CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“So?” Lucy, the queen of patience, was finally cracking at Bethany’s silence.
She’d brought her best friend to the space that could potentially be her new practice an hour ago.
At first, Bethany had been excited, ordering them takeout as she rambled on about what could go where.
But as they both sat cross-legged in the middle of the shop floor, eating pizza, excitement had morphed into crippling fear.
“What’s going on in that completely unhinged brain of yours?” Lucy calmly asked, picking up another slice from the open box between them.
“I should do this...tell me I should do this.” She sounded desperate even to her own ears, so she wasn’t surprised to see Lucy’s baby blues widen.
“You’ve literally just spent an hour talking about all the things you’re going to do to this place...”
“It’s a big commitment.” Bethany’s teeth dug into her lower lip. “I’ve recently discovered I’m not great at those.”
She watched Lucy’s eyes roll. “You’re being dramatic.
” Bethany shot her an unimpressed glare, that clearly didn’t indicate she should elaborate.
One her friend chose to ignore. “Okay, let me get this straight. You make the right decision to not go ahead and marry a man you’re not in love with.
..and now you’re questioning whether you’re cut out for commitment?
” Yes. Exactly. She was glad they were on the same page.
An exasperated sigh left Lucy’s lips before she continued. “I’m seriously questioning the intelligence of everyone in the medical field right now. Do they teach you to be this dumb at college?”
“Um, rude!” Bethany hurled her crust, aiming right for her so-called friend’s forehead.
“B, I can’t believe you need me to say this to you, but I guess I don’t have a choice.
” Lucy’s hand slowly dragged down her face in what looked more like frustration than anything else.
“You’re the most committed person I know.
Do I need to remind you that you’ve spent a decade training to be a doctor? ”
She didn’t need a reminder of that. She’d worked her ass off. A four-year undergraduate degree, four-years of medical school and now she was in her third and final year of her residency in family medicine. She was so close she could taste it.
“Fine,” she huffed. “But what about Woodvalley...what about me staying here...setting up shop. If I do this, if I take this lease, there’s no turning back.”
Lucy eyed her thoughtfully for a moment. “You’re talking about, Benny.” She correctly guessed. “You’ve already committed to Woodvalley. You did that the moment you moved back with Doug the Douche. The only reason you’d have second thoughts is...Benny.”
It was true. The decision to move back. Start a life here. Build her own practice. That was made long before she stepped back into town.
“Oh, God,” she moaned into her hands which were now over her face. “I’m that woman. I hate that woman.” She faintly heard her friend laughing at her pain. “The one who’s going to let some stupid guy determine what she does or doesn’t do with her life.”
She was pathetic.
“So don’t be that woman, B,” Lucy said between bites of pizza. “Do this for you. Fuck what happens with Benny. This is yours. This is what you’ve always wanted. Don’t let anyone take that away from you. Sign the lease and woman up.”
Her hands immediately dropped, eyes widening at her friend as her mouth hung open in disbelief.
“What?” Lucy fidgeted under her stare, still chewing.
“Did you just say fuck?” Bethany didn’t bother hiding the amusement in her voice. Her best friend had just cursed. For the first time ever.
She was treated to the most aggressive eye roll she’d ever witnessed and then it was her turn to take a pizza crust to the head.
Worth it.
***
Deep breaths. You’ve got this.
As her gaze landed on the hand Benny was holding, she knew she was lying to herself.
“B, it’s okay,” he soothed. “It’s not going to be as bad as you think.”
She let out a very unladylike snort as she used her free hand to press the doorbell.
It was definitely going to be as bad as she thought.
Her parents were still pissed. Every time she’d called over the past two months, they’d blown her off, usually with the vague excuse of having to be somewhere that wasn’t on the phone with her.
Benny was here for moral support. She still wasn’t ready to label what they were doing, which is why when her mother swung the door open, she let go of his hand.
Her mom immediately frowned. Excellent. Off to a great start. Her mother smoothed an imaginary strand of straight dark hair and blanked her expression.
Typical.
“Bethany.” Was her greeting. “What are you doing here?”
She wasn’t a fan of the term “ambush,” nevertheless that was exactly what she was doing. This was getting silly. Her parents needed to grow up and deal with her runaway bride town status.
“We need to talk, Mom. Is Dad here?”
Her mother’s brow furrowed, her blue eyes darting between Bethany and Benny.
She cleared her throat. “Yes. Yes, he is. Come on in.” She turned to Benny then and greeted him with a stern nod. “Benjamin.”
