Page 39 of Skipping Stones

Gemma nodded. “I know. But it will be good for you to spread your wings a bit. And to do it without Mac in your face. Besides, BTN is thrilled to have you. They didn’t even know you were interested.” Gemma smiled. “You need to learn to network better. Rob can offer you things I can’t here right now. You know it and I know it. And like any good reporter, you’re impatient. I’m sad to see you go, but I understand. I hope one day you’ll be back.”

Linney took a deep breath. “I haven’t talked to Mac since he went to rehab. And I still don’t want to. Will you tell him?”

“Of course. Now get out of here and knock ’em dead. Just don’t scoop us all the time.”

Linney left TCN with a laugh.

16

BTN was different from her old network, but Linney had interesting assignments to help prepare her for reporting from overseas. One of the first she worked on was the Eurozone economies, when it appeared they were heading to a third recession in five years. When Greece called a snap election and the stock market crashed, Linney went to Italy, France, and Greece to do a series on the future of the EU. She returned to Greece when the Syrian refugee crisis began, to cover stories of families escaping the horrors of the war, and economic migrants looking for a better life. And when Britain voted to leave the European Union, Linney knew she could be busy for months, if not years, reporting on everything the vote meant and how it would affect the country.

Mac was back at TCN. It was an editorial position, MJ said, and he looked better than he had for a long time. He was still in counselling, he’d told them, and he laughed that he shouldn’t be expected in the pub any time soon. Linney appreciated MJ’s update but didn’t need to know more or to talk to him. She’d moved on and the passion she’d felt for Mac had been permanently extinguished.

The industry was small, however, and Linney and Mac eventually ran into each other at a lunch sponsored by the Associated Press. He saw her first, and Linney noticed him walking across the room with purpose. She steeled herself and decided to be the first to speak.

“Mac. How are you?” He’d lost some weight and looked healthier, but the years of alcohol abuse had permanently changed him. The lines on his face were deeper now, and spider veins around his nose told the world a story. A story she’d been blind to for a long time.

“I’m good. Really good. How are you?”

Linney nodded.

“I have a lot to apologize for. I don’t know if we can ever be friends again, but I want you to know how incredibly sorry I am for what I put you through.”

“Thank you, Mac. I appreciate that.” Linney was polite but did nothing to suggest she wanted to prolong the conversation. She waved to some of her new colleagues who wanted her to join their table. “I have to go now. I’ll see you around,” She turned on her heel and left Mac in the middle of the room. He might be ready to apologize, but she wasn’t ready to hear it yet. And besides, she’d just been given great news. Rob had told her that she could expect to be in Jerusalem by November, a month earlier than she expected.

“Can you believe it?” she asked MJ when they caught up on a Saturday picnic in Hyde Park. “It’s finally happening!”

“I told you you’d be leaving me behind. I’m so happy for you!” MJ would miss Linney fiercely, but she was proud of her friend’s success.

Linney spent the next weeks getting paperwork together and deciding what she needed to take with her. The network had promised her six months there, and then they’d evaluate. So, for now, she was keeping her London flat and would be back a few times during her foreign assignment.

* * *

Derek waited on Olivia hand and foot through her pregnancy. He suspected he was more excited than she was, especially through first trimester morning sickness that seemed to last all day long. She spent a lot of time on the cold marble floor of their ensuite and Derek knew she was horrified when her stomach revolted at work. Unfortunately, it didn’t go away entirely, and Olivia lived on saltines and ginger ale for months as nausea continued to plague her. Her exhaustion irked her, and she was disheartened at her enormous belly. By her final month, she was miserable. Pregnancy did not agree with her.

When Leo joined them after a long labour Derek was instantly besotted and he was sure Olivia would be too. Everything she’d been through would be worth it.

Leo was a good baby, but Derek hadn’t accounted for how hard motherhood would be for Olivia. When he came home from work, exhausted and emotionally worn out from the stories he heard from his clients, his wife thrust their son at him often before he’d even had a chance to change out of his work clothes. “I just need some time alone,” she would say to him, and retreat into their bedroom, where order reigned, and the room wasn’t filled with baby things.

Most evenings, Derek would give his son a bath and sing the songs to him that he remembered from his childhood while he rocked him and fed him a bottle. Derek loved this time—he would have liked it better if he’d been in jeans and a T-shirt, but he loved it just the same. He did as much as he could to lessen the burden on Olivia, while he drank in the wonder of being a father. When Leo cried in the night, Derek got up with him at least as often as Olivia, despite his early alarm. He found himself needing more coffee to stay alert, and on more than one occasion, he missed his subway stop, having fallen asleep to the rhythm of the train.

Still, he loved every second he spent with his son and snapped endless pictures to send to his mother and Linney. He beamed with pride when he took Leo out to the St. Lawrence Market in the stroller. It quickly became a Saturday morning routine for them, letting Olivia sleep late. After a morning alone, Olivia was more herself, and the new family slowly settled into a rhythm. Sure, there was less time to catch up on reading legal briefs than there used to be, but the more Leo gurgled and smiled, the more Derek fell in love with his son. He wouldn’t let anything or anyone hurt his precious little boy.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised when Olivia announced matter-of-factly over dinner one night—they’d gotten a babysitter for the evening, and she’d dressed up for the first time in ages—that she was cutting her maternity leave short to get back to business deals for her clients. When Derek asked if she’d reconsider, she made it clear the decision was already made. She explained how she’d been interviewing nannies and had found the right one. While Derek listened with disbelief, she told him that Zuzanna would be coming by his office the next day to meet him.

“This will make me happy, Derek,” she insisted. Doing his best to be supportive, he agreed to meet the nanny she’d selected, but turned to Linney to vent.

I just don’t get it. I want to spend every second with Leo. Why doesn’t she?

It’ll come. Not every woman is a natural mother right off the bat. And look at me. I don’t even want kids. I guess you’re right. But she seems to want to run away from it.

Give her time.

I’m trying.

Hang in there.

You really don’t want kids? You’re so good with Leo.

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