CHAPTER TWENTY
Nash
Beth was having my baby. We were having a baby. Holy shit!
Suddenly, I realise how far I’m out of my depth. My comfort zone was now only a tiny light speck on the horizon.
“Beth? Do you need anything?” She had not fought me when I suggested that she should go and have the soak in the bath that was going to help her body relax.
“I, ah, forgot to get a towel. Could you please grab me one from the closet in the hall?”
Opening the door I try to not look at her, she is naked in the tub after all and it feels like any right I have to appreciate her body went out the window the day my plane left the terminal gate.
“Nash?” Her voice is a whisper, a sweet whisper of my name.
I hold the towel in front of my face, doing anything I can to resist the temptation.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“I’m sorry for acting like a real bitch, I’m just so confused, and this whole thing frightens the life out of me.”
I can no longer resist looking at her, I can see the genuine fear in her eyes. “I am too, but we will work it out, together. I promise you.”
She only nods and trails her hand over the water surface. “Will you join me?”
Without hesitation, I strip naked and climb in behind her, the tub is not spacious by any stretch of the imagination but it is nice being so close to her after being so far away.
“I need you to talk to me, Beth, and I think you need it too.”
“You’re telling me what I need now? How did you get to think you know so much about me and my needs, stud?”
“Well let me explain it to you the best way I can. You acted like you couldn’t stand me the first time we met, but I think you were just so damn attracted to me you couldn’t cope. Then the opportunity to spend the night with me presented itself and you couldn’t get naked quick enough, if I am correct I believe it was to the tune of Touch It. I mean it wouldn’t have been my first choice of song for a striptease but who was I to argue.” I trail the tips of my fingers up and down her arms, enjoying the goosebumps that develop on her flawless skin.
“You relished the opportunity to see me naked and that just set off a chain reaction for you, then comes the need. You needed to see me again, you stalked Joe’s for a week after you thought it might be the opportunity you needed, I’ve never know you to be clumsy, Beth, but maybe that was something you developed over the years or it’s just the reaction I have on you. I’m used to women jaw-dropping not phone dropping but you are a unique specimen. Now, I know you didn’t hate the dinner we had together, or even being referred to as my date at that function your office threw; in my honour might I add, but the truth is if you didn’t need something from me you would have simply found the elevator instead of knocking on my hotel door and if you didn’t need me you wouldn’t have invited me back here that weekend. You enjoyed the games as much as I did, but we both knew how this was going to end, maybe not with a baby on the way, but it was always going to be some pretty fucking amazing sex. The kind where we are ruined for any other person.” Like I am, there is no one else for me now, I add silently. I sponge water over her chest, watching as the rivulets trickle down toward her stomach, causing her nipples to pebble. I feel her shudder against me.
“You’re amazingly self-assured.”
“I know you want this baby to have both of its parents in its life,” I reach down and rest my hand over Beth’s stomach. “I want you to give me the chance to be the father our baby deserves. I am here for the both of you.”
“Nash, I wish I could believe that.”
“Are you even willing to try? I know it is scary, sweetheart, but the way I see it, we have more to gain by trying than that if we don’t.”
“Tell me which part do we get to gain? You live in London, and I am here. You work in London, I work here. Your life is in London, and my life is here.”
“The reality is yes I will need to go back to London, but not in the way you think; or for the time you think either. I’ll be back in Australia before the birth, one way or another, sweetheart.” I feel her body relax, as she lays her head back against my shoulder, I feel a little bit of hope beginning to stir inside of me.
“I wish it were all that easy because I can’t do this on my own.”
“You won’t have to.” I kiss the top of her head, my mind whirling with how I can make this work. I had less than nine months to convince Beth that I’m in this for the long haul and for her to realise I’m the one she wants. The only one.
Beth tires easily, so after we dry off she gets ready for bed, seeing her dressed in my t-shirt and shorts does crazy things to me, it stirs in me an emotion I have never felt before. There is an ache in my chest and a lump in my throat.
“Stay with me until I fall asleep?”
“Yes, sweetheart, I will stay as long as you want me.” I didn’t just mean in that moment.
I open the bar fridge when I get back to my room and open a beer. “Cheers to becoming a dad, arsehole, don’t fuck it up.”
Firing up the laptop I flop back down on the bed making myself comfortable whilst I search online bookstores. After reading a couple of reviews I purchase the recommended books, arranging for delivery to the hotel and shut it back down.
