Page 35 of Call it Fate

“Zach!” Iain brightened up like his own personal guardian had saved him.

“What’s up, bud?” Zach’s eyes darted between Iain and me.

“My mom won’t let me play.”

I huffed and rolled my head at him in a “really?” gesture.

“Does she have a reason for that?” Zach said before I could add my own frustrated input.

Iain squirmed, a little less certain of his saving moment. “She says I have to do my schoolwork first.” He looked at Zach with wide, earnest eyes. “But there’s no school today, so I don’t know why I have to do dumb ol’ work. I hate ABC order. I always mess up, and now, there’s a hole in my paper from erasin’ a word. It’s stupid. Who cares anyway?”

Zach’s expression grew softer, and for a moment, I thought he was going to cave, and we were going to have our first battle of parental will. Instead, he nodded. “Hmm. Sounds frustrating. But your mom is right about work before play. How about we give your mom a moment to take a break, and I’ll help you with the ABCs. I know a trick that might help.”

“Really? Sure!” He bounced back to his chair while Zach drew closer to me. “Is that okay with you? You look a little frazzled.”

I gave him a wry smile. “Thanks, I think.”

He chuckled softly. “You’re beautiful, but you look like you could do with one of those timeouts Iain mentioned last night. I’ll help him,” he hesitated, his brows drawn close together, “if that’s all right, that is. I know we haven’t spent a lot of time together, but it’s just a simple assignment. Let me help. Please.”

My heart skipped a beat when he called me beautiful, same as it did when he held me last night. It felt familiar. Comfortable. Dangerous. I gave a quick nod of my head before I could do anything stupid like hug him. “Of course, it is. Thank you. I’m just going to be in the kitchen.” I peered at him. “Do you want some lunch? When do you have to be back at the clinic?”

His lopsided smile gave my heart another skip. “I’ll never turn down your cooking, and we close early on Thursdays.”

“Zach! Come on.” Iain bounced in his seat, making both of us laugh. Already, the ache between my shoulders had eased, but it transferred to my chest as I saw Zach settle next to our son, drinking him in like a like a man deprived of water for days. No, I wasn’t going to cause any more pain for that man, even if it meant I had to break my word and keep a secret.

I made my way into the kitchen and pulled out thick slices of turkey for sandwiches and my special spicy mayonnaise and busied myself making sandwiches for Zach and me. Iain got a PB&J. I was wiping down the counters when the door swung open. I stood still, watching as his eyes took everything in.

Zach looked around. “You got your dream kitchen,” he said.

“I can’t believe you remembered.”

“I remember everything,” he answered quietly, his eyes hooded with emotion. “Especially how good it was. I maybe tried to forget, but I couldn’t. Did you?”

“Zach, I…” My hand clenched the dishrag I was holding. Working through things with Iain was one thing. I couldn’t when it came to us.

He held up his hand in surrender. “Tell me about the room.”

Grateful he didn’t push, I launched into my description. “It was one of the first rooms we remodeled.” I was super proud of this room. While the rest of the house had a traditional feel, this room had more modern elements. It still had large crown molding along the ceiling found in the rest of the house. Sleek upper and lower Wedgewood-blue cabinets lined one entire wall, only interrupted by my six-burner stove and double oven.

One of my favorite things, the pot filler, was anchored to the diamond-patterned porcelain tile backsplash that filled in the space between the cabinets. The oak flooring kept the room continuous with the rest of the house, and white granite countertops kept the area bright. A huge kitchen table that had sat generations of family members took up space between the stove and a butler’s pantry.

“It’s really terrific. I can see the functionality, but it’s also beautiful.” His eyes finally landed on me.

“It’s my favorite room in the house. I spend a lot of time here, so I took a lot of time to think about what I wanted without losing the integrity of the original house. My cousin Cam is a talented designer. She took my ideas and made them a reality. Fortunately, when this house was built, they included a large kitchen. Because it must have been the warmest room during the cold winters, families would gather in it. So, we didn’t have to expand the space, just modernize it.”

I glanced over his shoulder. “What’s Iain doing?”

“I tore up some paper and wrote each word on a separate piece. Then we put the pieces in order. He’s copying them down in his notebook now.” He paused, then added, “You named him after me. Iain Zachary.”

I bit my lip as I nodded. “I always wanted him to know that his dad was a good man, no matter what happened between the two of us.”

Zach squeezed his eyes shut but not before I caught the glistening of tears in them. “Thank you for that.” He cleared his throat.

I nodded, unsure how to move toward the conversation we needed to continue without losing the tenuous peace arrangement we seemed to have created. “Can I get you some wine or something else?”

“Wine would be nice. Whatever you have open.” I felt him study me while I uncorked a bottle and poured us each a glass. I set his plate in front of him, appreciating the way he practically licked his lips as he stared at the sandwich.

“This is really good,” he mumbled around his first bite. “Everything here is.” He smiled sheepishly. “I wasn’t sure what to expect with The Dogtrot for a name, but it’s definitely nicer than anywhere else I’ve ever stayed.”

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