10. He Set a Boundary
He Set a Boundary
Toby
When I was sixteen, I fell head over heels for the new girl at school.
My mates called her the Ice Princess. Lots of girls smiled at me. She didn’t. She never smiled at anyone. Everyone thought I was dumber than a bag of rocks for sneaking looks at the nerd with her nose stuck in a book, but they were the stupid ones.
Gwen was fascinating .
She had straight blonde hair with a blunt fringe and blinky blue eyes set deep in a serious face.
My grandma had a row of old-fashioned dolls collecting dust in her china hutch that looked exactly like solemn Gwen.
But sometimes, if I was patient, I glimpsed another side of her.
No one else noticed the way she’d smirk when she read something funny or how her round cheeks flushed hot pink when I grabbed the book she wanted from the top shelf in the library.
Man, that day… That had been the best day in all my sixteen years. My heart had thumped out of my chest like bam, bam, bam!
Yeah, the second my eyes locked on Gwen, I was a goner.
I’d slipped an engagement ring on her finger the day she turned nineteen.
I’d married her the spring after we turned twenty-two.
My parents had bellowed blue murder at me and threatened to disinherit me if I went through with our wedding, but I hadn’t cared.
Gwen was the best thing to happen to an idiot like me.
She was mine. Until she wasn’t. Until I screwed everything up.
Memories of Gwen still crowded my mind when I pulled into the parking lot at the clinic.
My hand froze on the seatbelt before I unclipped it, my gaze stuck on the rearview mirror.
Reminders. The empty baby seat in the back.
The pile of albums filled with pictures of me and Gwen I’d saved from the trash.
A lump lodged in my throat. I wasn’t ready to drag myself out of the car and face the world yet.
Taking a deep breath, I pulled out my phone and swiped through the photos Gwen had sent me that morning. None of her, only Noah. He wore the biggest smile—well, what you could see of it from underneath the yogurt smeared all over his cheeks.
“I’m going to do everything I can to win your mama back,” I promised him.
But where did you start to prove to someone you were sorry for hurting them? Maybe…a message?
Toby
Hope you both have an awesome day.
I love you.
That was enough to get my shit together and get out of the car.
The loud laughter of the girls working on reception died when I walked through the door. There was no hello today. Their eyes dropped to the desk, and they shuffled papers to avoid looking at me.
I muttered a “hi” anyway as I passed on my way down the long corridor to Judy’s office. On Thursdays, she finalized the pay run. She’d be in her office, but she’d be cranky. She hated paperwork.
I rapped a cautious knock.
“Fuck off.” The muffled voice croaked from inside. “I’m busy.”
Grimacing, I cracked open the door and peeked in.
Judy’s head snapped around. A permanent frown marked her face, but it speared down even sharper than usual. “Look who it is.” She lowered her glasses down her nose. “If it isn’t Don Juan himself.”
“Morning, Judy.”
“Morning yourself, Donnie. So, you decided to show up to work? Do you know how many calls I had to make yesterday?” She spun around on her chair and faced me head-on.
“The girls on reception ran around like chooks with their heads chopped off to reschedule your appointments and sweet-talk people into seeing your fill-in. Not an easy job. Seems your patients like you…” She eyed me up and down. “Not sure why, though.”
I slid the extra-large coffee on her desk. “Sorry, Judy.”
She grunted, but her wrinkled hand landed on the lid, and she inched the coffee closer. “I suppose you got me one this big because you’ve got a favor to ask?”
“I wanted to talk to you about Kayleigh.”
“I’ve talked enough about that silly girl over the past two days to last a damn lifetime.” Judy huffed another grunt of annoyance. “You fucked around and found out, and suddenly fixing your mess is part of my job description.”
“You’re the clinic manager. Handling employee relations is literally part of your job description.”
“That’s right, Donnie. Employee relations. Not sexual relations.” I opened my mouth to deny the sexual part, but Judy’s hand shot up to stop me. “Save your denials for your wife.”
Time to bring out the big guns.
Judy was a stubborn old duck, but I’d worked out a few tricks to keep her happy. I produced the white paper bag from behind my back. My secret weapon. I slipped the bag onto her desk next to the coffee.
Judy’s eyes narrowed. “Is there a brownie hiding in there?”
I nodded. “It’s warm too.”
“If you’re trying to butter me up, it’s working.” She leaned back in her chair, her eyes pinning me over the top of her glasses. “Alright. Here’s what I’ve got for you. I wasted the whole afternoon yesterday on the phone with the lawyer.”
