Slade leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head. "She will be fine." He rubbed my shoulder for the millionth time. It was reassurance I was sure, but it only annoyed me.
"We are failing as parents," I said, covering my mouth with a hand. I sighed and stood up. "What were we thinking starting solids already?"
Slade let out this laugh that caught me off guard.
I raised an eyebrow at him. "What is so funny about this?"
"It was carrots," he said. "A jar of carrots. She got a rash, and we raced her to the emergency room. You act like she ate a bottle of rat poison." He sighed, annoyed with the entire thing. "I have a show."
"You always have a show. Even when bad things happen to our child you have a show." I stood up taking my empty coffee cup to the trash receptacle. I looked at him before I chucked it in. "This is why we aren't together anymore."
He shook his head standing up. "We aren't together because you're stubborn."
"Oh, am I?" I shoved the cup into the hole and followed him. "I'm stubborn because I want a husband that cares enough to be around and not let fame take over?"
He raised his voice even louder, to get the point across that I wasn't getting to him. "Hope, the feelings I have for you don't stop me from telling you that you're an asshole."
"Oh, give me a break. Do you think I care anymore if you think I'm an asshole?" I fussed with my top, not giving him another thought.
He leaned in closer, his mouth brushing against my ear. This unleashed a flutter of butterflies inside. And I hated that. I didn't want to feel that way whenever I was near him anymore.
"I do. I will see you tomorrow to pick up Gemma." He walked with such confidence out of the emergency room. Still a strapping stallion of a man after all the years.
I scored a candy bar from the vending machine and ate it slowly as I stared out the big windows. The cars were tiny specks, like little ants journeying to a new life. The bare bones of the construction was everywhere you looked. It was obnoxious to me.
"Mrs. Andrews," the doctor said from behind me.
I turned around. "How is she?"
He was calm and composed. His shoulders back and straight as he updated me about my five-month-old. "She's perfect. Just a mild allergy to carrots. We gave her some medication, and she's as good as new." A bigger smile spread across his face.
I exhaled, grabbing my chest. "Oh thank god. I really thought I broke her." I was a first time parent failing miserably, I thought this on a weekly basis.
"Follow me." He led me back through the double doors to the room. All the rooms had glass walls and doors so you could see each patient as you passed.
"She's an adorable baby," he said over his shoulder opening the door so I could go in first.
The nurse with Gemma smiled when she saw us. "Here is your mommy, princess." She handed her over and moved out of the way so I could get her dressed.
"Was I wrong for trying baby food already?" I looked at them. "My friend has a toddler and she swore she did the same thing. I didn't think it would hurt her."
The doctor scribbled information down on Gemma's chart and shook his head while I explained away my mistake. "She's fine. And at the right age to try more food. Maybe go with oatmeal next time and see what happens."
