Chapter 9
Adam watched Marina touch one finger to the baby’s cheek.
“Did you know I was with Savannah in Florida?”
“I suspected.”
“It wasn’t the whole trip.”
Marina gave him a tired look.
The sentence sounded disgusting even to him.
“I mean—I did have work.”
“Okay.”
“Marina, I’m trying to be honest.”
“No. You’re trying to negotiate the size of the betrayal.”
That stopped him.
Elise moved quietly in the kitchen behind them.
Adam lowered his voice again.
“I should have been here when you got sick.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You knew I was three days out of the hospital when you boarded the plane.”
“Nell was seven days old.”
“Yes.”
“You told me you could manage.”
“I told you I would survive.”
Her eyes finally filled.
Not dramatically.
Just enough that she blinked once.
“I thought those meant the same thing then.”
Adam stood.
“Come home.”
Marina stared at him.
“You and Nell. Come home tonight. We’ll get someone else to help. I’ll cancel everything this week.”
She almost looked confused.
“You think the problem is staffing?”
“No.”
“That’s what you just offered.”
“I’m offering to be there.”
Marina shifted Nell higher against her shoulder.
“I needed you to be there when I was afraid.”
“I am here now.”
“Yes.”
She nodded.
“Now.”
One word.
Adam had negotiated leases worth millions.
He had convinced angry clients to extend contracts.
He had talked banks through delays and vendors through mistakes.
But there was nowhere to move inside that word.
“Is it too late?”
Marina looked toward the window.
Rain ran silver down the glass.
“I don’t know what our marriage is going to look like yet.”
His face tightened.
“But I know I’m not coming back because you finally noticed I was gone.”
Nell stirred again.
Marina kissed her forehead.
Adam looked toward the kitchen.
The roses stood in a water pitcher because Elise had not found a vase.
They looked absurdly formal in the small room.
Adam had imagined Marina receiving them in their beautiful kitchen, forgiving him before he had even told the truth.
Instead, they stood beside sterilized bottles in somebody else’s house.
And his wife was no longer asking him where he had been.
She had already started deciding where she was going.
Chapter 3: PART 3: He Thought Fatherhood Began When He Came Back. Nell Had Already Been Learning Who Stayed.>>>>>>>>
Adam Bennett came home from a twenty-day “business trip” carrying pink. Chapter 1: PART 1: The Roses Were Too Late. The House Had Already Learned to Live Without Him.
Chapter 3: PART 3: He Thought Fatherhood Began When He Came Back. Nell Had Already Been Learning Who Stayed.Adam returned the next afternoon.