I lay in bed, resting the back of my head on my hands, as I stare up at the ceiling, Beth’s pregnancy was a complete game changer and I needed to come up with a way to show Beth I was serious about her and being around for the baby. If it had just been the two of us and I had been able to convince her to give me a chance then at the end of the day if she decided I couldn’t make her happy then I would let her walk away, but now we have a third person involved I need her to realise that no one else will make her happy the way I will. How the fuck was I supposed to be able to do that?
The next morning my focus is on getting the project wrapped up with Harvey and Julia. Before I leave the hotel suite I draft an email to Walter, updating him with the status, as well as advising him of my intention of taking time off.
Before I have a chance to leave my rooms Walter is on the phone to me.
“You’re taking leave, what is this about Nash?”
“I’m entitled to annual leave, Walter, and I plan on using some of it.”
“How long were you planning on taking?”
“Honestly, I don’t know but it needs to be as soon as this project is wrapped up.”
“Right, well can you let me know how long once you’ve decided; I can shuffle things around here as best as I can but I can’t do it indefinitely. I had planned on sitting down with you next week when you returned, as we do have a few things we need to discuss and I had wanted to do it in person.”
“Walt, what is going on? Is it not something we can discuss over the phone?”
After a heavy sigh he fills me in, “The board met on Tuesday after the meeting with the partners at Margison, and it was discussed that the work you are doing in Australia could be the opportunity they wanted to expand in that direction. They had been exploring other options, and right now it seems that Australia is the most viable direction to head in.”
“Okay,” I drag the word out, still not following what Walter was trying to say. “So what are you saying, Walt?”
“They expressed that they wanted you to head up the office there.”
“Is this a joke?” I blow out a long slow breath, the universe is finally giving me the answer I could’ve been looking for, given this will actually work.
“No, Nash, they are serious. Your commitment to the project has impressed them. They wanted to speak to you on your return, but now you don’t plan on coming back straight away they might reconsider, they indicated they wanted to move pretty quickly on this.”
Fuck! The possibility of taking some time off to spend with Beth seems to be fading away to just a dream.
“How long can you put them off?”
“What could possibly be more important that you would need to put the board off, Nash? This is a huge boost for your career.” I note the impatience in his voice, I meet his with my own. It shouldn’t matter the reason, I was entitled to the time and I wanted to take it.
“I need some personal time, Walter.”
I hear him sigh, and I get the feeling he is waiting for me to reconsider and ask him how high when he tells me to jump, but not this time. “I will see what I can do. I’ll be back in touch.”
“Walter, one thing before you go.”
“Oh yeah?”
“It’s about Gemma. That girl needs a pay rise; can you do something about that?”
“Yeah, I’ll take care of it.”
The presentation with Harvey, Julia and the other partners couldn’t have gone better. Normally I’d have a couple of lingering butterflies, some final nerves I hadn’t been able to settle, but today I was confident and invested elsewhere, so getting through the presentation was merely a formality because as soon as it had wrapped I was on to focusing on bigger things.
I call Beth as I’m heading toward the elevator bank.
“Hi.” She greets me; the sound of her voice was welcome and forced a grin to my lips.
“Hi. How are you feeling today?”
“I’m fine, and look I meant to call you and say thank you for last night.”
“It’s no problem. I was wondering if you would let me take you out to dinner.”
“Not tonight, Nash, I’m tired and I ache, and can’t stomach anything other than vegetable soup with dry crackers at the moment.”
“In that case, will you let me come around and take care of you then?”
“I don’t know, I really just want to go home and lay on the couch.”
I’m at the door to her office and can see her shutting down the computer. “Is that what blue means?”
“Blue?”
“Your shoes.” She spins around in her chair to face me at the same time she drops the phone from her ear.
“No, they are the lowest shoes I own. I feel like I have been hit by a truck and I don’t want to add to my body’s revolt by raising it by a couple more inches.”
“Beth, I’m taking you home and I won’t be taking no for an answer, so if that means I need to carry you out of here then I will.” I step toward her to prove to her how serious I am, her eyes go wide and her lips part, I am desperate to kiss her. “Beth?”
“Hmm?” Her eyes are on my mouth before they flitter back to meet mine.
“Are you going to make me carry you?”
“No. I am not a child.” She pouts, and it only makes me want to kiss her more, harder and deeper than would be appropriate for a workplace.