“What did he say? Is Kayleigh gone?”
“In your dreams, Donnie. She clocked in ten minutes ago.”
“She cannot be here.”
Judy croaked out a laugh. “Uncomfortable for you, is it?”
“Obviously.”
“You probably should’ve thought about that before you stuck your di—”
“Christ!” I raised my palm. I did not need to hear those words out of Judy’s mouth. “What did the lawyer say?”
“He said the second we fire Kayleigh’s skinny ass, it’s the second she files a sexual harassment claim against you and the clinic.
How do you reckon Ian will feel about defending that claim, eh?
He’s been watching the books like a hawk.
I reckon he’d lay an egg if I told him legal action was on the horizon. ”
She wasn’t wrong. More financial pressure was the last thing the clinic needed, but I had to be firm. There couldn’t be any repeats of the kiss or the months leading up to it.
“I’m not stepping one foot into a treatment room with Kayleigh,” I said. “The two of us being alone together can’t happen. So, unless you want to spend another day rescheduling patients—”
“Keep your dental coat on, Donnie. I didn’t say I hadn’t come up with a temporary solution.
Kayleigh’s been reassigned to work with the periodontist. It’s a fucking promotion, really, but she’ll be on the other side of the clinic the three days a week he’s here.
I’ll keep her busy the other two days. And she’s been told in no uncertain terms to keep her skinny little ass a foot away from you at all times. ”
“And assisting me?”
“I’ve wasted more money we don’t have organizing a bright young chap from the temp agency.” She arched a questioning eyebrow. “You don’t swing both ways, do you, Donnie?”
I groaned. “Judy…”
Her thin lips disappeared into a smile. “Just making sure I won’t have another claim on my hands.” She jerked her head at the door. “Head on out. I’ve got shit to do. Your mess isn’t the only one I’ve got to fix today.”
Usually, it was easy for me to smile. Today, it was impossible. I gave a solemn nod, and like a naughty kid banished from his mother’s sight, I slunk out of the office.
The morning dragged on in quicksand. Every movement felt like ten times the effort, and my shoulders slumped lower with each new patient.
The jokes and laughter that used to brighten my treatment room had disappeared.
The new guy was belted up tighter than a clam.
He barely spoke. The silence unsettled me.
Kayleigh had always plugged the gaps, talking about the last video she’d watched or how she was thinking of going to university.
She might have told me what she planned to study, but honestly, I’d never listened to the words. I just liked the noise.
I needed out.
When a gap popped up in my appointments, I escaped the silence suffocating me with a tired excuse about needing to grab a coffee.
Wandering into the break room, I opened the overhead cabinet and grabbed a mug. A press of a few buttons started the coffee machine. I wasn’t excited. The coffee tasted like a mix of dirt and burnt tires, but any shot of caffeine was better than nothing. I was dead on my feet.
I hadn’t slept much at the hotel. I’d spent most of the night staring at the ceiling, my eyes tracing every wriggly, unpatched crack, worrying about Gwen and Noah.
Were they tucked up safe? Had Gwen remembered to lock the garage door?
She forgot sometimes. Usually, I was the one who double-checked before hopping into bed or crashing on the couch.
I slumped against the countertop. My legs were too heavy to stand on their own. I’d give anything to snuggle up next to Gwen. Hell, I’d give anything to sleep on the couch.
I dug my phone out of my pocket. Only one new message.
Mother Dearest
Tobias, I know you’re avoiding me. We’ll discuss recent events when I return from my vacation.
Even when she was lounging on a beach in the South Pacific, my mother still found time to lecture me. She could wait.
I sighed. No new messages from Gwen. No new photos of Noah. Three days ago, I wouldn’t have bothered to check my phone. I’d rarely touched base with Gwen during my breaks, but now, a hollowness ate at my chest. This was how Gwen felt every day. Not just lonely but… alone .
My wake-up call was ringing. Things needed to change. I needed to change.
What was something I could do? Flowers? Maybe… Something to munch on? Hell, yeah. She’d love that.
I tapped through the delivery app, ordering a coffee and one of the gooey pastries Gwen always ogled at the café but never bought because she worried too much about her belly. She was nuts. Her new curves were gorgeous.
I typed a quick message to Gwen.
Toby
A surprise is on the way. Missing you both so much.
I nibbled my bottom lip.
xoxo
I wanted to slap the Ghost of Toby Past upside the head. Sending Gwen a message took a second. I could’ve made time for her. I should have prioritized that second— more —every damn day.