Chapter 5 #2
“Because she has her expectations set. Versus her always thinking he should be there and him never being home when we were married.”
“Where was he?”
“At work, mostly.” She sighed. “I know that I work long, odd hours, and it isn’t ideal for this case.
But I promise you, Korey was worse. And if he tries to say he’s cut back on the time he spends at the office, it’s only because he no longer has to stay late to sleep with his receptionist. You know, now that he’s free to have her over whenever he wants.
She might have even moved in with him. I’ve been trying to figure that out because I want to know who is spending time with Chloe when she’s there. ”
I’d suspected that her ex cheated on her, but I didn’t have confirmation until now, and it physically pained me to keep a straight face for her benefit. For our benefit. Because I was a professional who was not emotionally attached to this case in the slightest.
“That’s a question we’ll get an answer to,” I said. “The judge will want to know who would be living with or involved in Chloe’s life in both potential households. So romantic partners will come up.”
She deserved to have a warning about that. It fucking sucked that she was going to have to relive the facts of his affair and their relationship again, but it would work in our favor to have those details.
“I figured.” Surprisingly, Natalie just shrugged. “And that’s good, fine. I came to terms with his affair a long time ago. It pushed me to get the divorce. I don’t know if I would have woken up and gotten out if it weren’t for that. It was a blessing in disguise.”
She was being a hell of a lot more mature than I wanted to be right now.
“They’ll want to know about you, too,” I added cautiously.
“Me?”
That put her off-kilter a bit. And if I were being honest, it put me off-kilter, too.
“If you’ve had any romantic partners who have lived with you or been a part of Chloe’s life,” I clarified.
Natalie recovered and snorted like the idea was ridiculous.
“You saw my date the other night.”
“I did,” I acknowledged. “And it might not have gone well, but I also saw you on a date, which tells me you’ve been dating.”
“I also told you that I only go out twice a year,” she shot back. “I prioritize Chloe and work. Not dating.”
“So the only other—”
“Was you,” she confirmed, those green eyes blazing. “And, of course, that wasn’t even a date.”
I gritted my teeth, experiencing a wave of conflicting emotions.
Fuck did I like the idea that other men hadn’t been taking her out, touching her where I wanted to touch her, kissing her in places I had kissed her.
But I also hated every time she minimized our night six months ago.
Even though, yeah, she was right. It hadn’t been a date.
Natalie had taken me completely by surprise, whereas a date was something planned, something purposeful, something I wasn’t allowed to take her on. Not anymore.
“And before me?” I asked.
It was a logical follow-up question, I told myself. From the information Natalie previously shared with me, I knew that her marriage had ended a year and a half ago. Which meant there was almost a year unaccounted for between when I saw Natalie at Mulligan’s and when her divorce was finalized.
But Natalie just shook her head.
“I’ll be very clear. Besides last Friday night, the only other time I’ve spent time with a guy who wasn’t a colleague or my family, the only person I’ve shared drinks with, the only man who has so much as put his arms around me since my divorce…
was you, Cameron. And that was just—” Her eyes wandered away again, and she huffed a humorless laugh. “Well, you know what it was.”
I did, but I had a feeling I was thinking something different from what Natalie was. And I couldn’t pass by this moment without being honest with her about it and clearing the air.
“Natalie, for what it’s worth, I had a really great time with you that night.”
Understatement of the century.
Her breath hitched. I watched it sort of disappear for a moment before she shrugged it off. “Until I ruined it.”
“Nat—”
“Anyway, it’s really for Chloe’s sake.” Natalie wouldn’t meet my eyes as she spoke, which made me think that wasn’t entirely true.
“That I went on that date last week or have even been thinking about seeing someone. She’s been really stuck on me dating recently.
I’m not sure why, but I think it’s because she recently watched Noah get into a relationship, and she loves Gemma, and now they have a baby and—” She pressed her lips together.
“And?”
I shouldn’t press her for more details, I really shouldn’t. But at the same time, understanding Chloe’s perspective when it came to their family dynamics was important.
