by Loraine, Kim
Chapter 8
The early September air always brought a sense of nostalgia for Drew. He would watch the kids pile into cars, smiling at the frantic faces of the parents as they struggled to get their children to school on time. The sight reminded him of his own mum and dad, balancing jobs and Drew’s own schedule for years on end. Today was different. Families still piled into cars, but Drew didn’t spare them a second glance.
He and Grace had been home little more than two weeks and their lives had already been catapulted straight back to brief moments together, stilted conversation, and now, frequent arguments.
Hot on the heels of another row with Grace, about Maggie, he started toward Ten’s with a tense jaw and an aching head. His steps were loud in the early morning quiet, only camouflaged by the occasional passing car. He hated feeling this way, angry and bitter with nothing to ease his mind.
Why wouldn’t she let him alone about Maggie? That was the source of all of this conflict. He wasn’t ready to build a relationship with the woman. Why wasn’t it enough for Grace that he’d taken the monumental step of meeting Maggie?
He stopped short when he noticed the darkened store. Henry was supposed to have opened the shop hours ago. Another problem to deal with. Bloody fantastic.
Unlocking the security gate that covered the storefront, he pushed it aside, thoughts of Grace running rampant.
Was she going to keep pushing until she got her way?
Would Maggie and Grace go over his head and ambush him with yet another meeting?
Running a hand over his jaw, he walked through the shop, surveying the aisles, straightening, reorganizing, assessing. It was the only way he could calm himself. He needed a sense of order—of control.
The bell on the door jingled and Henry’s deep voice greeted him.
“Hiya, Drew. Thanks again for covering this morning. My mum’s really grateful to you.”
Drew’s stomach dropped. He was supposed to have opened the shop this morning. As soon as the words left Henry’s mouth the conversation from two days earlier flashed in his mind. Henry’s mum had broken her leg and asked her son to come by and help get his little sister to school until she could manage.
“How’s your mum?”
“She’s getting better every day. Truthfully, I think she wishes I still lived at home so I could wait on her.” Henry laughed as he tied on his apron. “I’m just glad I live close enough to pop by and help when I can.”
Drew nodded and glanced at the produce section, frowning as he took in the state of the fruit baskets.
“Weren’t we supposed to have taken a delivery of produce last night?”
Henry shook his head as he counted the money in the till. “Nothing was delivered. I thought maybe you’d changed the schedule.”
Drew glanced at the nearly empty crates and grabbed the back of his neck, massaging lightly as he felt the beginnings of a headache. “No. No change. I’ll check my email. Maybe there was some kind of weather delay.”
Though he hadn’t heard any word of severe weather delaying shipments, he hoped that was the reason behind the missing delivery. He didn’t have time to find a new organic produce distributor.
Sighing, he opened his office door and switched on the light.
“Home away from home,” he muttered to himself.
He’d barely been gone from the shop eight hours. He might as well start sleeping here from now on. If he was honest with himself, he rather enjoyed the solitude. No pressure from Grace about buying a new house, no questions about the expansion, and no bloody talk of Maggie.
As he opened his email, his eyebrows rose in shock at the fifteen urgent messages filling his inbox. A sick feeling twisted his gut as he read words like, overdue, insufficient funds, and we need to talk. The last being from his accountant.
Gripping the phone like it was his lifeline, he called Daniel, his long-time friend and accountant.
“Daniel Talbot. Can I help you?”
“Dan, it’s Drew.”
“Oh, Jesus, man. I’ve been phoning you for days. Where have you been? I’ve been trying every number I have for you.”
Drew winced. He’d seen Dan’s calls and been so preoccupied with other issues he’d forgotten to get back to him.
“I’m sorry, mate. I’ve been busy.”
Dan heaved a heavy sigh. “Well, you’ve got bigger problems right now. Cash flow.”
“What do you mean? We’ve never had a cash issue before.”
“You’ve never been in the middle of a massive expansion before either.”
Unease curled in Drew’s chest. “So, how bad?”
“You’re overextended right now. You need to either scale back the spending on the new locations or bring in some extra funds.”
Raking a hand through his hair, Drew thought about his options.
“If we scale back, our openings will be stalled. Won’t that end up costing more in the long run?”
“Yeah, more than likely. But you need a significant bit of cash to cover the difference.”
“How much?”
When Dan told him the number, Drew squirmed in his seat. His trust was the only thing he had available aside from mortgaging the house. Was it worth it to tap into the money? He looked at the ultrasound picture he’d taped to his computer monitor. Yes. Yes, it was.
“I’ve a way to cover the deficit.”
Dan let out a heavy breath. “Your trust?”
“It’s all I have. I’m not mortgaging my home. Tell me I’ll earn it all back.”
“You should. I’m not going to lie though, mate. If things don’t go your way, you’ll lose it all.”
