Growing up too fast

Chapter 25

"Zola, are you there?"
"What...what do you want?"
"I want to explain. I never meant to hurt you."
"Maybe you should have thought of that before you took off in the middle of the night with no explanation, no goodbye-"
"Oh my god, is that Micheal?" Sofia asks. Alex and Jo both look up at me, clearly having heard the entire story from my mom.
"Zola, please, just let me-"
I contemplate just hanging up. While part of me is burning to know if he had a real reason for ghosting me, the other part doesn't really care to hear his excuses. Why bring everything back up again? Why open old wounds? Who would that help? I could end the conversation- if you could even call it that- right now, never look back.
But I don't.
"Can you guys take him for a few minutes? I'll be right back, I just have take this."
"Of course! I always want to spend time with my favorite little godson." Auntie Jo says in a baby voice.
Alex snickers. "He's your only godson."
"Ugh, shut up!" She says, testing him and giving him a playful push.
"Sofia, come with me." I say. She follows me out of the cafeteria, and we both look for somewhere quiet to go. "There." I say, motioning to a nearby janitorial closet. Sofia follows me in and I lock the door and put the phone on speaker, just loud enough for Sofia to hear.
"Alright. What?" I say. I hardly phrase it as a question, because I'm still not sure I want an answer.
"I went with my dad."
"You...what? I though he... I thought you didn't... what?" I say, stuttering a bit.
"I called him. I told him everything. I haven't spoken to my mom, but she can't take Isaac. She doesn't have legal custody of me anymore. Which means she can't get it over the baby."
I know it's my turn to speak, but I have nothing to say. So I just Keep listening.
"My parents had a really messy divorce. My dad and I were really close, but I didn't see him for almost two years. So when I called him and him I had a son and my mom was trying to take him from his mom. I guess he knew what it was like to get your kid taken away from you, because he immediately came up with a plan. But my mom can't take him, and even if she tries, there's no legal relation. Zola, I'm sorry I didn't tell you all this sooner, but I did it for you, and for Isaac. But I'm coming back to Seattle tomorrow."
Again. Again, I'm supposed to reply. That's how a conversation works I guess, but I'm a little too shocked to form words.
"Zola, I think he's waiting for you to say something." Sofia whispers.
"How is he? The baby?" Isaac says from the other end.
I hesitate, trying my best to think of the right words to say, and then trying my best to force said words to come out of my mouth.
"Um...Isaac isn't crawling yet. He, um... kind of just pulls himself forward and drags his legs behind him. He babbles a lot, and he really like mushed peaches. Is that good?"
"Yeah, that's... that's really good."
"So I guess...I'll see you?" I say, before hanging up. Sofia kind of just looks at me with her eyebrows raised. I wipe the beginnings of tears from my eyes. "Um, that went well." I say, trying my best to sound slightly more perky than sarcastic.
"Zo, do you want to talk about it?" She asks.
"About which part? The part where my boyfriend left me, or the part where he's coming back tomorrow?"
She looks at me blankly, and I worry I've offended her. "Sorry, it's just... I need to get the baby from Alex and Jo. They're probably busy."
I leave the room and go back into the cafeteria, but neither Alex or Jo is still there.
"Crap, where's the baby?" I say. Sofia and I hurry to the nearest elevator and go up to the OR floor to check the board. Nope. I figured it was either an emergency surgery or a trauma. We go to the ER and as suspected, Jo is treating a patient.
She looks in our direction, and calls out.
"Zozo, I left Isaac with Alex. I got paged 911 and I had to go, but he probably took the baby to the playroom on the peds flo..."
I don't hear the rest of what she says, I've already began running towards the peds floor.
"Okay then, bye!" I hear her shout behind me I a slightly sarcastic, but still bubbly voice.
Sofia is still right beside, and we walk quickly.
We head to where Jo said Alex would be, but before I even reach the Peds play area, I see Alex running a code on a little kid.
"Ugh! Where is my kid?" I say in frustration.
"You know he's in a building full of doctors, right? I'm sure he's fine. Probably with your mom. Or my mom." We proceed back the way we came. "Can we get some water from the vending machines? I'm thirsty from sprinting across the hospital for no reason."
"Yeah. But not the vending machine. There's water coolers in the lounge."
"'Kay."
When we finally do reach the attendings lounge, it's fairly quiet. I see the back of Andrews head, and I say hello. When I turn to get a cup of water, I see baby Isaac in his arms.
Andrew is on the couch with the baby in one arm and a bottle in the other, feeding him. Isaac gulps down his bottle and and looks up a Andrew with wide eyes.
"Hey, Zola. Isaac and I were just spending a little time together before I have surgery with your mom."
"Oh." I say, relieved. "Well, okay." I have to admit, they look cozy sitting together. I imagined if my mom and Andrew ever had another baby, he'd be a really good dad. He does his best, but he doesn't want to overstep with us. I'm okay with him being like a dad to me, and to Bailey and Ellis- Ell never even met dad, so I'm glad she'll still grow up with one.
Andrew just sits and smiles at the baby, and it's really cute. I don't want to take Isaac from him, so I kind I kind of just awkwardly stand there. As if she could sense the awkward from a mile away, my mom walks in.
"Surgery is off. The patient coded in CT. Girls, do you want me to take you home now?"
"Mom, I got a call from Micheal." I say.
"What? What'd he say? What'd you say?" She asks.
"I was getting there!" I say, doing my best to force a laugh amidst my overwhelming feelings of... is there even a word for this? Rage that he didn't explain sooner? Panic at the fact that he's coming tomorrow? Relief that my baby might still have his father in his life?
I explain just about everything, and Sofia, my mom and Andrew listen intently as I go through the details of out 5 minutes conversation.
"So he didn't really leave?" Andrew asks.
"He did it to get the lawsuit dropped?" My mom asks.
"I still don't get why he didn't tell you first." Sofia says.
Everyone is understandably shaken and confused, but I'm about to add to the drama.
"I... don't know! But there's something else. He's coming back tomorrow."
"What!?" Andrew and my mom say simultaneously.
They're surprised? Imagine how I feel.