Here at Last (44 page)

The work wasn’t
quite as
challenging as it
had been
in Chicago and San Diego. However, I loved my field
,
and my
boss Valerie was great. She had a wry wit and was
a
sharp business administrator who
had gotten her MBA at Wharton and
had a
good grasp of
concepts in physics.

I was also making a few new friends.
Barbara
was a single mother who
had divorced two years prior and was holding on for dear life. Having worked as a receptionist for the company for
five
years, she could practically do her job in her sleep. She was courteous and professional but had a lot going on at home with
four
kids, one of whom was a little unruly at times and had been acting out in school.
She didn’t have much time to hang out, but we had lunch together every now and again.

Todd was another physicist, and he’d been born and raised in Boston and had done his schooling at MIT. We began meeting for lunch after
learning
that we had similar research interests
, and we
discussed co-publishing
papers
in some peer-reviewed journals. Unlike me, Todd thought that he might try his hand at academia at some point, something that
had never really interested me. Regardless, getting our ideas out there
in scholarly journals
would be good for
both of
our careers.





Neelie
came over for dinner on Friday evening
, which was the least I could do for all of her help over the past few years
.
Not only had she and Rhonda worked with the movers to put everything in place, but she’d also
take
n
care of the house
while I was away
and helped out with my move to San Diego and back
.

I’d been to a yoga class on my way home and had just gotten out of the shower when she arrived. I answered the door in my robe before running back into the bedroom to get dressed.

“How’s it going?” she called from the living room.

“Good. I like my new job,” I told her.

“What about Nicholas?” she asked with a smile in her voice.

“What about him?”

“How’s the long-distance thing going?”

Wearing only a bra and panties at this point, I poked my head out of the bedroom door. “It sucks.”

She turned to look at me and was grinning from ear to ear.

“What?”

“He’s gorgeous!”

I felt my face flush. “I know,” I said before returning to the inner sanctum of my room to finish getting dressed.

“When are you seeing him again?”

“Next weekend.”

“Hey, Soph – is he a good kisser?”

I knew
when she
said
“kissing”
that she really meant
something else. I peeked out from my room and scowled at her
, but s
he just laughed.

“You’re in love,” she continued. “I’m glad.” Her voice became more serious. “What about his little girl? Hannah, is it?”

“What about her?” I asked as I pulled my shirt on over my head and joined her in the living room.

“You two must be pretty serious for you to be part of his life already.”

I nodded, not quite getting her point.

She asked me
directly
, “Are you ready to be a stepmother?”

I walked toward the kitchen, and she followed me.
Her question made me
glad that I’d gone to yoga class on my way home
; a
t least I was relaxed
.

“Maybe,” I told her, intentionally distracted by pulling some veggies out of the fridge.

“Let me tell you, Sophia
, p
arenthood is not for the faint of heart.”

“I know,” I said quietly, and she stopped.

“Sorry,” she said, sounding a little off. “It’s just a lot of work.”

I looked over at her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she began and smiled again. “
I’m
just a little
fried
.”

I’d seen it in Nicholas and other friends – just how tired they were being parents
with
full-time jobs. I didn’t know how he’d juggled it for so long and had tried to play with Hannah a lot
during
my Monday-Wednesday-Friday evening
s
just to take some
of the
pressure off of him… and to let her know that she was loved. I wondered how it would be for him now that I was away. It would be just the two of them, again,
every night with
no one to help
out
on a regular basis
.
My stomach knotted.

“Look, Soph, I’m not trying to scare you. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. We’ll have to figure it out at some point.”

“Have you talked about getting married?” she asked, curious.

Pulling a pan off the rack
above
the
kitchen island
,
I shook my head. “Not in so many words,” I told her. “We’ve only been dating for seven-and-a-half months.”

“It’s serious, isn’t it?”

I
looked at her and
nodded. “Yeah, it’s serious.”

“I mean, I could tell he’s crazy about you.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “It’s mutual.”

The rest of the evening was spent talking about work
,
Neelie
’s
husband Roger, and their attempts at having
another
child.  I was laughing so hard at her fertility clinic stories that we were both in tears. As she was getting ready to leave, Nicholas called and left a message.

“I’ll let myself out. You go call lover boy,” she laughed, pulling the door closed behind her.

I returned Nicholas’s call, and he answered on the first ring.
“Hi,” he said.

“Hi, there. How are you?”

“I’m okay. I’ve got someone here who wants to say ‘Hello.’”