“Mrs. Mayer.” He gave her his signature easy smile and as they both stepped over the threshold, Benny’s hand found Bethany’s again. “It’s good to see you.”
Her mother didn’t miss the hand holding, sending a disapproving glare at Bethany. Before giving them both a view of the back of her expensive looking fitted dress.
Just breathe.
Led through the bright white hallway, they stepped into the equally white kitchen located at the back of the house. As always, it was pristine, looking more like a magazine spread than a family home.
Her mother came to a stop at the marble island. “We weren’t expecting company, so we don’t have much in, but I can get you a coffee, soda, water?”
Bethany fought the urge to scoff. Their one and only child could hardly be considered ‘company’, but this was typical of her mother. Formal was the only way she knew how to be. With how she acted, you’d think they were members of high society, not living in a small town in Wyoming.
After both of them requested coffee, her mother went about making it, calling out to Bethany’s father as she did. Bethany just stood there, like an idiot. She was suddenly glad Benny had insisted on coming. This all felt awkward. The silence deafening.
Benny seemed to read her mind. Giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.
And with a gentle tug, he led them to the marble island, letting go of her to pull out a cream bar stool each.
She sat woodenly on the chair chewing her lip while Benny made friendly small talk with her mother.
She let herself zone out, no desire to discuss the balmy June weather.
Her nerves hadn’t subsided though, she was still biting down on her lip when her father joined them. Thankfully, he gave them a much warmer reception, planting a kiss on Bethany’s forehead and giving Benny a friendly pat on the back.
Once they were all seated, coffee in hand, Bethany was the one to kick things off, before she changed her mind.
“I know you’re mad about the wedding, but I need you to forgive me,” she rushed out.
“I know it was expensive and yes, I should have called it off earlier, but I honestly thought I was just getting cold feet. Everyone is always talking about cold feet, so when I started feeling sick at the idea of marrying Doug, I kept thinking...okay, this is what everyone talks about...my feet are cold. But they were freezing, you know?” Benny’s hand went to her thigh where he let his thumb stroke back and forth in a soothing motion.
She knew she was rambling, but she couldn’t stop.
“Sooo freaking cold. Like frostbite cold. Amputation cold. But everyone was just so excited. You. Doug. Lucy kept going on about all the girl’s nights we were gonna have.
..and I’d already transferred my residency. ..and the apartment—”
“Bethy,” her dad cut her off. “It’s okay. Take a breath.” His kind green eyes held her in place. “We’re not mad at you.”
“You’re not?” Then what was with the silent treatment.
One glance at her mom’s face told a different story. But her father kept going.
“We just wanted to give you some space,” her dad said softly.
“After everything that happened...for you to make a decision like that and feel like you couldn’t come to us—well, we thought maybe you just needed some time to process it all, without any pressure.
And we trusted you’d come see us when you were ready.
” His eyes shifted to Benny, lingering for a beat.
“And by the looks of it...you’re ready now. ”
She could hug her dad. In fact, that’s exactly what she was going to do. Rising from her stool, she rounded the counter and launched herself at him. He let out a throaty chuckle as he wrapped her into a big bear hug.
“I love you, Dad,” she mumbled into his shoulder.
“I love you too, Bethy.”
She didn’t even care that her mom was still icy, she’d thaw eventually. Her dad telling her everything was okay, that was all she needed to hear. What she’d been waiting for.
Eventually she pulled back, giving her dad a beaming smile before returning to her seat.
“We heard Doug left town, went back to Denver.” It was her mom who spoke this time.
She’d heard that, too. Shortly after their super fun coffee at Molly’s Diner. “Makes sense,” she mumbled, guilt clawing its way back into her throat.
“He dropped off some things here, before he left.” He did? “Mostly books.”
This was the first she was hearing about it. It made her wonder just how much time and space her parents had planned on giving her. Stuck in her head, she didn’t reply. But Benny did.
“Great. We’ll take them back with us.” His hand found its way back to her thigh, catching the attention of her dad.
“So...” He coughed. “I take it you two are back together?”
Both her parents were now looking at her expectantly.
Um. How do you explain to your parents that you’re not labeling the sex you’re having with your ex—without sounding slutty?
“Yes, sir,” Benny answered before she had a chance to figure it out. “We are.”
That was not the answer she was ready to give her parents.
Her mother’s expression remained blank, surprise, surprise, while her father gave one single nod of acceptance. “Okay, then. Dinner next week?”
What?
“Sounds good.” Benny grinned, shooting her a wink.
Goddamnit. What happened to no labels?