Chapter Thirty-one
The following afternoon Lina was logging off her computer and preparing to leave for the day when William stepped into her office. “Do you have time to make a few mods to the kitchen you sent over earlier? I want to see how it looks with the kitchen island a foot wider and a few more lights above the cabinets.”
“Sure.” So much for getting a head start to beat traffic.
“Also, it’s not urgent, but the stone you want for the fireplace—would you figure out if any of the suppliers we have on account carry them?”
“Okay.”
“You’re doing a fantastic job, if I haven’t told you.” He paused in the doorway.
“Thank you and you have. More than once.”
“Good.” He continued to hesitate in the doorway. He was running his tongue over the edge of his lower lip.
Lina averted her gaze, cursing Adele in her mind for telling her about his special talent with his tongue. “I’ll get right on the kitchen.”
“Would you do me a favor?” he asked. “Tell Adele I said hello.”
“Bastard,” Adele fumed as soon as Lina passed on his message. She’d called her as soon as she was in her car and headed home.
“Wha—what happened?”
“What happened? The prick cheated on me. That’s what happened.”
Lina’s stomach dropped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even know you were exclusive.”
“Clearly we weren’t. He went out with someone else.”
“After you’d agreed not to see others?”
“No, not officially. But I wasn’t seeing anyone else. I liked the asshole.”
“But if you didn’t agree to be exclusive, how can you—”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Adele said. “Just tell him to go fuck himself.”
Lina was still reeling from her conversation with Adele when she arrived home. It had been years since Adele had sounded so upset about a guy. Not even the breakups of her marriages had seemed to faze her, though of course she was the one who’d ended them.
“Is he coming this weekend?” Logan asked when he saw her. He was standing in front of the open refrigerator.
“He” was Logan’s code word for Liam. “Liam? No, not this weekend. But he’s going to be here tonight.”
He frowned. “Why doesn’t Dad just take him out to a restaurant or whatever he used to do?”
“Because he’s a baby and it’s hard to entertain him in a restaurant. It’s just a couple of hours.”
“I hate when he’s here.”
“Liam?” Katie asked, coming into the kitchen from the family room. “I love when he’s here.”
“How long until dinner?” Logan asked, ignoring Katie, which Lina saw as progress, considering he normally snapped at her when she talked about Liam.
“Half an hour.” Lina waited until Logan left the room to address Katie. “Why do you have to do that? You know talking about Liam upsets him. Why do you insist on baiting him?”
“I’m not. I’m just trying to desensitize him to the idea of a brother. I read that if you’re afraid of something, slowly exposing yourself to it breaks down the fear.”
“He isn’t afraid of Liam.”
“I still think it will work.” She peered into the oven. “What are you making? There’s nothing cooking.”
“I ordered in from that new Italian place down the street. Why don’t you set the table?”
“Why don’t you ask Megan?”
“Because I asked you, and it’s Megan’s last night here. She’s going back to Charlottesville tomorrow.”
“I thought she was going back on Saturday,” Katie said.
“It’s supposed to snow, so she’s leaving early.”
The sound of the garage door opening alerted them to Phil’s arrival. A minute later Liam ambled into the room, saw Katie, and threw his arms around her legs.
“Liam!” Katie lifted him into the air and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Let’s go find Knight.”
“May I say hello to him?” Lina called out as Katie began to leave the room.
“Sorry.” Katie crossed the kitchen to Lina.
“Hi, handsome.” She kissed his cheek.
“Mama.” He smiled and held out his arms.
“Lina,” she corrected.
As soon as she took him, Knight trotted into the room, tail wagging. Liam struggled to get down. “Daw!” he yelled. “Daw!”
Lina set him on his feet, and he instantly went to Knight, blinking his eyes as he averted his face from Knight’s licking tongue while still attempting to pet him.
“Down, Knight,” Phil ordered as he came in from the mudroom. Knight immediately complied, dropping to his haunches and ceasing his licking.
“Liam likes to be licked,” Katie said.
“It’s dirty.” Phil set his briefcase just inside the door, dropped a kiss on Katie’s head, and crossed to Lina. “How was your day?”
“A little longer than I expected.” She touched the side of his face when he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. “William has a terrible habit of giving me assignments at the end of the day. I had to order takeout again.”
“Tell him to stop, that you have a family to take care of.”
“No, I’m not going to do that. It’s my job. Balancing that with my family isn’t his responsibility. How would you react if one of your lawyers blew off something you wanted them to do so they could get home earlier? And don’t say it’s different because it’s me.”
“It is different. You don’t need this job.”