“I’d love to
,” I smiled
.
“
Put her on.”

“Okay,
”
he said.

“Hi,” said a
shy
little girl’s voice.

“Hi, Hannah!” I said excitedly. “How are you?”

“Good.”

“I’ve missed you! How was music camp?”

“Good.
I got to play an electric guitar."

“An electric guitar?!” I asked.

"Yeah! And a violin,
"
s
he
said sounding
a little more excited.

“Hannah, that’s wonderful,” I told her. “When did you get home?"

“Um, yesterday," she said. “Daddy wants to talk to you."

“Okay,
Honey,
" I smiled
,
"
p
ut Daddy back on the phone."

Nicholas got back on the phone
,
and
Hannah went to watch TV in the living room while he and I talked
. They’d
already finished dinner, and she
would be
getting ready for bed
soon
.

"How are you?" he asked.

“
Okay I guess
,” I said wistfully. "
Neelie
came over tonight. She had lots of questions."

He laughed. “I'll bet she did.”

“How are you doing?" I asked.

He became serious.
"
I miss
you
.
Hannah didn't take the news too well. She asked about you when I went to pick her up at camp, and I told her that you had to move back to New Jersey for work. I told her you're coming back in twelve days, but she didn't say anything. When I looked in the rearview, her bottom lip was quivering."

"
Poor baby.
I'm so sorry, Nicholas. I know this must be hard on her. I’ve been having a hard time adjusting to being without our Monday, Wednesday, and Friday dinners. I just feel so lost."

"I know wh
at you mean," he said dul
ly.

“The good news is that I'll be there in a week.”

“
What do
you want to do while you're here?" he asked.

"I don't care,” I told him. “I just want to be with you."

"I've arranged for Hannah to sleep over at Lydia's on Saturday night."

I smiled. "You think of everything."

When we hung up, I was excited about returning to Chicago the following weekend. Not only would I get to see Nicholas and Hannah, again, but he and I would have some quiet time together.

Chapter
40

All week I had wanted time to speed up until I got to Friday. Once it arrived, I wanted it to slow down. After work, I made my way over to
the
Newark
a
irport
with
a small carry-on
bag
that would last me all weekend.
The flight took me
straight to
Chicago
O'Hare
International A
irport where Nicholas and Hannah were double-parked and waiting for me outside of the terminal.
I found Nicholas leaning against his car with his arms crossed and a smile on his face while Hannah sat safely in the back seat.
He moved forward quickly and took me into his arms.

“Sophia,” he whispered.

When I pulled b
ack from him, we kissed briefly
,
but
neither of us
want
ed
to make a big deal of it with Hannah so nearby.

Hannah popped out of the car. I walked over to her quickly and gave her a big hug, liftin
g her up off the ground and plac
ing her on my hip. She wrapped her arms around me tightly and squeezed.

I kissed her on the cheek. “Do you know how much I
’ve
missed you?"

She shook her head.

“Tons!” I told her, and she giggled.

I
t was
a typical
mid-August
evening
, hot and muggy
, and we were feeling it
.

“Let’s go home,” Nicholas suggested.

I put Hannah down, and she got back into the car and closed the door behind her. I sat
up front
, and Nicholas walked around to
the driver’s side
and got in.

Glancing in the back, he made sure that Hannah had put her seatbelt on. Then
, he looked over at me
and reached out
, putting
his hand on mine. "You don't know how good it is to see you again," he said
quietly
. "I've missed you so much."

I squeezed his hand and leaned back in my seat, closing my eyes. It had been a long day, but I was happy to be back with Nicholas and Hannah in Chicago again.

By the time we
arrived at
the townhouse, it was past Hannah’s bedtime. We tucked her in, and I read her a story. Then, we gave her hugs and kisses and turned out the light, closing her door behind us.

I
took
a shower in Nicholas's bathroom while he got ready for bed. When I came out, he had turned down the bed and was sitting on t
he end of it
waiting for me. He stood when he saw me and took a few steps toward me. When we met in the middle of the room, his arms wrapped around me
,
and I held him in mine.

"I know you're tired," he said. "Let's just go to sleep."

"Okay," I agreed. He was right. I was exhausted
, and we’d have tomorrow night alone together. When we
went to bed, he curled up behind me, one arm
out
stretched
beneath
my neck and the other draped over my left hip.

"Thank you for
coming back
," he said. "It hasn't been the same since you left."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. I just miss you. We both really miss you."