Natalie sighed. “She wants a sibling. Badly. And I don’t know how to just tell her that it’s not going to happen, not that simply, anyway.
She doesn’t understand that Gemma’s baby is not actually Noah’s child biologically, and things don’t normally happen that quickly in relationships.
She doesn’t know that Noah is stepping up to be the dad of a child who isn’t technically his and that Gemma was pregnant for several months before they even started dating.
But at least I can show her that I’m trying.
Dating is far from my priority, but she is. ”
That was…a lot to wrap my head around. But it also made perfect sense. Natalie hadn’t seemed all that enthused about her date on Friday, and Chloe had mentioned that it was her idea.
“Do you want another child?”
The question was out before I could stop it. Now that Natalie was talking, I really didn’t want her to stop talking, even though this was pushing beyond the scope of questioning that was required for my job.
“One day, maybe. If the right person came along.”
I bit my tongue, forcing myself not to ask for more information about what the right person might look like and if she could ever see herself having a thing for lawyers with brown eyes. And dimples.
“You’re a good mom, Natalie,” I said because that was the safer choice. “But Chloe seems like a good kid, too. And I’m sure she just wants her mom to be happy, even if that means she isn’t interested in dating.”
“It’s not…” She hesitated, and I willed her to keep going. To say it, admit aloud what I expected was true. “I said it wasn’t a priority, not that I’m not interested at all.”
I tried not to let my expression change.
“I just need some more practice at it, I think,” she added.
“I would disagree, Sunny.”
“Stop.”
“I’m serious.” I sighed and pressed forward before she could change the topic again. “Earlier, you said you ruined our night, but that’s not true. And I owe you an apology.”
Her brows furrowed, and it was a little adorable. Natalie London rarely looked confused, I’d learned. “What are you talking about?”
“I ruined the night. I pushed you too far, too fast, and that’s on me. I’m sorry for doing that and for making you feel like you did anything wrong.”
She frowned. “You didn’t, though. You stopped. You waited to see if I was ready, and I came to my senses, realized that I wasn’t.”
“And that’s okay,” I said slowly. “It’s okay not to be ready.”
“I kind of wish I was, though,” she groaned in a moment of vulnerability that I hadn’t expected.
Her walls were suddenly down, like completely down, and I had a feeling what I was glimpsing right now was special, something people didn’t usually get to see.
“Sometimes I wish I could just say fuck it and—” She broke off, shaking her head.
Shit. “I’m sorry. This conversation isn’t what you were probably looking for. We got off track.”
No, no. I liked this track. Definitely more than I should, but still. I didn’t want to switch it, not yet.
“I think clearing the air about what happened between us is better than not speaking about it. It’ll only help our working relationship.”
Working relationship, I reminded myself.
Work-ing.
Natalie stared at me, words on the tip of her tongue.
“You can say it, Natalie. Whatever it is. Now’s the time.”
We would have this one conversation, and then we’d never look back, I told myself. We’d move forward and stay on the right track with this case.
“What—” She cut herself off at the sound of loud voices passing by in the hallway, and I gritted my teeth in frustration.
I recognized one of the voices as Julian, talking about where they should grab lunch from.
Natalie’s eyes popped wide with the realization, the reminder, of where we were and why we were here.
She drew in a breath, slow and shaky. “What else should we discuss pertaining to the case?”
Her voice was calm and measured, reflexing back into her original tone.
I, on the other hand, did not feel calm. I struggled with my response for far too long, searching my brain for something relevant that I could say.
“You said Chloe is in figure skating?” I asked—the first topic that popped into my head.
Natalie nodded numbly.
“Has Korey ever attended her lessons? Shows?” When she shook her head for both, I asked, “Are there any other extracurriculars Chloe is in that he’s been a part of?”
Natalie shook her head again, and I made a note of her answers.
This was good.
Facts.
She was probably right. We should stick to the case. Facts and only facts.
And for the rest of our meeting, that was exactly what we did.