“But I like working.” Before he could walk away, Lina hooked her finger into the waist of his suit pants. “I think we can suffer through takeout occasionally.”
“It’s fine.” He kissed her again. “I’m going to change. Do you have him?” he asked Katie, nodding at Liam, who was touching Knight’s nose.
“Yep.”
“I thought Dad would be in a bad mood because of Logan’s history grade,” Katie said as soon as Phil was out of hearing distance.
Lina’s stomach sank. “Did he get his report card?”
“I don’t know,” Katie answered, avoiding her eyes. “Come on, Liam.”
“Katie? What do you know?”
“Nothing.” She left the room with Liam in her arms.
Lina ran her hand over her forehead. Logan had told her he’d pulled his history grade up. “Oh, Logan,” she whispered aloud moments later as she sat behind the computer in Phil’s study, scanning the report card that had been e-mailed to her that afternoon. He’d received a D in history. Phil was going to be furious.
***
Two hours later, the sound of Liam wailing greeted Phil when he joined Katie in the kitchen. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” Katie answered, continuing to help Liam into his coat. “I think he’s sad to be leaving.”
He continued to cry when Phil lifted him into his arms. “Don’t cry.” He kissed Liam’s forehead. “You’ll be back in two days.”
“Maybe he knows I’m leaving,” Megan said. “Are you sad because you aren’t going to see me for a few months?”
Liam responded by burying his face against Phil’s chest.
“What’s all the crying?” Lina asked, coming from the front of the house.
“He started as soon as he saw his coat,” Katie said. “He doesn’t want to leave.”
“Aw.” Lina’s lips turned down. “Come here, Liam.” She held out her arms.
Phil was surprised when Liam willingly went to Lina, resting his head on her shoulder as he continued crying. As he watched Lina consoling him, he thought of the time Kim left him crying hysterically, opting to go for a run instead of comforting her son.
“I’ll come with you,” Lina said. She pressed her lips against Liam’s head before following Phil to the car.
Ten minutes later, Phil was pulling into an empty spot in front of Kim’s town house. Liam had cried himself to sleep on the drive over. “She isn’t home,” Phil said, noting that Kim’s car was missing.
“You’re a couple of minutes early. It’s not quite eight thirty.”
As if on cue, headlights preceded Kim’s car sliding into the spot beside them. Phil reached for the door handle.
“Perfect timing,” Kim said, climbing out of the driver’s seat. She was wearing a business suit, her skirt a couple of inches above her knees. “It was one of those days where the time moved too fast. I didn’t even stop for lunch. Please tell me he fell asleep. I have another three hours of work.”
“He’s asleep.” Phil opened the back door of his car.
“Do you mind carrying him to the door? I’ve got my briefcase and…” She trailed off when she saw Lina. “What is she doing here?”
“My wife?” Phil raised his eyebrows.
“If I’m not allowed near your house, I don’t want her near mine.”
“I don’t care what you want.” He leaned into the car and unbuckled Liam. “I’ll be right back, baby,” he said to Lina.
“I’m serious,” Kim hissed, following him up the walk. “You came in here threatening me and telling me never to go near her and then a month later you bring her here. How is that okay?” She unlocked the front door and stood back so he could enter with Liam.
“Put down your things and take him.” Phil remained outside.
“Are you just going to ignore my question?” she asked, standing in the open door.
“Are you trying to wake him up?” Phil asked shortly.
“I want you to answer me. If you don’t want me anywhere near her, why would you bring her to my home?”
“Because she’s my wife and I like her with me,” he said coldly. “It’s not about you. You’re insignificant in my decision making. If you don’t want her near your house, arrange a different location for pickup or drop off.”
***
Lina could tell even from a distance Phil was angry. He was holding himself too rigid. She feared he would awaken Liam. Kim’s arms were crossed over her chest. She looked upset. As Lina observed her, she felt nothing but disgust. Any lingering jealousy had evaporated when she’d seen Liam on the dirty linoleum floor. Kim didn’t even look attractive to her anymore. She looked like the woman who’d left her own son alone on Christmas.
“Jesus, I can’t stand her,” Phil said after returning to the car.
“She wanted him to be asleep. She was gone for a week and had only yesterday evening with him and she’s hoping he’s already asleep. How could she not want to interact with him?”
“She isn’t you.”
“She isn’t even a bad mother. She’s awful.”
“You’ll get no argument from me.” They drove on in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “I noticed Logan barely came out of his room again. I’m not sure how this is just going to take care of itself. We’re going on three months.”
Lina’s stomach turned at the mention of Logan. “There’s something we need to talk about.”