He chuckled. “He’s so tiny and so much work. But I’ll have Kayden any day rather than a day at the office.”
“I’m really grateful—”
Alex raised a hand to cut me off. “You already said.”
We exchanged a smile. I drained the last of my coffee and as I reached out to place the empty cup on the table, I missed the edge. The cup fell to the hard wooden floor, but other than bouncing around it didn’t break.
“Fuck.”
“Its fine,” he said, diving after the cup. He sat back down and held my gaze. “I’ve noticed that this kind of thing happens a lot. Is there something wrong with your vision?”
Charlotte
Oh God! I should have known that Alex would notice. How much was I going to tell him? “Yes, my vision is bad.”
“Why don’t you wear glasses?”
“Don’t like them. I’ll look terrible,” I said flippantly.
Alex stared at me. “That’s not like you Chaz. You’ve never been vain. I refuse to believe that’s the reason you don’t get glasses.”
Tears flooded my eyes and threatened to spill. “I need to marinate the steaks and make Kayden’s dinner.” I grabbed the cup and fled to the kitchen.
Alex was so right. I was not hung up over my looks. If ten inch glasses would help me see better, I would happily wear them. It felt good to hear him say that he did not believe me. But it also made me question why he had not had the same reaction when I walked out of our marriage.
Why hadn’t he reached into himself to know that I wouldn’t have fallen in love with another man, let alone run off with him?
It wasn’t long before Alex joined me but by then I had regained control of my emotions.
“Put me to work,” he said.
I gestured at the island stool. “Sit there. Your job is to keep me company.”
We chatted easily as I worked. When I was done boiling Kayden’s potatoes and peas, Alex insisted on mashing them while I placed our potatoes in the oven.
“Have you spoken to Mrs. Horace?” he asked.
“Not recently, no,” I said. “I’m sure she’s fine. I’ll give her house a cleanup. I’m sure it’s dusty.”
“That’s kind of you,” Alex commented.
“It’s nothing. She’s been so kind to Kayden and me.”
Comfortable silence fell between us.
“I wish I’d been there for you,” he said.
“How could you when I’d walked out of our marriage?” The words slipped out of my mouth before I could filter them.
I stopped dicing lettuce and faced Alex. “I’m really, really sorry for the pain I caused you. You didn’t deserve any of it and if I could turn back the clock, I would.”
I was apologizing for so much. For fleeing our marriage, for keeping his son away from him, and for destroying our dreams. I remember how happy and simple our lives had been and I wanted to cry.
We had such a short time together, but it had been the happiest period of my life.
“It was the happiest period of my life,” he said, echoing my thoughts.
“Tell me about your life back in New York?” I said. “I remember how excited you were to work at your father’s law firm. Was it everything you wanted it to be?”
“It’s a job,” he said. “I don’t mean to pile on the guilt but you asked, so I’ll tell you. All those dreams meant nothing when you left. They were important to me only if we would do it together.”
Pain sliced through me. I didn’t know how to respond. The raw honesty and pain in his voice almost brought me to my knees.
“I can practice law anywhere,” he said. “What about you? What happened to your dreams of opening your own sandwich shop?”
Mine was easy to answer. “Life happened. Responsibilities took over.”
“Kayden?” he asked, as we both returned to our tasks.
“Yes.”
“I would be happy to loan you the money you need to start. I’ve made piles of money to be honest and I’ve spent very little of it,” he said.
I stared at him, shocked that he would even make such an offer. “You can’t spend your hard-earned money like that.”
“I can spend it anyway I like. Then of course there’s my trust fund money. Following your logic I can spend it how I wish, since, I haven’t worked hard to earn it.”
“No, Alex,” I said.
“The offer is open. You can change your mind anytime. You mean a lot to me Chaz. You always will.”
Alex
It was Saturday Morning and I stayed in bed and caught up on my subscriptions most of which were law magazines. I kept thinking about Kayden and Chaz. It was almost ten and depending on what time Kayden had waked up, it was almost time for his morning nap.
The weekend stretched out before me and I contemplated asking them to do something fun together. Like taking Kayden to the zoo. I’d done some research and there was one about twenty minutes away in the next town.