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“Mila, all I know is that something happened on a call just as she was getting here. That’s why we left her car. It was something with her family, but she won’t talk about it,” he admitted to his daughter. He wouldn’t push her about it, either. She had to want to tell him.
His daughter let it drop, and they brought the drinks into the living room for everyone. Sitting back down, he pulled Tess closer into his arms. Her body was stiff, but then she melted into him and sighed. Neither of them touched their drinks, he just held her in the semi-darkness, and she held him tight. Her eyes were on the screen, but he could tell her mind was elsewhere.
When the credits rolled, she announced that she had to get home. Not wanting to push her, he just followed her through the house and out to her car. As they left, he told the kids it was time to get ready for bed and that he would be up in a bit to make sure they were doing it. Tonight would have been a good night for his ex to have them. It was hard to parent while Tess was hurting.
At her car, she turned and looked at him. “I had a good time tonight, Mathias. Your kids are great. You are a great dad.”
“I think you won them over. But who couldn’t like you?” he pulled her to him and brushed a kiss to her forehead.
“You on a good day.”
“I don’t know what I was even thinking then. Might be why I had sex with you on your birthday.” He kissed her cheek, lingering as he took in her fresh smell for an extra moment.
She bit her lip and said, “I have to go.”
“Stay,” he whispered as his lips touched hers.
“I cannot. The children,” she protested, but it wasn’t a very strong argument.
“They will never know.” He touched her lips again. “I don’t want you to be alone. I know you won’t talk to me about it, and I won’t ask. But I want to be there for you.”
To his surprise, she agreed to stay and let him lead her from her car and back into the house. In the kitchen, he told her how to get to his bedroom and then went up to make sure the kids were getting ready. All three were in their rooms, but Cora was talking on her phone. Leaving her alone, he got the other two to bed.
Once Mason was in bed reading, he went to Juniper’s bedroom to read her a story, like he did every night. But he couldn’t concentrate on the story. When he was almost done, his phone rang.
Sliding out of bed, he looked at the number. He didn’t recognize it but decided to answer anyway. After he identified himself, he heard a voice ask, “Mr. Nordskov, I am looking for Tess Thorn. I talked to your sister at the clinic, Amanda. She is Tess’s friend. She said Tessy might be there.”
“Who is this?” he asked, but he already had a good idea. This had to be Tasha.
“Natasha Aleksandrov. Tessy is my aunt. Is she there? I cannot get her on her phone.” Her voice had so much concern with a hint of an accent that had been very pronounced when she had said her name.
“Hello, Natasha. Tess is here, but I don’t know if she wants to talk to you. She turned her phone off.” Math didn’t know if Tess would speak to the concerned woman.
“Please, Mr. Nordskov, I need to speak to her. I said something, and it was the wrong time,” she pleaded.
“Yes, it really hurt her.” Math kissed Juniper’s head and left his daughter’s room.
“I know. It had to be said, but not today. Not this week. We should have talked about it when she was here, before.” The woman was crying now. His heart broke for the two friends who were so far apart.
“I’ll see if she wants to talk. Hold on a moment.” He put the phone to his chest as he looked around the house for Tess. He even checked outside to make sure her car was there. It was. Checking his bedroom, he saw her lying in a ball on the side of the bed. Her eyes were still open, and she was looking at the wall.
Sitting on the bed, he said, “Tasha called Mandy to get my number. She wants to talk.”
Her eyes looked at him in confusion, making him wondered if she even understood what he said. Sitting up, she pulled her phone to her and turned it on. Then she said, “Hang up. I will call her.”
Watching her scroll through her phone, he hung up on the woman who was probably still crying. With her phone to her ear, she was all business when she talked to her niece. “Tasha, this is Tess.” He almost thought she would say from the bank with the tone she was using.
He slipped out of the room to give her some privacy, but not before hearing her say crisply, “No, Natasha, what you said earlier is what you meant. I do not belong.”
Heading back to the check on the kids and let her have privacy, he wondered what she didn’t belong to anymore. What was suddenly happening in her life that they would not approve of? Since Juniper was asleep, he checked on Mason, who was also asleep. Only Cora was still awake, so Math told her to get off her phone and go to bed. Her only answer was an eye roll.
Walking past his room, he heard that Tess was still on the phone. He left her to fix what was broken between the friends, but he heard something about a church. As he walked into the living room and sat on the couch, he wondered if she was having difficulties with her family because of him. He was of a different religion, and some people had a hard time with that. Maybe her parents did.
Based on everything she had said about them, they were older. But they had barely been together, so how could her parents be against them being together already? Math sat there, stewing over the idea that her parents could hate him and not even know him. What had he done? He really liked her. In fact, he could see them together after these last two days. He wanted them together.
Tonight, he hadn’t wanted her to ever leave. She was the person everyone told him she was: nice and fun and perfect for him. There was still plenty he didn’t know about her, but given time, she would trust him.
After an hour of wondering what was going on with her, he got up to check and see if she was still on the phone. But when he got to his room, the light was off, and she was under the covers, her phone on the table beside her. He was a little hurt she hadn’t come out to find him.
