We headed into the kitchen and found that Leanne had already gotten the kids started on their dinner of chicken nuggets and mac ’n’ cheese, plus plated out food for the grown-ups. “Everything okay?” she asked, giving her husband a worried and quizzical look.
“I’m fine,” Matt told her gently, squeezing her shoulder as he passed her to sit in his normal seat. I realized she must have been worried about him, thinking that maybe it was something to do with his injuries. Instead, it was just my drama all over again.
I was hating how much drama there was in my life, ever since I started dating Daniel. But suddenly, I realized that I was the cause of at least as much of that drama as Daniel was. After all, I had been the one to break things off with him the first time, and I had been the one who refused to even talk to him this weekend, all because we’d had a little fight.
And as I looked around the table at Matt and Leanne, as I listened to Zach and Layla tell me all about their week at school and everything else that they had gotten up to, I realized suddenly that I wanted this. All of it, the whole package. I had never really thought that I might want children. Or rather, I had been sure that I would never find a man that I wanted children with.
Daniel might have his faults, but I knew, deep down, that in spite of everything, he was a great guy. Not perfect, but not some terrible asshole with anger management issues either. I had only seen him raise his voice twice, once at the bar with Gerrard and once toward me. That really wasn’t all that much in the scheme of things. Not only that, but Erin had seemed sure that Gerrard deserved a good punch to the face, and maybe she was right.
Maybe I had never given Daniel a chance to tell me his side of the story. Maybe I had been in the wrong all along.
I could still picture a future with Daniel. More easily than I could picture a future without him. I could see him and I together at the dinner table, could see him laughing as the children complained about the broccoli on their plates. We’d fall asleep together every night, and in the morning, he would get the coffee and breakfast going while I got the kids ready for school.
It definitely felt like it was too soon to be having these sorts of thoughts about Daniel. But then again, when I thought back to all the changes that had happened since I had started working for McGregor Enterprises, it felt as though I had known Daniel a lot better than I really could. And maybe it was just that I was used to reading people in business, but I really felt like I knew Daniel.
Better than the tabloids ever could. Better than that jury had, for sure.
I winced when I thought about the jury. Daniel had been on trial for two days, listening to people who believed he was a terrible person, and when he had come home to me, clearly needing some assurance that he wasn’t, I had run away. I felt terrible about that now.
I’d call him immediately after dinner, I vowed. Right after dinner.
Chapter 15
Daniel
I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT to do. I had gotten it in my head, after talking to Austin, that I would talk to Abby before work tomorrow morning. With it in my head, it was even more difficult to stomach the silence from her. I had to apologize to her. I had to make sure she knew what she meant to me. How much I appreciated her work around the office. She hadn’t had to step in for me as CEO, but she had done so. And she had done a damned good job of it, I was sure, the whole thing with Duncan aside.
I never should have yelled at her. And I never should have let it go this long without apologizing to her, even though it was sort of her fault for not answering her phone.
She still wasn’t answering her phone, and when I went by her apartment, she didn’t answer the door. I stood out there for a moment, indecision in every part of my body.
Maybe she was over at Matt and Leanne’s house. It would make sense for her to go there if she was upset. It was about dinnertime right now, and I knew she and her brother and best friend had dinner together regularly.
Even if she wasn’t there, maybe I could ask Matt for advice. I felt kind of weird going to him for advice since I knew that neither he nor Leanne had really been happy with me dating Abby to begin with. But if anyone knew Abby well enoug
h to give me advice, it was Matt. And right now, I could use all the advice I could get.
I wasn’t ready to lose her from my life; I didn’t think I would ever be ready to lose her from my life. But with the way she was ignoring me right now, not even bothering to text me back and tell me that she never wanted to see me again or anything else, I couldn’t help but feel worried. Maybe she wouldn’t show up to work tomorrow. Maybe I would never see or hear from her again.
I couldn’t handle that. I needed Matt’s advice, if that was what she planned to do.
I had been to dinner once at Matt and Leanne’s house, and it didn’t take long for me to drive over there again. When I pulled in the driveway, I sighed with relief to see Abby’s car parked outside. I had made the right decision, then.
I hoped so, anyway. I hoped she wouldn’t be mad at me for just showing up like this.
I swallowed hard, drumming my fingers against the edge of the steering wheel for a moment, further indecision coursing through my body. Maybe I should just leave it for later. Let her have the evening she had planned with her brother and his family. I didn’t want to intrude. I didn’t want to cause any more drama in her life.
But at the same time, could it wait until later? Tomorrow morning, Abby was theoretically supposed to come to work at McGregor Enterprises, just like usual. And I’d be back at work after the trial with Gerrard. There was no way for the two of us to avoid seeing each other. And if she wasn’t planning on being there, in light of the fight that she and I had, I deserved to know that before she just didn’t show up. Or called in sick, or whatever she might be tempted to do.
Because then I would have to call her back, and this rejection wasn’t something I wanted to handle over the phone. We owed it to each other, and to ourselves, to have this conversation face-to-face, like adults.
I took a final deep breath and got out of the car, then walked briskly toward the front door. I knocked softly, aware of the fact that the kids were probably there at the dinner table with them. If the door was going to get slammed in my face, I didn’t want them to get suspicious. I didn’t want to cause any more pain than I had to.
It was Matt who answered the door. I could see the look of surprise on his face, and I didn’t miss the way he raised an eyebrow at me. But he nodded warmly at me and stood back to let me inside. “I’ll go get Abby,” he said, slipping away toward the kitchen. I didn’t try to follow him. Instead, I waited in the front hall, rocking back and forth on my heels.
When Abby came out into the hall, I expected her to look just as surprised. Or maybe furious at the way I had just shown up here. But instead, she looked resigned. “Daniel,” she said curtly.
I grimaced, already hating the emotions I could see in her face. She was closed off, impassive. Like she didn’t care about me at all, and in fact like she had never cared about me at all. I stared at her for a long moment, but her expression didn’t change, and she didn’t say anything. Finally, I sighed. “Sorry, I think I made a mistake in coming here,” I told her. “I should have just texted. But I just wanted to know what you planned on doing about tomorrow. If you still planned on showing up at work.”