Chapter Eight

Nadia

SETTLING INTO THE SMALL house had been a lot easier than I’d expected. I had just dropped the girls off at art camp for the day and was back in the house, a pen and notebook in hand.

Walking from room to room, I made notes of what each room needed. I measured everything I could think of. Then I decided what would take top priority. Stepping into the outdated and worn-out kitchen, I frowned. There weren’t enough YouTube and HGTV videos to help me out in that room. If I attempted to do this room on my own, I would definitely make it worse. I would just have to hire someone to come in and help. But overall, it would be okay.

The bedrooms and even the living room I could take care of myself. I was confident of it. Thanks to the original hardwood floors throughout the house, all the bedrooms really needed were some spackle here and there, a couple of gallons of paint, and some imaginative decor. I could do that. The kitchen and probably the two bathrooms, those were going to need professional help.

Just then, my phone rang. I grinned at the name on my screen.

“Shouldn’t you be, oh, I don’t know, on your third martini in the first-class lounge at the airport by now?” I asked, listening to my best friend’s laughter on the other end of the line.

“I should be, but I wanted to check in on you before I started to slur my words,” Simone replied with a clear smile in her voice.

“I’m fine. I told you. Nothing to worry about.”

“Has he called?” Simone asked, and my smile faltered.

“No. But I expected that. We both know what he’s like when he doesn’t get his way,” I reminded her.

“He will show up. Just wait and see.” I shook my head at my friend’s optimism.

“I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.” I hated how easily the words slipped out and how bitter they sounded, but I couldn’t get myself to take them back. They were true.

“Nadia—”

“I’m okay,” I reassured not only Simone but myself. “Girls and I will keep busy. I promise.”

“With day camps and home renovations?” Simone asked. My lips moved up.

“Yes. Though, I’m going to need to hire someone to help me with the kitchen and bathroom—”

“Check your email.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I know how outdated those rooms are, and I’m your best friend. And even though I can’t be there in person, I will help however I can,” she informed me, and my nose stung. My bestie always looked out for me.

“What did you do, Simone?”

“Got you the name and number of the best guy out there. He should be there any—” The doorbell rang, and I smiled fully. God, she was the best.

“Have I told you lately that I have the best best friend a girl could ever ask for?”

“You are just buttering me up so I bring you extra chocolate and French soap,” she retorted, and I laughed.

“You know me so well,” I teased, then sighed. “Be safe?”

“Always. Have fun!”

“I’ll try… and Simone?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“Thank you,“ I whispered, trying not to get emotional. The gratitude I felt towards having someone like Simone in my corner was overwhelmingly beautiful.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” my girl whispered back.

“Looking forward to it. Bye.”

“Bye.” The call ended and the doorbell rang again, and with a deep breath, I opened the front door.

A white tee shirt-encased chest met my sight line before I could get my eyes to travel north, meeting the rugged but kind face of very good-looking man.

“Nadia Daniels?” he asked, his voice deep. I nodded.

“Hi.”

“Simone called me last night about some work you needed to have done,“ he informed me, and I nodded again.

“I just hung up with her.” I smiled, extending my hand, shaking his. “Please come in.”

“I’m David Leon, by the way.”

“Hi, David, I’m Nadia.” I said, shaking my head. “You already knew that. Please come in.”

“I brought my portfolio. Simone said you could show me the rooms you want work done on, and I could whip you up an estimate.” Simone was a godsend.

“That sounds perfect, actually. Please, let’s take a seat and talk,” I suggested as I led him to the kitchen.

“I see what needs work,” David’s deep voice timbered, and I laughed.

“Yeah. The kitchen and two bathrooms,” I shared.

We sat at the small kitchenette, where he handed me a portfolio of previous jobs he had done. An hour later, I held an estimate for the work that would be done in my hand and had confidence that David could handle it. Feeling accomplished and with time to spare, I grabbed my purse, locked up the small house, and headed out to the coffee shop right next to where I would be picking up the girls.

Accidently leaving my cell phone behind.

Owen

“Hey, it’s me. Look, I get you wanted time away, but not answering my call, Nadia?” he huffed, running his fingers through his hair. “Call me. I just wanted to check on how the girls’ first day at camp went.” He hung up and stared at the phone.

