Just One Thing (The Alexanders 6)

If anything, he probably missed having someone to clean up after him and make sure his dress shirts were starched the way he liked. But she swallowed her annoyance. As much as he’d hurt her, she’d vowed not to allow her personal feelings to keep him from their children. Hunter and Matthew pretended not to notice but it was obvious how much they missed their dad.

"Okay, I'm glad you're here to see the kids but I'm not going to wake them in the middle of the night. You should have gotten a hotel and come in the morning."

"I should be able to sleep in my own damn house!" Don's belligerent shout startled her and she took a step back, stumbling over the edge of the couch.

"It's not your house anymore."

"I paid for it", he grumbled.

Katie rolled her eyes at the predictable reply. He'd loved to rub her nose in the fact that he brought home all the money.

"Yeah, well so did I. With blood, sweat and tears as I took care of our kids and took care of you, too. Not that it matters anymore. You did me a favor when you left."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Just that I would have never known what I was missing if you hadn't left. Dating is actually fun and there are men out there who know way more about how to please a woman. I'm having fun for the first time in years."

Don looked livid and for the first time, Katie was actually afraid of him. She swallowed over the lump that grew in her throat as he advanced on her but she refused to back down. He wasn't getting that from her.

"Now I want you to leave. Our children are asleep upstairs and I don't want them to wake up and see you like this."

A touch of vulnerability entered Don’s expression. “I can’t afford a hotel right now.” He fidgeted with the edge of his wrinkled shirt. “I’m having a little trouble at work.”

Katie didn’t say anything. Experience with Don told her that he’d spill the truth if she just let him keep talking. Sure enough, the silence was too much for him.

A few seconds later, he continued. “Some asshole said I was drunk at work. I wasn’t, by the way.”

Katie waved away the explanation. “Is this why you haven’t been paying child support?”

He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I’ll pay it. I just need a little time.”

“Why didn’t you just stay with your girlfriend?”

When he didn’t answer, Katie suddenly understood why he was there. Not only was he having trouble at work but he was also struggling to pay off the costs of their divorce and his child support. Now that he didn’t have as much money to spend on her, his girlfriend had probably left him. She almost laughed. Karma had a twisted sense of humor.

When he moved toward the door, Katie bit her tongue. She couldn’t let him leave and possibly drive drunk and hurt someone. He was a mess right now but maybe if he had a little support, he could get it together. For her children’s benefit, she could deal with having him around temporarily.

“Don’t go out there. You’ve been drinking and it’s not safe. You can stay in the guest room.”

He nodded and for the first time in years, she saw a little glimpse of the man she’d married. The one who’d cared about more than himself.

“Thank you. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

Katie followed him up the stairs and waited until he was in the guest room before she went to her own room. As she went through her usual nighttime routine, washing her face, brushing her teeth and moisturizing, she decided that tomorrow she was calling Don’s parents. He might not want to admit it but he needed help from someone. She wasn’t relying on his promises to get it together anymore.

She was tired of empty promises.

?

Not calling Katie was one of the hardest things Bennett had ever done.

He’d cleaned up some project notes, sterilized the entire lab and then gone online to play a game of virtual chess against Grant. Which he lost.

That alone was proof that he was emotionally disturbed.

Bennett woke up on Saturday morning with a slight headache but a plan. He would go to Katie’s house and surprise her with breakfast. He wouldn’t cook (he wanted her to forgive him not get food poisoning), and then he would ask her to come with him to the awards ceremony. Olivia would understand and she’d be thrilled to meet his girlfriend afterward.

Bennett wasn’t sure why he’d reacted so badly to the idea of calling off his evening with Olivia at first. Probably just leftover worry that having a girlfriend would mean leaving everything he cared about behind.