I pulled my hand away. “You had peanut butter on your cheek.”
He watched me a minute longer and then said, “Thanks.” As our gazes held, my heart filled with such longing for him and what we had. There was so much I wanted to say, and yet, every time we talked, it was always the same; I blamed him for working too much and he blamed me for focusing everything on the kids.
There was emotion in his eyes, and I wondered if he felt the same? Wishing we could get past our resentments to find us again.
He stepped back. “See you tonight.”
“Bye daddy,” the kids called.
He started out, but gave me a quick glance over his shoulder. It reminded me of when we first met as coworkers who weren’t supposed to fraternize. We kept our relationship on the downlow, but every time
he’d leave a meeting, he’d give me one last look over his shoulder. At the time, it had been a look that said he’d loved me.
Only after he was gone this morning did I realize I still hadn’t told him about my cancer. I’d need to find time when the kids were preoccupied or maybe I could do like Emma said and arrange a date night where she could babysit.
There was so much to do. I knew from my mother’s treatment, that I’d be weak and need help. Would he be willing to take time away from work to help me? Or would he prefer to hire help? Either way, he needed to be involved now.
“Mommy, Noah spilled his smoothie.”
I turned to find Noah using his hand to try and clean up a small puddle of his breakfast. “Let me wipe it up.”
I grabbed a sponge and began to clean up the mess. If only it was as easy to clean up the mess between Brayden and me.
7
Brayden
There’d been a moment when Terra wiped the peanut butter from my cheek that I’d felt a spark of something between us. That was followed by emotion, a longing to kiss her and get back what we’d lost. As I left, I wondered if I’d imagined it, so I turned back to look at her. For an instant, I was propelled back in time to when I met and fell in love with her.
Ten Years Earlier
I was feeling pretty full of myself, especially standing next to this douchebag who, like me, was starting his first day at the established Seattle tech firm. I’d just finished earning my MBA, after earning a joint computer science and business degree in my undergraduate studies. My reward was a sweet job with great pay at the tech giant.
Douchebag and I were waiting to meet our new supervisor.
“Someday I’m going to run this place,” Douchebag said with that kind of boasting that let you know he was compensating for a lack of confidence or talent. My guess is he had the talent, but clearly not the confidence or social skills. He probably had a tiny dick too.
“Good luck with that,” I said. Not that I didn’t expect to do well and work up the ranks, but I was smart enough not to be obnoxious about it.
“You don’t have plans to move up?”
“Sure. Right now, I’m focused on the job at hand. Can’t move up if I don’t do this one well.”
“Not me. I wanted the supervisor position. That’s what I really deserve. But I’ll take this shit level job to show I’ve got the goods to move up. Maybe I’ll do her too. Couldn’t hurt to please the manager, you know what I mean?”
See? Douche.
I turned to where he was looking, and my heart stuttered to a stop in my chest. I could see why Douche would want her; she was stunning. What caught my attention first were her eyes. They were an amazing green and behind them was intelligence and fire. She was tall and lean, wearing a skirt and a shirt that was professional, and at the same time sexy. Normally, I liked women with a little more meat, but I couldn’t deny the attraction of the sculpted calves and long legs.
“Mr. Burrow? Mr. McLean?” she said as she reached us.
“Call me Lyle,” Douche man said.
I nearly snorted at his name though I didn’t know why. I supposed it was because he seemed like a guy that would have a douchier name.
“I’m Brayden,” I said.
She shook Lyle’s hand and then mine. Her hand was warm and her shake was firm. She looked us both in the eyes. This was a woman who wasn’t intimidated by anything.