Читать книгу The Fertility Factor - Jennifer Mikels - Страница 8

“D addy, I’m talking about a girlfriend.”

Derek Cross set a hand on his five-year-old son’s shoulder and slowed their pace to weave a path around pigeons pecking at the cement. “You have a girlfriend?” he asked while he urged his son into Central Park.

Head back, Joey squinched his nose. “Not me.”

He’d thought his son was still in his I-don’t-like-girls stage. “So who has one?”

“No one does.”

Where was this conversation going? Derek wondered. Through sunglasses, he squinted up at the clear blue sky and bright summer sun. Usually he had no trouble following his son’s disorganized conversations. “Joey, let’s start over.”

“Can I have an ice cream?” Joey asked, pointing in the direction of a vendor.

Derek ran a hand over the top of Joey’s shiny, dark-brown hair, then plopped the baseball cap back on the boy’s head. “After lunch.”

“If we have lunch, will we get home in time?”

“In time for what?” What was his concern this time? At five, Joey fretted with the expertise of a forty-year-old. “Mommy doesn’t come for you today,” Derek reminded him.

“The ball game, Daddy. You said you’d have time to watch it with me.”

“Some of it. Joey, about what you were saying. Who has a girlfriend?”

Imitating a professional ballplayer’s actions, Joey slapped the baseball into his mitt. “You need one.”

“I—” The last time he’d been speechless had been the day Joey was born. “I…need one?”

“Uh-huh. Someone special.”

Derek managed not to laugh. “Why do I?”

“Because you’re lonely.”

That was news to him. Busy described his life better. Between his medical practice and his son, he hadn’t had time to bother with more than casual dating. But even if he had more time, after his marriage had failed, he’d vowed never again. Love was the last thing he wanted. “Who said I am?” Derek asked, certain someone had put the idea in Joey’s head.

“Mommy says so.”

He should have known. Leave it to Rose. Despite the divorce three years ago—because he and Rose had parted amicably, she never hesitated to voice her opinion about his love life or, in her words, “lack of it.”

“Mommy’s going on a date,” Joey added.

Derek had heard, wished her well. But he understood now what was happening. Rose figured if she was dating, it was time for him, too. They needed to talk. “What else did Mommy say?”

“She said she’s going on a vacation before she clapses.”

Derek chuckled. “Before she clapses.”

“That’s what she said.”

“I believe you, Joey.” He checked his watch, promised himself he wouldn’t do that again while with Joey, but mentally he calculated time. With luck, before he had to leave for appointments, he’d manage to watch two innings of the ball game with his son.

“Mommy said you need a date.”

Was he really having a conversation about his lack of female companions with his five-year-old son? You need a life, Doc, he mused. “Come on. Let’s play ball.”

“Do you know a girl, Daddy?”

Plenty of them. But if he could pick and choose, he already had a candidate, his nurse. A tall, willowy knockout with a flawless, fair complexion, long blond hair and green eyes. “I know some, Joey.” Like Lara Mancini with the bright, pearly white smile and delicate features. “Don’t worry about me.”