Page 35 of Tempting Fate
“If they get home from the wedding early enough, Emily said she’d bring her over. Otherwise, tomorrow morning in time for breakfast.”
Kristy absently swirled her wine. “I was thinking of going home tomorrow. This case…it would be better if I worked from the office. I’ll take the Volvo.”
They’d left it in the mountains so they’d have an extra car to drive when they rode up together.
“Seems silly. I’d only be a few hours behind you.” If it was really work, he didn’t want to push. Lord knew he’d spent enough time away from home, pulling all-nighters on a motion or a brief. But work had become a convenient excuse.
“I don’t want you to feel rushed,” she said. “As it is, your time was cut short with Harper this weekend.”
He and Emily had agreed that they wouldn’t be draconian about the schedule. It was more important that Harper settled in here, made friends, and engaged in social activities. The transition had been hard enough. She’d had a whole world in Idaho. Despite what those monsters had done, they’d given Harper a wonderful life. In Morton, she’d been involved in clubs and activities and had dozens of friends. Uprooting a child in normal circumstances was difficult enough, but the transition continued to be a maze of complications.
“Harper and I could go somewhere so you’d have the house to yourself to work. That way we could at least make the four-hour drive together.” He tried to take her hand but she quickly reached for her wineglass.
Their food came before she could respond, and Drew saw her working up a good excuse in her head.
“I know this is difficult, Kristy. I want you to know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done—the house here, the driving back and forth, dealing with a very confused thirteen-year-old—to accommodate me and Harper.”
“I’m your wife, Drew. Really…it’s insulting.”
He wasn’t allowed to appreciate her? To tell her he knew this was beyond trying for anyone, even people who loved each other deeply?
“There’s no need to be defensive, Kris. Jeez, I can’t win for losing with you. Clearly, you’re unhappy with the setup, and I can’t blame you. But what do want me to do?”
“Shush. You’re making a scene.”
“There’s no one in the damn place.” He grabbed his fork and picked at his salad. “We used to talk, Kristy. Now, we’re hard pressed to carry on even a mundane conversation about the weather.”
“I’m trying to make partner. You should know what that’s like.” She ignored her food and took another drink of wine.
He huffed out a breath. “You know what the doctor said?”
She turned in her chair and stared daggers at him. “I hadn’t realized you were listening, because if you were, you’d know that we missed this month’s window of opportunity. I was ovulating last week when you decided to race up here because Harper had a toothache.”
He was screwing this up. Badly. “You didn’t tell me, Kristy. If you had told me—”
“I shouldn’t have to, you should know.” She squeezed the bridge of her nose. “Let’s not do this now.”
She was right. He’d put the entire responsibility of tracking her cycle on her. Between the ovulation kits and fertility monitors, she had it down to a science. All he needed to do was show up. But lately, the whole goddamn thing had become a chore. No longer was their lovemaking spontaneous; everything was done to schedule. Sometimes, she’d call him in the middle of the day to rush home from work and perform like a monkey. On the nights when he felt romantic, she put on the brakes, fearing that it would decrease his sperm count for when “it mattered.”
And the worst part of it was: he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted a baby. This was a crucial time for Harper. She needed him. The demands of an infant would only take him away from the daughter he was just getting to know.
“We’ve got to do it sometime, Kristy.” If they didn’t talk this through, their marriage would only get rockier.
“Not in a restaurant in a town where everyone knows your ex-wife.”
“This has nothing to do with her. This is about us. Only us.”
She cut a piece of meat and regarded it for a few seconds without taking a bite. “That’s not really true, and you know it. She’s Harper’s mother and, whether I like it or not, a part of our life.”
“I suppose that’s true to some extent, but there’s no reason for you to feel threatened by it.”
“I’m not threatened,” she said, and pushed her plate away. “I just feel like I’ve suddenly been thrust into a commune.”
He couldn’t help himself and laughed, because it wasn’t altogether untrue. “What do you want me to do? Abandon my daughter?”
“No, of course not. But maybe I shouldn’t come so often…I feel like a third wheel.”
He touched her arm. “You’re not a third wheel, you’re the love of my life.”