There were so many other things he wanted to say but couldn’t seem to get the words out. So much he wanted to say to her. He just had no idea of where to start. A knock came to his office door and he looked toward it to see his boss and fellow college, Dr. Claudia Bernard, standing there with a smile and kind eyes.

“Heard you were in here.” She tilted her head.

“Come in.” He stood and sat back down once she was sitting in the chair across from his desk. “I’m guessing HR contacted you?”

“They did,” she answered with a nod. “Crazy assistants are never good.”

“I didn’t see it until it was too late,” he confessed, and Claudia smiled.

“Don’t worry about it. Believe it or not, I was going to talk to you about her. There were some red flags I kept noticing when I was around. But as odd as her behavior was, I never witnessed anything from your part that could have seemed like you were leading her on. You are always a consummate professional, Owen.”

“Thank you.”

“As for your two weeks off…” He held his breath, knowing that he needed that time off to help him save his family. Hell, his marriage. “How about a month?”

“A month?” He narrowed his eyes, wondering what Claudia was up to.

“Look, I’m not going to beat around the bush. I talked to Paul.”

“Paul, huh?”

“I get how hard this job can be.”

“How do you do it?” he asked. Claudia and her husband always seemed so in love and juggled a family and all the activities that came along with it almost what looked seamlessly.

“One day at a time.” She winced then laughed. “It’s not easy, but can I be frank?”

“Only if I can still be Owen,” he answered like a smartass and watched her roll her eyes.

“You’re not doing yourself any favors by burning out before turning forty,” she stunned him, and he straightened in his chair.

“What?”

“Just listen. Really listen,” she instructed, so he leaned back in his office chair and rested his hands on his desk. “The job is hard enough without adding extras to it.”

“I don’t—” he started to argue, but she shot him a look that made him shut up.

“Look, you’re a great surgeon and doctor, but you need to be able to delegate. We’ve had this conversation before.” They had. He had always just thought she was being nice. “You going above and beyond for every case is sweet and very…” She seemed to be at a loss for words, so he tried to help.

“Diligent?”

“Stupid,” she told him bluntly. He stared at her.

“What?”

“You can’t live in the hospital, Owen,” she pointed out, and he had a million excuses ready to argue he didn’t.

“I don’t—”

“Not even Paul, who is very single, does that. You have a family, Owen.”

“I am just making sure—”

“You are avoiding being home,” she pointed out, and he thought about what she was saying. His first instinct was to shrug or argue it away, but as he sat there, he was trying to be painfully honest with himself. Was he really avoiding being home? He loved going home. Don’t I? Sure, when the girls were first born, staying late was less exhausting than going home. Twin baby girls with colic and a sleep-deprived Nadia had been difficult, so he had chosen at times not to go home as soon as he could. As time passed…

“Shit,” he whispered, feeling like an asshole. A figurative lightbulb turned on in his mind’s eye.

“I don’t know why you would, but you do. I get it. I used to do the same, and Jeff hated it,” she shared, and he shook his head.

“Jeff works, though—”

“And Nadia doesn’t?” Claudia challenged, raising an eyebrow.

“She’s at home.”

“Doing what?” she asked. He knew better than to get into this.

“No matter what I say here, I’m going to sound like a sexist pig.”

“Then maybe you need to think about what you think she does and compare it to what she actually does.” Weren’t the two things one and the same? “Owen, I can’t imagine raising two very active twin girls alone is easy—”

“She’s not alone—” he interrupted, but she wasn’t having any of it.

“Isn’t she?” she asked with a challenging tone, and he frowned.

“I’m around. I’m not some dead-beat dad, Claudia.” Anger started to swirl at her implications. He had been raised by a single mom. His own dad had disappeared from the picture when his mom found out she was expecting. Owen had always promised himself he would never be anything like his own father. He would always provide and his kids’ mom wouldn’t have to exhaust herself to the bone like his mom had before she met his stepdad.

“No, you’re not. You’re just not one who’s present,” Claudia honestly pointed out, making him flinch.

