few days later, and he sat down at her table.
“Are you avoiding me, Ms. Martin?” he asked with a sultry look and a voice as smooth as silk. She decided to be honest with him, she didn’t know what else to do.
“I understand you’re married,” she said quietly, looking him in the eye. His attention was flattering, but his style and everything he represented was dangerous for her, like a drug she had detoxed from and didn’t want to dabble with again.
“That’s true,” he said easily, as though it didn’t matter. “My wife and I have an understanding. She’s a very busy person. And so am I. It’s hard to keep a marriage working well sometimes in those conditions. The life went out of our marriage years ago, and you’re a very intriguing woman,” and also nearly twenty years younger than he was. It was Ed all over again, with a different job. Same guy, same style, same line. She almost wanted to laugh, and suddenly he was no longer attractive, just another married guy at the top of his field who was full of himself, and thought any woman would be lucky to have him. He was a classic narcissist.
“I’m very touched by your offers,” she said coyly, feeling like an idiot flirting with him to get him off her back. “It’s hard for me to concentrate on anything right now except my daughter. Maybe when she’s better,” she said and he nodded. She could almost see him put her in the fridge for later, as a midnight snack. She didn’t want to anger him so he’d lose interest in Bethanie, which she knew he wouldn’t. He was too much the consummate professional for that, and indeed a brilliant researcher and physician, but he was also a horny, bored married guy looking for a new playmate. Like Nigel, or Ed, or so many men. At least Ian had never cheated on her, that she knew of. It wasn’t his style and he was an honest man. Men like Jeff had a massive ego that needed to be fed, like white mice to a boa constrictor. She had no desire to be anyone’s white mouse. He left her alone at her table then, and didn’t invite her to join him again. He had struck out, which men like him didn’t like either. She knew the type too well, and was proud of herself for resisting his advances.
It was late June by then, and in mid-July, six weeks after they had started treatment, Bethanie was in remission. She was able to leave the hospital for a while, and be treated as an outpatient. Coco was able to take her to Southampton and drove her there herself. Bethanie had lost her hair, which she hated, and she was wearing a little white eyelet hat, like she’d worn when she was a baby.
They made a sand castle and had a nice time. They slept in the same bed. Coco had to force herself not to think of her parents and Ian, the people she had loved and lost. Jeff Armstrong never crossed her mind. All she could think of was Bethanie, in remission and hopefully on her way to a cure. She was becoming one of their success stories, and Coco had never been as grateful in her life, nor as proud of herself for resisting a brilliant, successful, and charming married man. The flash hadn’t worked its magic this time.
Chapter 17
The next four and a half months went by very quickly during the latter part of Bethanie’s treatments. She was firmly in remission, and able to be treated as an outpatient, living at home. Coco went to a museum occasionally, when she could get away. They went to Southampton several times in July and August. In mid-August, Bethanie turned five, and they had a birthday party for her at the hospital, and another one at home with Theresa, Coco, and Sam. His children couldn’t visit, because her immune system was still compromised, but in September, after four months of treatment, the doctors were pleased with her progress, and considered her cancer-free. Coco was hoping they might get back to London by October. Leslie had been managing the business without her, and Coco wanted to go back to work. She longed for their life to get back to normal, and for Bethanie to be a healthy little girl again. Bethanie had asked about Ian several times, but there had been no sign