Drew’s chest constricted. He’d already sunk all of their spare funds into the expansion. If he let it go now, it would all be for nothing.
“Transfer the money we need.”
Dan muttered a soft curse under his breath. “It’ll be all right.”
As Drew hung up the phone, he forced himself to take slow, even breaths. A panic attack wouldn’t solve anything right now. What he needed to do was set his accounts to right and get a produce order in the shop.
Even still, his hands shook as he began typing replies to his distributors.
Grace rubbed her temples and winced as she felt the dull pounding which signaled the start of a headache. Hoping she could get the jump on it before it turned into a migraine, she poured herself a big glass of water and put her feet up. She’d struggled with headaches almost daily since their return home from Golden Beach. Most nights ended with her in bed before Drew got home, a towel over her eyes, and the room blacked out.
Her thoughts drifted to her husband, once attentive and loving, now distant and tense. A sickening feeling gripped her as she recalled their last conversation the previous morning.
“Have you thought any more about calling Maggie?” She’d thrown the question out as he’d shrugged into his jacket.
“No. And as I’ve said before, I don’t plan to.”
His jaw had been set, teeth clenched. That should have been a clue to his mood, but she’d pressed on.
“You can’t ignore her. She wanted you. She said she did.”
As he let out the breath he’d been holding, her heart squeezed at the look of betrayal on his face.
“I don’t want her. I had a wonderful mother. Don’t you remember her? She died. I’m not replacing her with the woman who abandoned me.”
“That’s not—”
“And don’t you go meddling again. It’s bad enough you went behind my back in the first place. This is my choice. Not yours.” He glanced at the time and raked a hand through his hair. “Bollocks, now you’ve made me late. I can’t talk about this now.”
She’d been beside herself as the door slammed.
He’d left her without even a kind glance.
The memory made her heart pound in her chest. She needed to fix things between them. Picking up her phone, she dialed Drew’s cell, hoping to catch him during a free moment. If this headache mellowed, maybe she could steal him away from Ten’s for lunch to reconnect. After five rings, the call went to voicemail. It was just about lunchtime anyway, maybe she could convince him to take a break.
She pushed back the nagging pain in her head and packed some food. Looking out the window, she found blue skies and a gentle breeze, perfect for a picnic and some quiet time together.
The bell jingled merrily as she strolled through the doors to the grocery store where she’d first met Drew. Henry, her favorite of the shop’s attendants smiled as he restocked the shelves.
“Afternoon, Grace.”
“Hi, Henry. Is Drew upstairs?”
A slightly sour look passed over his face. “Um, yes, but he’s in a meeting . . . of sorts. I don’t know that you should disturb him.”
“What do you mean?” Alarm bells clanged in her head.
As she started up the stairs to Drew’s office, she heard a distinctive, sensual voice float down from the open door. Grace pushed the door open and crossed the threshold into the small office. Her stomach turned at the sight of Sarah, Drew’s viper of an ex-wife, sitting on his desk.
Grace’s mouth fell open as she took in the scene before her. Drew’s tie was loosened, his top button undone. Not unusual for him, but adding a woman on his desk changed things. Sarah’s skirt was rucked up, flashing a generous helping of thigh. But the cherry on top was the fact that her blouse was unbuttoned so low, the top of her lacy black bra was visible.
She eyed Grace and smirked. “Grace, I see you’ve stopped running. You know, once you’re past thirty I’ve heard some women just can’t keep the weight off. It looks like they were right.”
Humiliation and anger crept up Grace’s cheeks. She forced herself to look at her husband, hoping for some kind of explanation from him. He sat silently, eyes wide and panicked. That was all she needed. Turning on her heel, she fled the office, handing Henry the picnic she’d packed.
She rushed outside before the hot tears could escape. Sarah’s sultry laugh followed her.
Oh, my God.
What was happening?
“Grace! Grace! Bloody hell, woman. Will you slow down?” Drew watched his wife tense as he called her.
He wanted to kick his own stupid arse for not telling her about his business meeting with Sarah this morning. This was exactly the opposite of how he wanted Grace to find out Sarah was working with him.
“Grace, stop running away from me.”
She picked up her pace, clearly trying to get away from him.
Drew moved at top speed and closed the distance between them in moments. He grabbed her by the arm, stopping her in her tracks. She turned toward him, fiery righteous anger burning in her gaze. His heart broke at the expression on her face.
“Let me go.” Tears swam in her eyes and her cheeks flamed.
“At least let me explain.”
“What? That it’s not what it looked like? That Sarah was just stopping by for a friendly chat and she fell over on your desk? Her tits were practically shoved in your face. What is it, you weren’t getting any at home, so you called her up?”
The words hurt, cut him down and took his breath away.
“Nothing to say? I should have known better,” she muttered. “I should have known you’d backslide again.”
She whirled around, heading in the direction of home.
