Page 12 of Between Our Hearts

“Thank you,” squeezed out of Sadie’s tight throat.

The woman stepped back, looking away. “Name’s Deborah.”

“Sadie.”

Deborah nodded and took a few paces toward her utility cart before turning around. “If you cover the soil up with the mulch, it’ll keep the moisture in. And don’t be surprised if the flower’s wilted for a few days. Transplanting shocks ‘em a bit, but she’ll bounce back.”

Another tear escaped with the word “she’ll,” but Sadie managed a comprehending nod before she pushed the mulch back into place, the sound of the cart driving off registering in the periphery.

Tomorrow Sadie would have to buy another plant and place it next to its siblings. Her abdomen cramped again, dragging a mournful cry from her mouth. Within the safety of her parked car, she could vocalize the pain ricocheting through her body—through her heart. Once the cramping subsided, she pushed away the wetness from her face. It was only two more miles home. A place that had once been a refuge but now felt like a warzone. With a heavy sigh, Sadie shifted into gear.

?Chapter 6?

“Then hippo went ‘Ahhhh!’” Clark flipped the grey stuffed hippopotamus upside down midair and thumped his head on Lottie’s bed as his daughter burst into giggles. “Hey!” he said in his squeakiest voice. “Why did you throw that banana peel at my feet?” The stuffed monkey in his right hand tilted his head in a semblance of a shrug.

“Bad ooo-ahh.” Lottie smiled.

“You’re right, little love. He’s a very bad monkey.” He set Hippo in his lap to wave a scolding finger at her stuffed monkey.

Lottie’s little lips tugged higher before she sighed and flopped back on her pillow. Clark felt his face mirroring her expression as he ran his fingers through her mop of auburn curls, mostly dry after her bath.

Most of the guys he used to work with had balked at his decision to not put Lottie in day care and return to a jobsite. They couldn’t imagine that his chest filled to the brim daily at spending his hours playing with and taking care of his little girl—that he actually enjoyed supporting his wife in her dedication to her career. That he found Sadie’s strength incredibly sexy.

Over the years, Sadie had often complained about the toxic patriarchy she’d slammed up against time and again to fight for where she was. She had one male colleague, Josh, who was affronted at her being the director of orthopedic surgery. Since Sadie had been the lone woman surgeon in her specialty for years, she was ecstatic that Reagan, the chief resident and Sadie’s mentee, had just accepted the orthopedic department’s offer of employment.

Unfortunately, Clark had seen that same gender imbalance in his line of work as well. Though he’d always treated the female contractors he’d encountered with the same respect as their male counterparts, he knew most of his co-workers often didn’t. If that disrespect happened in front of him, however, he was the first to say something about it. He wouldn’t have been his mother’s son had he not.

His parents had often touted there was no problem blending in with the culture you were submerged in, but that didn’t mean you needed to propagate its negative stereotypes. So Clark did what he’d always done when working—he’d been a chameleon. He’d shown his tougher exterior and filled the expected role of “carpenter” when at work and allowed himself to be who he really was at home.

Not all the guys were bad, though, and Clark continued to meet up over beers every few weeks with the ones he’d been closest to. The after-work Friday night ritual used to be a weekly routine for him. They’d shoot the shit about their lives for a few hours, half-looking at each other, half-watching whatever game was on the thirty-plus screens at the sports bar they frequented. More often than not, Clark would have to suppress a smile at his friends’ gratuitous displays of masculinity.

The garage door opened and closed over the whisper of the white noise machine on the bookshelf, hitching a slight pause in Lottie’s lullaby. Clark’s shoulders tightened before he took a conscious breath to loosen them and continue singing.

If Sadie wanted to, she’d come in and give their daughter a kiss, but sometimes his wife felt it was better not to rile Lottie up right before bed. And sometimes after a long surgical day, Sadie didn’t have the mental energy to deal with anything when she came home. The door never opened, so Clark snuggled with Lottie until her little body heaved with sleep before slipping from her bedroom.

Steam billowed once he opened the door to their large master bathroom. Inside the shower, water bounced at errant angles off of Sadie’s bowed head, the hot liquid darkening her auburn waves and pinking the pale skin of her body.

Her defeated posture meant one of two things—she’d lost a patient in surgery or she’d miscarried today.

She’d been trying to hide the fact that she was pregnant for the last two weeks. She’d obviously taken the pregnancy test at work because the two that he’d bought at the store were still under the sink. But since they’d been tracking her cycle to try and maximize conception over her window of ovulation, he’d noticed when, during the week when she should have had her period, tampons hadn’t littered the bathroom trash can.

Clark slipped out of his sandals and opened the glass shower door. His wife’s forehead wrinkled with exhaustion at his unexpected presence behind her.

“It’s been a—”

“I’m fully dressed, Sadie.” Only then did she notice that the scalding water was wetting his T-shirt and gym shorts. “I’m not trying anything. It’s just your shoulders are so high they’re brushing your ears. Here”—he gripped her skin and began massaging with firm, even strokes of his fingers—“let me help.”

Sadie’s head fell into the spray again as her tight muscles sagged under his attention. Her whole body seemed to relax at his touch and damned if satisfaction didn’t sprint through his veins. Everything between them had been so tense for months, and in this quiet moment, tranquility swept the moisture-filled bathroom. Eventually, she inched her way back until she was almost leaning onto him, the water pelting her stomach.

“See.” He couldn’t help but kiss the wet strands of hair over her neck. “That’s better, isn’t it?”

Her languid nod brought a smile to his lips before his gaze swept downward. Though his intentions had been pure when he’d entered the shower, the flushed quality of her naked skin drew his attention, and he let his eyes linger on her shapely bottom.

Early in their relationship, she’d slept in these slippery nightshirts that always seemed to creep up in the middle of the night. She’d also had a tendency to wrap a leg over the top of the covers. Waking up to the lacy edges of her underwear peeking from the duvet had been his absolute favorite thing. He’d even started setting his alarm a half hour earlier to allow time to take advantage of that gorgeous sight.

Clark was contemplating letting his fingers dip down for a handful when his wife’s words made him freeze.

“I lost her,” she whispered.

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