Reunited at The Altar

He’d also left a message with the headhunter he’d spoken to, outlining his availability and saying that he’d call at lunchtime to discuss the options.

He sorted out his team’s questions, agreed the next steps for the project, and then went to speak to his boss.

‘Good to have you back, Brad,’ Dominic said.

This was where Brad knew he was supposed to say that it was good to be back. Which it was; and at the same time it wasn’t.

‘Can I be frank with you, Dominic?’ he asked.

‘Sure.’

‘There isn’t an easy way to say this, because I love my job here and I love working with my team—but I need to move out of London. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to resign without seeing the project through to the end.’

‘Move out of London?’ Dominic frowned. ‘Why? Is there a problem at home? Is there anything we can help with?’

Brad shook his head. ‘It’s all a bit up in the air at the moment, to be honest—it’s for personal reasons.’

‘OK.’

Dominic had been a great support. The least Brad could do was tell him the truth. ‘I know you won’t tell anyone before I’m ready to break the news.’ Brad looked his boss straight in the eye. ‘I just found out that I’m going to be a dad. And that’s something I can’t do from three hours away. It’s not commutable, and I don’t want to be a part-time dad.’

‘No, of course not.’ Dominic blinked. ‘Well, this is a bit out of left field. I didn’t even realise you were seeing someone, let alone that it was serious enough to start a family. I don’t know what to say—um, congratulations?’

‘I’m seeing my ex,’ Brad said, ‘and the baby wasn’t planned. But I’m hoping we’re going to be able to make things work, second time round.’

‘As you’re resigning, does that mean you have another job lined up?’

‘Not yet,’ Brad admitted. ‘I might end up retraining. I was thinking of maybe teaching chemistry.’

‘And you’d be happy doing that?’

‘If it meant I could be with Abby and the baby, yes. But that’s plan B,’ Brad admitted. ‘I’m keeping my options open.’

‘If you want my opinion,’ Dominic said, ‘I think you’d hate teaching in a school because you’d miss the research side too much. And I also think you’d be a huge loss to the industry if you switched to teaching. I wish there was some way to keep you here, because I don’t want to lose you.’ He frowned. ‘Would your partner consider moving to London?’

‘That would mean moving a three-hour drive away from both our families. So if she moved here, that would mean she’ll be pregnant and know nobody in the area—or, if she waited until the baby was born before she moved, she’d have a small baby and know nobody in the area. It’s not fair to do that to her.’

‘She’d make friends at antenatal classes, and at the baby groups.’

Abby would make friends easily, Brad knew. But that wasn’t the issue. ‘I don’t want to make her uproot everything. And, to be honest, I know how much she loves it back in Norfolk. It’s not just her home and her family, it’s her family business as well.’ Last time, Abby had put him first, uprooted herself and gone with him to Cambridge—and he’d let her down. This time, it was his turn to make the move. To put her first. ‘So I need to go back to Norfolk.’

‘Don’t hand your notice in just yet,’ Dominic said. ‘Give me a few days. I know people in other labs. People I trained with. They’re always looking for good people. One of them might have an opening.’

‘I was going to sign on with an agency, too,’ Brad said. ‘Talk to the people who headhunted me last year.’

‘Much as I’m going to hate losing you from the team, it looks as if you’ve got it all sorted out.’ Dominic rolled his eyes. ‘Not that I’d expect anything less from you. Your organisational skills put everyone else’s to shame.’

‘Obviously I’ll work out my notice,’ Brad said, ‘but I have a lot of time in lieu owing.’