divorced, I swore to myself that I’d never be petty over little issues with Roman. So I don’t want to come across like I’m trying to cause trouble. I’m not. I just had a bad feeling in my stomach yesterday when I saw your friend, Dorothy, with Roman at the market. I wasn’t trying to be confrontational at all. I simply asked about your whereabouts. I honestly assumed you were there. It was just really disturbing that she seemed so ignorant on the subject. My mind went into this mama bear protective mode, and I could imagine her turning her back on him for two seconds and having no clue where he was either.”
“Jules …”
“Just …” She holds up her hand. “Please hear me out.” Taking a deep breath, she meets my scrutinizing gaze. “It could happen to you. It could happen to me. Responsible people have bad things happen to their children. But we navigate this world with a fierce, protective love for him. And I know your family and my family share that love too. You know I hate that you send him to daycare where the people taking care of him do so because they are getting paid, not because they love him with their whole being. But at least he’s in one spot. And there are rules and security. But some girl that you’ve known for two seconds should not be allowed to gallivant around the city with our child. And I don’t care if it makes me sound like a cold, untrusting bitch. What you think or anyone else thinks doesn’t matter to me. Roman is my only concern here.”
“Are you done?”
“No. I want a legal agreement that lists the people who are allowed to be unsupervised with Roman. And the list has to be mutually agreeable for every name on it.”
I grunt a laugh. “And you don’t want Dorothy on that list.”
“Are you marrying her?”
“For god’s sake, Jules. Marrying someone doesn’t magically make them more trustworthy.”
“Uh …” she laughs. “I disagree. I’d like to believe that neither one of us would marry someone unless we completely trusted them with Roman.”
“Well, I completely trust Dorothy.” I hate the lie. I mostly trust her. I feel pretty fucking guilty for not being able to completely trust her, but I sure as hell won’t let Julie see an ounce of my doubt. It doesn’t mean I’m planning on leaving Roman with Dorothy again anytime soon. But I want the decision to be mine, not something mutually agreed upon between Julie, me, and our lawyers.
“So you know everything about her? What’s her favorite color? What hospital was she born in? What’s her mother’s maiden name? What school did she attend? Childhood pets? Does she have any cavities? What medications does she take?”
“Enough …” I rub my forehead. “If I hired a professional nanny, I wouldn’t know or give a shit about her favorite color.”
“True. But she’d come with references. And you could do a background check. Drug testing. All the things a responsible parent would do before hiring a nanny. So if you don’t know her well enough to marry her, and you haven’t conducted a thorough background check on her, then you better always be with her when she’s with Roman.”
“Julie—”
“This is nonnegotiable, Eli. I’ll be the bitch if that’s what it takes to keep my son as safe as possible. I’m a little disappointed that you’re not showing the same level of responsibility. And if you can’t do this on your own, I’ll make sure a judge makes you do it.”
My phone vibrates with a message from my nurse. I stand and slip on my lab coat. “I have to go. Have a fucking fabulous day, Jules. You sure have made mine.”
“Why do you make me the bad guy?” She follows me out of my office.
“Because every day I can manage to find something seriously wrong with you is one less day that I have to wonder if something is seriously wrong with me.” I keep walking toward the elevator without looking back.
After checking in on a patient who was readmitted earlier this morning, I make my way to the lab to check on Warren and review some test results.
“How’s it going?” I ask, walking into the lab.
Warren pushes his chair away from the counter to let me look at the computer. “I think it’s going really well.”
It is. We’re seeing massive destruction of cancer cells without major side effects. We still have a lot of