Page 204 of The Bonus

9:10 a.m.

I log onto my computer and click on the Zoom meeting link. I sit and wait for the others in the meeting to join.

I look around the office I’m sitting in, so unlike my taste, with the worst furnishings of all time. I’m going to have to bring some creature comforts from home, I can’t live here for half of the time without the things I need.

I begin to make a list in my notes.

Coffee machine.

Office furniture.

Bed.

Linen.

I glance down at my suit. More casual clothes.

Gym, I need a gym here. I haven’t trained for a week now. I feel like shit.

My mind flicks to Gracie. I never wanted you to feel a one-sided love.

My heart sinks, there’s a lot of reasons I feel like shit.

The other faces begin to pop up on my screen, and I take a deep breath.

My new normal starts now.

School pickup is hectic, by the time they came out, it’s taken us half an hour to get home. I had to finish work early, but this week was somewhat of an emergency.

“And what else happened today?” I ask as the kids and I walk into the house.

“Barbara fell off the monkey bars at lunch and hurt her arm.”

“Is she okay?” I ask.

Dom shrugs. “She’s probably acting.”

“She wasn’t acting, Dominic,” Lucia says, outraged. “You don’t even know her.”

“I don’t want to.”

I smirk as I listen to them squabble, such a simple conversation but somehow I find it fascinating.

Every day I peel back a little more of their different personalities and learn something more. We walk into the kitchen and the children both stop on the spot.

“This is Mark,” I introduce them.

Mark is at the oven and he’s cooking something on the cook top. “Hello.” He smiles, he’s wearing an apron and looks every bit the part of a chef.

“These are my children, Lucia and Dominic.” I smile proudly.

“Wow.” He smiles as he flicks a tea towel over his shoulder. “You guys sure look like your dad.”

“Mark is my friend from New York,” I tell them. “He comes wherever I go. He lives in the house out by the pool when we’re here.”

“Oh.” Lucia nods.

Dominic stares at him with the same blank look he used to give me.

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