Chapter 11 #2
“That seems like you’re just asking for trouble. She’s wanted space and now you’re invading it.”
David spoke some measure of truth there.
I had given her space for a while. But it had gotten to the point that space just made this chasm between us wider and deeper.
I wasn’t sure there was a bottom. And at some point, I needed to step out of my comfort zone and approach her from an uncomfortable perspective. I could do that at the museum.
“But what if I only invaded that space when she wasn’t there?
” I asked. The idea was still forming in my head, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.
I needed to show her that I was willing to be vulnerable, to take the back seat and do the hard work she always did, without expecting any recognition.
David’s eyes widened in understanding as the pieces of my plan fell into place, the shock of the proposal barely concealed on his face as he absorbed the enormity of what I was considering, and I couldn’t blame him.
“You want to work at the museum? But to keep working here, you’d have to probably go before the place even opens.
It’s not like there are volunteer positions working that early. ”
“I don’t want to be a volunteer, at least in the traditional sense. But there has to be something I can do there.”
“What’s that plane she was talking about with the board, the grant she was trying to get but that Alyssa scuppered?” David asked. “I read the minutes of the meeting.”
“You read the minutes of every board meeting,” I said. “But you’re giving me an idea. She’s got a Ford Trimotor that she wants to restore, but she doesn’t have the budget to do it. And I’m guessing she doesn’t have the time, either.”
“Where’s Sadie staying these days, anyway?” David asked.
I shrugged, though I could have taken a guess if I put my mind to it.
She liked the museum, but there weren’t any apartments there, as it was mostly a hangar and museum.
She could probably afford any hotel in Seattle, even staying at the nicest one for as long as it would take to restore that plane, if she put her mind to it.
But Sadie was never frivolous with money, and that included not getting a hotel room for what she considered temporary housing, as she was determined this was going to be temporary.
“You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s sleeping at the museum. She has a cot there. I know that much. And given the mechanical work that happens there, I know there are showers.”
“So you need to work on a plane you really don’t know how to restore, and do it without her knowing, which means you need to do it when she isn’t there.”
Hearing David explain it that way, I knew my plan was crazy, but it was my best chance, the only way I could think to reach Sadie and show her I wasn’t the man she thought I’d become.
If I had to work in secret, learning every part of that engine she cared so deeply about, just to prove to her how serious I was, then that’s what I would do.
I didn’t care how ridiculous it sounded, or how much it would take out of me, as long as it got her back in the end. But I needed help.
“David,” I said, leaning forward to meet his gaze. “I need to focus on this for a while. Can you run things here while I’m gone?”
The question hung heavy between us, the weight of it settling in the room, as David considered the implications.
I was asking him to take over the company, at least for the time being, to manage the very operations I had built from the ground up, and the trust that it would take for both of us was enormous.
His expression softened slightly as he nodded, the faintest hint of a smile pulling at his lips. “You’re really willing to do this? Give up everything for a while just to prove something to her?”
“Everything doesn’t mean anything without her, David. You know that. I need to get her back.”
He stared at me a beat longer before sighing and standing, his decision made. “Okay. I’ve got it covered. But don’t expect me to keep your seat warm forever. Once Sadie takes you back, I’m going to want to take that long-overdue vacation.”
“If she takes me back, or if she dumps me completely,” I said. “Either way, you’ll get as much time off as you need.”
“I’ll spend a month sitting on a beach sipping cocktails and listening to the surf all day long.”
We laughed for a second, but it was brief, the sound hollow in the cavernous space of my office.
Neither of us really felt in the mood to joke right now.
Everything still felt too raw, as if the wound was fresh and bleeding despite the passage of time.
Still, that moment of levity gave me hope, fragile but real, the hope I’d desperately needed since I pushed Sadie out the door that day of the press conference, the memory of her face as she turned away etched into my mind like acid on metal.
“I’ll make the calls in the morning,” he continued as I walked him out of the office. “Just get started. I’ve got the rest.”
I shook his hand at the door, feeling a rush of relief at finally taking control of the one part of my life that I still could. “Thanks, David. You’re a good friend. I owe you.”
“Just make this work.” He gave me a serious look before heading out into the corridor. “You don’t just need to save your marriage, Patrick. You need to rebuild it. And I’ve seen the way that woman looks at you. She might not even give you another chance. So don’t fuck up the one you’ve got.”
I swallowed hard, his words hitting harder than I expected, but he was right.
There were no guarantees that I could fix this.
I was out of my depth, navigating through the mess I had created, but this was the only course of action I had left, my final hope of getting Sadie to see that I was willing to change.
That I would put everything on the line to make this right, no matter how difficult or unorthodox it might be.
As the door clicked shut behind him, the sound echoing like the closing of a chapter in my life I couldn’t yet write the ending to, I looked at the skyline one more time.
The city lights that usually represented progress and ambition now seemed like distant, cold witnesses to my personal failures, each twinkling reminder of everything I stood to lose.
My reflection stared back at me from the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, a man unrecognizable from the confident CEO I’d been just weeks ago.
The weight of David’s words settled heavily in my chest, and I ran a hand through my already disheveled hair, feeling the grit of a sleepless night settling on my skin.
It was time to go. I grabbed my coat from the back of my office chair, the leather still warm from my earlier restlessness, shrugging it on as I moved toward the door.
I knew the first place I needed to visit, and I didn’t intend to waste another second on hesitation or regret, not when every moment counted in this desperate attempt to reclaim what mattered most.
Tomorrow was going to be a long day, the start of something I couldn’t predict, but the resolve was there.
Sadie wouldn’t see me coming, wouldn’t know I was working quietly in her space until the proof of my change was undeniable.
And I prayed that by then, it would be enough to make her take me back, not just as her husband, but as the man she fell in love with all those years ago, before everything had gone wrong, back when the future we’d planned together still felt like a possibility.
I knew now how badly I had misjudged her feelings, the depth of her hurt, and I was determined to rebuild what I had broken, even if it meant starting from scratch and risking everything in the process.
But this plan was going to take more than my resolve and time.
And the first stop was getting a disguise for the work I’d be doing at the museum.
That was my biggest problem, but it wasn’t an impossible one. At least, I hoped it wasn’t.