“Okay, Mom,” I said. “I’ll take care of it. Let me know if he bothers you again.”
“I will. By the way, what was that doctor’s name?”
“Daniel Malone. Why?”
“That’s what I thought. Is he any relation to Terrence Malone?”
“Terry?” I asked. “His dad? Tall, pot-bellied, slightly balding Terry?” I scoffed.
My mom giggled. “That’s not a very flattering description of him.”
“Wait,” I said, confused. “How do you know Daniel’s dad?”
Silence. I waited for a response, hoping he was just an acquaintance from high school or something. I was in the mood to hear about how big of an asshole he had always been.
“Ariana, I’m glad you found a friend to pretend to be your husband if it helps keep Jake away from you, but I’d suggest you find someone else to play the role.”
“Why? You’ve never met Daniel. He’s actually a good guy,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t draw comparisons from father to son.
“I’m sure he is,” she said hesitantly. “Oh, I wanted to wait until I saw you in person to tell you, but I’m too excited. I’ve never been so happy in my life.”
“What are you talking about?” I nearly shouted. I hated being left in the dark.
“I met someone. Apparently, his son is your doctor.”
“What?”
“I know it’s crazy,” she gushed, speaking quickly with excitement. “He makes me so happy. You don’t know how lonely I was. I had almost given up on dating when I met him.”
“How did you meet him?” I asked skeptically. If Terry had been dating my mom when he met me, surely he would have said something.
“I was taking Baxter on a walk and I ran into him. He wanted to pet him because he used to have corgis growing up and loved them. I think he noticed that I didn’t wear a wedding ring and asked me out on a date. We went out for drinks and really hit it off. Things just kind of blossomed from there.”
I sighed. She seemed so happy that I didn’t have the heart to tell her how much of a jerk Terry was. I would have to tell her eventually before she got in too deep.
That bummed me out. I knew that my mom was lonely and wanted to be in a relationship. She hadn’t had a lot of luck with dating. I only ever wanted her to find someone she liked to settle down with. It was just so disappointing that the one person she hit it off with was scum.
“How long have you been together?” I asked, stunned by this strange coincidence.
“Not very long,” she admitted, as if it were a secret. “I usually don’t move this quickly with men, but everything just felt so right. He’s the one, Ariana. It’s so weird saying it out loud, but he’s the one.”
“Oh, you never know,” I said, trying to find a way to let her down gently. Maybe if I downplayed the seriousness of it, she’d feel the same. She was just in a new relationship and everything felt so good. I sort of knew what she was going through.
“This is different than the other ones,” she gushed. “He’s smart, funny, and handsome. He’s really sweet to me. I think you’d like him.”
I didn’t know how to tell her that I already met him and that he tried to cause me to have a seizure. If she knew that, it would destroy her. Eventually, the truth would have to come out. She had to know whom she was dealing with. I just needed a little time to figure out how to break it to her that she was dating a terrible person.
“When do I meet him?” I asked, unable to pretend to be excited.
“I wanted you to meet him earlier, but I knew you were busy with your own problems. I didn’t want to burden you.”
“Mom, I don’t think introducing me to your boyfriend is much of a burden.”
She fell silent. “There’s something else I need to tell you. I wanted to do this in person. I really did.”
“What is it?”
He took me on a surprise trip to Las Vegas. We decided to get married!” she squealed. “I’m sorry I had to surprise you like this, but we both knew the time was right. Oh, Ariana, can you believe it?”
My mouth hung open. I was completely speechless.
“I know, I know,” she laughed. “Come over soon and you can meet him. I can’t wait to show you our wedding photos.”
I felt like the room was spinning around me. I sat down in the nearest chair, hoping I wouldn’t get sick.
“I’ve got to go, Ariana, but I’ll talk to you soon. Love you.”
“Love you too,” I managed to squeak out before dropping my phone on the counter.
I rested my head on my folded arms, pressing my forehead into the cool marble counter. I knew I needed to call Daniel as soon as possible, but I dreaded having that conversation. The spell was broken—my short-lived, secret relationship with Daniel was over just as quickly as it had begun.
Chapter Thirteen
Daniel
I got a phone call from Ariana while I was eating my lunch in my office. I loved when she sent text messages to me during work because it made the work day go so much faster, knowing that I had something to look forward to when I got home. But, I thought it seemed strange that she was calling me.
I’m not sure why, but I had a bad feeling that something was wrong.
“What’s up?” I said after answering the phone on the first ring. I pushed my food across the desk.
“I don’t know where to start,” she said breathlessly. “I just got off the phone with my mom. I don’t even know how to tell you this.”
“Calm down,” I said, hearing the tension in her voice. “Take a deep breath and start from the beginning.”
“When’s your next patient?”
I checked my watch. “Ten minutes.”
“Then I’ll tell you the full story when you get home. I’ll give you the abbreviated version now—my mom got married in Vegas.”
“Wow,” I said. “Did you know the guy she got married to? I thought you said your mom was single.”
“She was. She met her husband and dated him for a week before getting married.”
I sat back in my chair. No wonder she seemed upset. I would be freaking out if my mom got married without saying a word about it to me. Even the thought of it made me shudder.
“I’m sorry, that’s rough,” I said sympathetically. “Do you know anything about this guy?”
Ariana laughed a maniacal chuckle. It creeped me out.
“Ariana?”
“I’ve met him. I just didn’t know that he would go on to court and marry my mother on a whim. You know him too. It’s your dad.”
My heart slammed against my ribcage. I heard the words she spoke, but it sounded foreign to me.
“What did you say?”
She repeated herself, this time slower. “Your dad married my mom in Vegas. I thought it was bad enough that my mom married someone who is not a good person. Then, I realized that their marriage makes us stepsiblings.”
I nearly dropped the phone into my salad. She wasn’t making sense.
“Are you sure?” I asked. “It’s perfectly reasonable that you misheard something she said. Maybe you got the name wrong. Maybe she said ‘engaged’ and not ‘married’.”
She huffed into the phone. “There was nothing to mistake from this conversation. These are the facts. We’re now related.”
I cringed. I was just starting to imagine a future with Ariana. Now, that would all be thrown out the window because of my father.
“We’ll have to talk about this when I get home,” I said, “I have to go.”
“Wait,” she said quickly. “I have one more thing to tell you.”
“What?”
“The reason I even had this discussion in the first place is because Jake called my mom, asking for my ‘husband’s’ address. He’s still lurking around somewhere and he’s getting my mom involved.”
I groaned. “That bastard. Let me handle him. I want you to start thinking of a way to get your mom separated from my dad. Can you do that?”
“I’ll try.”
“Good. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
I hung up the phone and buried my head in my hands. I still couldn’t fully comprehend what Ariana had told me. It all felt like a bad dream. I didn’t have time to worry, though. I still had patients to see. I left my office with my personal problems behind me. I could pick them right back up when I was finished working.
It was hard to stay focused, but somehow, I managed to see my last few patients with a smile on my face. When I was finished, I shut myself in my office and picked up my phone. I needed to make a few calls.
First, I called one of my old patients to see if he could offer me any advice for Ariana’s stalker. He was the chief of the police department, so I figured he would be able to help. I hated calling in favors from my patients because they paid me for my services, but I just wanted to get this obstacle out of the way.
Luckily, this particular patient really liked me after I diagnosed a reason for his headaches after he had gone to several other doctors who couldn’t give him answers. He was more than happy to help. I gave him all the information that Ariana told me about Jake and he said that someone would be contacting him to chat about his stalking. He assured me that things didn’t always happen this way, but he would do everything he could to make sure Jake wouldn’t bother us ever again.