Bereft - Jennifer Foor Page 0,22

our family. “Please help me make this right. I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t desperate.”

“I need to be away from you so I can think. I need to call Mom. It’s going to take me a long time to be able to consider forgiving you. I can’t imagine how Mom is feeling.”

I reached over to kiss her, but she backed away. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to be my dad right now. You need to get out of here and make things right. If you’ve broken up our family I’ll never forgive you.”

I nodded and turned to walk away. I was well aware it would go down the way it had, but nothing could have prepared me for the tornado of emotions I’d experience. My actions had cost me everything. I’d have to start from the bottom. I didn’t care how hard it would be. I’d get my wife back, and I’d prove to her I could be the man she depended on to love her forever. I had to. I didn’t think I could live without my girls, I wouldn’t want to.

Chapter 8

Rachel

I should have known he’d have good taste in food. He drove us into Baltimore, stopping only for the valet to be able to park his vehicle. He came around to my side and helped me out of the car, making me feel like it was more of a date than business meeting. Chad winked when he caught me giving him a inquisitive look. “Don’t worry. I’m just trying to be a gentlemen. I won’t bite.”

I wanted to giggle. If he thought I’d let him touch me in that way he had another thing coming. Chad didn’t know I was having marriage problems. As of a few days ago, neither did I. Of all the places I shouldn’t have been, it was here, right now with Chad. Grayson expected me to be home, sobbing my life away. Instead, I was about to have a beautiful meal, and discuss the possibility of a new project.

With nothing else going right in my life, I had to keep my game face on. I let him lead us through the restaurant to our seats. He pulled out the chair for me, waiting for me to sit before taking his own. “Thanks. You can be yourself, Chad. I’ve been around you enough. I remember when you were just a kid running around the office.”

He spread his napkin on his lap before ordering a bottle of wine from the waiter. I smiled and followed his lead, lifting the menu up to read. “Do you come here often?” I asked.

“It’s my favorite actually. My mom used to bring me here when I was little, before she got sick.”

Chad had lost both parents before the age of thirteen. His mother, Charles’ oldest daughter, died of Leukemia. His father had been killed when Chad was only five in a severe accident. I remembered hearing Charles talking about it once. Foul play had been involved, but the case was closed shortly after, and the police never explain why. When the boy’s mother got sick, they moved in with her parents. After she died, Charles and his wife gained custody. He’d been with them ever since.

I knew it was better to change the subject. “What should I order?”

“What do you like?”

“To tell you the truth, I’m so hungry I could eat just about anything. It’s been a rough couple of days.”

He snickered and watched as the waiter brought a bottle of red to the our table and began to pour it. “I bet.” He sipped at his drink. “I should have asked if you ate meat. I couldn’t remember.”

“I eat meat. I don’t have diet restrictions. I’m a mom, remember?”

I tasted the wine, letting it swish around on my palate before swallowing. “Yeah, what’s that like, raising a step-child? Was it hard at first?”

This was an easy answer. “It was a tough transition at first. Stephanie’s biological mother was clinically insane. After she committed suicide, it was easier to gain her trust. I think in a lot of ways, she needed me to get through her loss. We’ve been close ever since.”

“You never wanted kids of your own?” His questions were quite personal. We’d never been friendly in the office. In my opinion, I’d say he knew I disliked him, yet having a conversation about anything other than my husband’s infidelity was acceptable. “I can’t have children. It’s a long story I’m sure you’re