Tears sting my eyes, and I’m holding my stomach from laughing so hard I can barely breathe.
That hope that sprouted inside me grows and grows as thoughts of Teddy and me living near the beach, while I work at my dream hospital and he finally pursues art, make me almost dizzy.
The career.
The man.
The life.
I’m getting the fairytale.