“I just picked up Becca from gymnastics last week.” He knew how bad that sounded. Thankfully, Claudia knew him better.

“And before that?” She tilted her head, and he swallowed hard. Yeah. She knew him damn well. “When was the last time you had dinner with your girls, Owen? Made breakfast with them? Did anything other than rushing past them to get somewhere else?” she asked him in a kind voice he realized he didn’t deserve. God, he was not just an asshole partner, he was an asshole dad, too. How the hell did that happen? “I’m not trying to be a bitch,” his boss said, and he looked up at her.

“I know.”

“About three years before you started here, Jeff and I were about to get divorced,” she shocked the hell out of him.

“What?” He couldn’t even imagine that. They were one of the most solid couples he knew.

“We were minutes away from signing the papers.”

“That serious?”

“Yeah.” She shook her head, looking past him. “It was bad.” Her gaze went back to him. “Someone came to me and gave me an eye-opening talk. I’m not saying you and Nadia are on the same road, but I have seen you two together. If I can help you with my past experiences, I would like to pass it forward.” She slid a file with what looked like a bunch of papers inside over to him. “Someone gave me that, and before you make fun—and I know you will, because I sure as hell did—just keep an open mind.” She stood and he did, too, walking around his desk toward her.

“I might already be too late,” he shared. There was something about saying the words out loud to someone else that made his gut burn. The reality of being too late to save his marriage, his family, was too heartbreaking to swallow.

“She asked you to go with her, Owen,” Claudia reminded him, and he sighed.

“Guessing Paul told you that, too?” He raised an eyebrow wondering when the hell Paul had become so chatty.

“For being a so-called confirmed bachelor, he talks more than my teenage daughter and her friends.” She smiled. “Look, she loves you. We can all see it.”

“She wanted time this week,” he shared, running his fingers through his hair. “I’m heading over Friday.”

“Time can help put things in perspective,” she wisely shared, but he felt like she was holding something back.

“But?”

“Don’t give her too much time.” She winked and sobered. “But the time you do give her, spend that time thinking about what you want. Look that over, and like I said, keep an open mind.”

“Open mind?”

“Even if whatever you read sounds cheesy as hell or so simple it sounds stupid.” She laughed.

“Cheesy?”

“Cheesy.” She grinned and patted him on the back. “I have to get going. See you next month.”

“You’re serious?” He tilted his head. A month off work. They could afford it and he had enough vacation days to more than cover for it.

“Yeah. Have Thursday be your last day before vacation.” She smiled and kept talking, “I have a new doctor coming in, and Paul is always up for chipping in.”

“I can’t do that to you guys. Leaving for a month, Claudia—”

She quickly cut him off.

“You’re not. Look, you need a break. This will give HR time to find a new assistant for you, and it gives you a break. You look pretty run down.” He rubbed his face and laughed.

“The house is too quiet.” He shook his head and looked past his boss. “I’m usually home when the girls are asleep, yet the house is too quiet.”

“It will all be okay.” She gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, not really believing it.

“It won’t be easy, Owen.” Her hand patted his shoulder. “And to be honest, sometimes it might feel like things would be easier if you gave up and walked away.” Can I walk away from Nadia? “As long as you don’t give up, she will see that and know she can count on you.” With one last pat on the shoulder, she walked out of his office. He exhaled.

With his hands in his hair, he walked back to his desk and sat down, looking down at the file his boss had brought to share with him. Cheesy and simple. He wondered what the hell Claudia had in there before he opened the file and dived into what she had brought him.

An hour later, he was still at his desk. But he was no longer feeling lost. He had hope for the first time since he had realized his life was a mess.

He had a lot to think about. He needed to think about where he’d lost his way. He wasn’t the family man he thought he had been. He wanted to be better. Not only for Nadia and his daughters, but also for himself. Owen had dived into his relationship with Nadia with everything he had and somewhere along the road had lost sight of that.

Setting his elbows on his desk, he put his hands on his face and breathed in deeply, exhaling slowly. He needed to know why or how he had messed up so he could come up with a game plan on how to get his woman back. Because he was not going to give up on Nadia and his family. He might have lost his way to his job, but he finally had a plan of how to fix things.