“I’m fine,” I said. My cell phone vibrated on my desk and I almost groaned when I saw the caller. “Excuse me,” I said to my father gesturing at the phone.
“Sure, go ahead and think about what I just said. We all need to recharge now and then. I’m lucky in that your mother forces me to. You’ve been at it hard for two years. Take a break.”
I nodded impatiently and when he left, I pressed answer, inwardly bracing myself for Abigail’s whiny tone. “Hi.”
“I can’t believe it. I had to hear from your brother-in-law that you were back,” she said. “And you’ve been back for two days!”
Irritation came over me. I loved Richard like a brother, but I disliked how he mouthed off my personal stuff to Abigail.
“Yeah, I was busy,” I said, ignoring the annoyance in her voice.
“Can we meet for lunch today?” Abigail said.
It was on the tip of my tongue to say no but Abigail was an item on my list of things to do. Seeing Charlotte had hurt deeply but it had made me confront my way of life and propelled me to want to make changes.
Abigail and I were wasting each other’s time. Our breakup was long overdue. I agreed to meet for lunch at the club. I threw myself into work but thoughts of Charlotte kept intruding. I wondered how she and Kayden were faring.
Finally, as I was about to leave for lunch with Abigail, my need to find out overwhelmed me. I did what I had promised not to do. I called Charlotte. I paced my office while I waited for her to answer the call.
When she came on, she sounded rushed. “Hi.”
“Hey Chaz, its Alex.”
“Oh.” She went silent. “I never expected to hear from you.”
The sound of Kayden’s cry came over the phone.
“Is Kayden okay?” I said.
“He’s okay. Look, I have to go. I’m with Mrs. Horace. She got a call from her son. Her daughter-in-law fractured her leg and they need her help,” she said, her voice sounding strained.
“What about work? Who will watch Kayden?” I said.
“I’ll figure something out. We’ll be fine. Bye, thanks for checking on us.” She disconnected the call.
If Charlotte lost her job, she and Kayden would be in a lot of trouble. It shouldn’t have been my problem but it was. Charlotte was part of my life, whether I liked it or not and so was Kayden. He was a sweet innocent child and he deserved stability in his life. He needed his mom to keep her job.
I was thoughtful in the cab on the way to the club. A solution came to me. Charlotte needed help with Kayden and I had a long vacation due to me. I would take time off and go back to Woodfield. My lunch with Abigail was a great idea.
I wanted to leave things totally settled so there was not an ounce of doubt that we were finished before I left. The past two days had rolled over each other in a stretch of boredom and longing for Chaz, but suddenly, color had been splashed into my life.
I shook my head as I got out of the cab. How dreary was my life that I was excited by the prospect of babysitting? I couldn’t wait to leave New York and return to Woodfield.
I would drive down so that Charlotte and I would have a car to move around in. I made plans in my head. My secretary had a son about the same age as Kayden. I would send her to shop for toys for him. I smiled as I imagined his face lighting up when he saw a bunch of toys for him.
“You look pleased with yourself,” Abigail said, standing up from her chair to kiss me. “You’re late, but I’ll assume that you were doing something important.”
“I was,” I said solemnly and sat down.
Abigail and I stared at each other and for the hundredth time, I asked myself what we were doing together. Maybe she also asked herself the same question.
“How have you been?” I asked her.
“Neglected,” she said.
I nodded but I couldn’t bring myself to apologize or say nice things. She was right. I had neglected her, but I didn’t feel guilty about it. What I felt guilty about was that I had let it go on for so long.
“You don’t seem to care,” she said.
I met her gaze. “We’re not working Abigail and I’m sure you know that too.”
A panicky look came over her features. “We are just fine, Alex. We just need to spend more time together.”
What was she talking about? We were two people who had made a mistake in thinking they could make it work. We had nothing in common and now, we had reached a point where we had started to grate on each other’s nerves.