Doctor, Mummy...Wife?. Dianne Drake

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СКАЧАТЬ I be tall like my brother...?’” And so the story went, until Charlie usually wore himself out and went to sleep. Which was the case tonight. He dozed off before the end of the story, clinging to his stuffed giraffe, and she tucked him into his crib, crept out and made sure the night-light was on for when he woke up later as she hated the idea of her child waking up in total darkness and being afraid.

      Afterward, Del fixed herself a cup of hot tea and settled down on the couch to catch up on some reading, but she was distracted by her cellphone, which she’d set to vibrate now that Charlie was down. She’d been awfully rude to Simon and for no reason other than Charlie couldn’t wait a minute or two—which he could have since he hadn’t been crying for her. She’d set a bad example for Charlie even if he was too young to understand that. But there would come a time when he would and she dreaded that day. So in the end, she picked up her phone and made that call.

      “Simon,” she said when he answered. “This is Del.”

      “Let me guess. You want me to go in tonight.”

      “You caught me at a bad time earlier,” she said.

      “Apparently.”

      “Look, I had just got my baby to calm down and go to sleep after his first day away from me, and you disturbed him. You’re not a parent, so you wouldn’t understand,” she said.

      “No, I’m not a parent,” he answered, then sighed so loud into the phone she heard it.

      “Well, you couldn’t understand what I’m talking about, but I like my evenings undisturbed.”

      “Which is why you’ve begged off call for the next six months.”

      “It was a compromise. Originally I was going to take off a whole year to stay home with Charlie, but that didn’t work out so I decided to come back during the days so long as I have my evenings and nights to myself.”

      “Not that it’s any of my business.”

      “Look, Simon. I called to apologize for being so rude. We got off to a bad start and when you called to apologize I wasn’t in the frame of mind to deal with it.”

      “Guilty-mother syndrome?”

      “Something like that.”

      “I understand children, Del, but I don’t even pretend to understand their parents.”

      “You would if you were a parent.”

      “Well, thank God I’m not. My marriage was hell and it makes me queasy thinking we could have easily brought a child into it.”

      “So you’re divorced.”

      “Blessedly so.”

      “Sorry it didn’t work out. Is that why you hate women?”

      “Who says I hate women?”

      “Your scowl, every time I looked at you today.”

      “Well, I don’t hate women. I’m just...wary.”

      “Sorry you feel that way. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I’m sorry I was abrupt with you on the phone earlier. Normally I silence my phone so I won’t be disturbed, and people who know me know when to call and when not to call.”

      “I didn’t get the memo,” he said.

      “Then I’ll make it simple. Evenings are my time unless it’s an emergency. That’s the memo.” He was impossible and she was already dreading working with him. But what was done was done. He was hired, the partners were happy with him and he was a hard worker. Everyone in the office shouted his praises, so it had to be her. He rubbed her the wrong way, or the other way around. Anyway, her feelings for the man were no reason to give him grief, so before she hung up the phone she made a silent vow to tolerate him in the office. If he did his job and she did hers there’d hardly be any time to socialize anyway.

      “So, as I was saying, I’m sorry for being so abrupt and it won’t happen again.”

      “Let’s call it a professional standoff and leave it at that.”

      “Professional, yes, of course. But that’s all. And just so you’ll know, you don’t even have to acknowledge me in passing if you don’t want to.”

      “Wouldn’t that look unfriendly?” he asked.

      “Maybe. But who’s going to notice.”

      “Everybody.” He laughed. “Are you afraid of me?”

      “No, not really. I’m just not in the mood to have a man in my life—especially one I’ll be working closely with.”

      “You formed that opinion of me after one day?”

      “I form fast opinions.”

      “You must. But just so you know, I don’t hate you and I don’t even dislike you. I got off to a bad start this morning because of some personal matters and it carried over. But it has nothing to do with you.” He smiled gently. “In fact, I’ve felt bad all day for the way we got started.”

      “You did?” she asked.

      “I’m not usually quite so abrupt.”

      “Neither am I.”

      They both laughed.

      “So tomorrow maybe we get off on a better foot?” she asked.

      “Well, now that that’s settled, let me be the one to hang up this time.” With that he clicked off.

      * * *

      Her second and third days at work went a little better than her first, but she still missed Charlie so badly. Her situation with Simon didn’t improve, though. She tried being friendlier, and he reciprocated, not in an out-and-out way but at least in a friendlier manner. Still, to Del their relationship felt distanced. Cordial but not particularly friendly. And somehow she had the impression it didn’t have anything to do with her. At least she hoped it didn’t because she wanted them to be just a touch more than cordial.

      It was the fifth day when he actually greeted her with some hospitality. “Would you mind taking over a case for me?”

      “Symptoms?”

      “First, he’s four years and his mother admitted to some pretty heavy drinking during pregnancy.”

      “So let me list some symptoms for you. Poor impulse control, poor personal boundaries, poor anger management, stubbornness, intrusive behavior, too friendly with strangers, poor daily living skills, developmental delays—attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, confusion under pressure, poor abstract skills, difficulty distinguishing between fantasy and reality, slower cognitive processing. Stop me when I hit five of these.”

      “You hit five of the symptoms a long time ago.”

      “So you know what it is?”

      He nodded. СКАЧАТЬ