“Dammit, Grace. Stop and listen to me.” He wanted to defend himself, but he was tongue-tied. Never had she been this angry. He didn’t know how to talk to her when she was like this.
The stubborn woman didn’t stop walking until she slammed the front door in his face and threw the deadbolt in place. As if he didn’t have a bloody key.
As he turned the key in the lock, Drew started to fume as well. How could she not trust him enough to let him explain? She knew Sarah was a nightmare. A recurring one at that.
Frustration fueled his temper when he walked into their bedroom to find her putting on her running clothes.
“Where the bloody hell are you going?”
“For a run. I can’t look at you right now.”
Here it was. Grace was running away from their problem. As always. “Oh, no you don’t. You can’t accuse me of cheating on you and expect to run away from this conversation.”
She stood and stared him down, eyes blazing green fire.
“Fine. What was going on?”
“Nothing,” he offered, knowing it was a poor choice.
“Nothing? Why was she there at all? It’s never nothing when it comes to Sarah.”
“She’s the new account manager for AGG. I forgot to tell you.”
Her eyes widened. “Forgot?”
Backpedaling, he raised his hands to ward her off. “I’m sorry, maybe forgot wasn’t the right word. I’ve been so overwhelmed with this expansion. I honestly try to put work from my mind when I’m home with you.”
He watched her face turn from distrustful to doubtful. Her eyes narrowed as she mulled over his explanation.
“You can’t work with her.”
“No. I hate the bloody cow.”
She let out a bitter laugh. “And yet, you married her. You’ve let her get her hooks in you over and over. And let us not forget, you almost slept with her when we were apart.”
His chest burned at her decision to throw that mistake back in his face. They’d moved past it, she’d told him there wasn’t anything to forgive. For the sake of ending their fight, he swallowed his pride. “You’re right, and it’s a mistake I’ll not be repeating.” When she didn’t answer him, he pressed on, taking her in his arms. “There’s nothing going on with her. I promise you.”
For a brilliant moment, she relaxed against him and he thought he’d gotten her back. But with a sigh, she pushed him away, shaking her head.
“It’s not just Sarah. It’s you. You’ve been distracted . . . different since we came back from Golden Beach. You . . . you don’t talk to me. It’s like you don’t want me anymore. You’re never home. I’m here, day after day, hoping for a moment with you. I had a relationship with an unavailable man once. That isn’t who I married.”
He fought back the harsh words that rose to his tongue. How could she bring up John? He needed some way to show her he wanted to be there, but couldn’t think of anything to tell her that wouldn’t be a lie. He was different. He couldn’t look at her without feeling the weight of his entire life pressing down on him.
“What is it that’s changed you? Where did you go?” The plea in her voice shattered him.
How could he tell her all the awful things he’d been wrestling with? The anger toward John, the resentment he felt toward her and the time she’d had with both his mother and brother, the fact that they’d lose everything if the expansion failed.
“I can’t, love. I just can’t.”
She turned her gaze from him and sniffed, setting her jaw as she pulled on a pair of shoes.
“Of course you can’t. I’ll see you whenever you decide to come home.”
The front door slammed as she left and he sat on the edge of the bed, head in his hands.
Chapter 9
Grace sat in the driver’s seat of her car with worry careening through her. She’d just come from a routine appointment with her doctor and had gone from a normal, easy patient to a high risk, pre-eclamptic mess. What was supposed to have been a simple twenty-week check up, had turned into a two hour ordeal. Her blood pressure had been through the roof and with the migraines and swelling she’d been experiencing, her doctor put her on modified bedrest.
&
nbsp; Two weeks had passed since her fight with Drew about Sarah—about everything. He was making an effort, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something deeper was happening with him.
She looked at the giant jug sitting on the passenger seat of her car with distaste. That sucker had to be filled with twelve hours worth of her urine by tomorrow in order for them to check for protein, a sure sign of pre-eclampsia. If Drew was uninterested in her already, what was he going to think when he saw her carting a jug of her own pee around?
Her phone rang, diverting her attention from the ugly orange container.
“Hello?”
“Hi, love. How was the appointment?”
She sighed. He sounded normal today. Interested, caring, back to his usual self. “I caused a little bit of trouble.”
He chuckled. “Oh, really? Did you now?”
“They put me on bedrest.”
“What? What’s wrong?” Panic laced his words.
“They think I’ve got pre-eclampsia.”
He was silent for a beat. “What’s that?”
“It’s a blood pressure problem.”
“Are you feeling ill?”
She smiled at the concern in his voice. “No. They think my headaches are because of it. I’ll be just fine.”
“Right, I’m coming home straight away. What can I bring you?”
“You don’t have to do that. I’m sitting in the driveway now. Besides, I have to collect my pee for the next twelve hours. I doubt you want to be around for that.”
He laughed. “You’re daft. You know that?”
She grinned at this lighthearted version of her husband she was talking to. “Thanks.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me home?”