Fuck.
Stop it.
I tried to walk away suddenly so he wouldn’t notice, but he quickly followed after me.
“Bridget, fuck. Don’t go.”
“Don’t forget where we are, Simon. This is inappropriate. Go back to work.”
“Fuck inappropriate. I don’t want you driving home upset.”
I ran ahead of him and snuck into a closing elevator before he had a chance to stop me.
My parents and I were having dinner in the local pub around the corner from their house in the Calverley neighborhood of Leeds, a quiet village-like suburb not too far from the city.
It was great seeing them, but being back home felt a lot different than I’d expected it to.
Had it always been this cloudy here?
I hadn’t left the US on good terms with Bridget. She’d started avoiding me more than ever after finding out about my interview. And this time, I let her. I avoided her right back. Because it just wasn’t fair to lead her on anymore if I was going to take this job. Her tears were proof that I’d taken things too far.
Making the situation even more difficult was the fact that the interview had gone spectacularly. After an eight-hour day spent touring the facility, the partners of the medical practice unanimously agreed to offer me the position, which would start in two months after my residency in Providence officially ended. They even offered to pay for my moving expenses.
My parents were therefore considering this a celebratory dinner, because they’d assumed I would be taking the job. To anyone looking in from the outside, the decision was a no-brainer. I hadn’t told anyone in my family about Bridget. I kept my recent private life under wraps; my parents didn’t even know I’d been living with her.
My mother took a bite of her fry. “So, once you move back, it’s going to be great for Nan. She’s really missed you. I don’t know how much time she has left,” my mum said.
“I plan to visit her this week before I leave.”
“When can we expect you back here for good?” my father asked.
“Well, I didn’t formally accept the job yet. They gave me until next week.”
My mother seemed surprised. “But surely, it’s a done deal?”
I couldn’t get myself to give Mum the confirmation she wanted. I hadn’t expected them to offer me the job on the spot with an ultimatum. I was still gobsmacked, really. I figured I’d have several weeks to make a decision. But they were looking for an immediate commitment.
My mother further prodded. “Simon…is there something you’re not telling us?”
I didn’t want to spend the next hour lying to my parents, making up excuses for my hesitation when there was only one reason I wasn’t jumping to happily accept my supposed dream job.
Unsure of how to begin, I said, “There’s someone back in the States…um…”
“You’ve met someone?” She looked at my father then back at me. “You haven’t mentioned anything.”
“Well, she’s…someone I’ve gotten to know for quite a while, actually.”
Dad grinned. “Is she in the medical field, too?”
“She’s a nurse, actually.”
“I see.”
My mother leaned in. “Is it serious?”
“Well, technically, we’re not together, I suppose. But it’s…we’ve gotten close.”
“Would she consider a move across the pond?”
Mum could be very judgmental. I hesitated to tell her the whole story, because I knew she would go off on a tangent about Bridget having baggage, not being good enough for her precious son. I really didn’t want to hear all that.
I simply answered, “She can’t.”
“Why not?”
I braced for her reaction. “She has a son.”
My mother grimaced. “You’re seeing someone with a child? She’s divorced?”
“No. Her husband died in a car accident.”
My father nodded. “Sorry to hear.”
She went on with her questions. “How old is this woman?”
“Thirty-four.”
“She’s five years older than you?”
“Four, basically. And that’s not very much at all.”
“You’ve been spending time with this little boy?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you’re getting out now. You wouldn’t want him getting anymore attached to you.”
My mother’s assumptions were making me a bit defensive.
“He’s a great kid. I’d be lucky if he got attached to me, really.”
“Oh, Simon. Listen to yourself. You can have practically any woman in the world that you want. Your life and your family are here in Leeds. You can’t stay in the US with some woman, not to mention raising another man’s child. Don’t you want children of your own someday? She could be trying to trap you, you know. This woman is pushing thirty-five, she’s hardly—”