Bye-Bye Baby Read online

  “You need a better system,” she teased.

  Cole chuckled. “Tell me about it.” He set down the screwdriver he’d been using to pry off the keyboard. “Everything okay?”

  Beth faced him. She nodded. “I was out for a walk. I thought I’d come see how you were.”

  He shrugged. “Keeping busy.”

  She picked up a heavy, black square with a metallic disk embedded in the plastic.

  “It’s a hard drive,” he told her. “I need to get a replacement for it.”

  “Oh.” She set it down gently. “You seem to really be enjoying this computer stuff.”

  “I guess I kind of am,” he confessed. “It saves people time and money to take it to someone in town rather than ship their stuff off to one of the cities.”

  “Maybe you should hang up your lawyer hat for a technician one.”

  She’d meant it as a joke, but wasn’t entirely surprised when he nodded.

  “I’ve been thinking about it.” He licked his lips. “I went to the bank this morning.”

  Beth offered him a grin. “I know. Georgia May,” was all the information she gave when he squinted at her.

  “Ah!” He snorted. “Figures.”

  Beth moved to take the chair across his desk. “So you went to the bank…”

  Carefully, he moved aside the laptop so they could see each other and sat as well.

  “I talked to Mr. Goode about getting a business loan, a small one.”

  Beth’s eyes widened. “Wow! That’s great. What did he say?”

  Cole shrugged. “It’s doable. I have some money saved up, but a loan would help. He wants a plan put together by the end of the week. If he’s impressed with what he sees, I could have a real shot.”

  “That is wonderful, Cole!” She got to her feet and circled the desk to stand next to his chair. “I am so proud of you.”

  He turned and pulled her to him when she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “You helped.”

  Beth drew back. “Me? What did I do?”

  “It was your idea I start opening myself up to something new, something I actually like doing.”

  Cheeks warmed, she chuckled. “That was nothing. You would have eventually come to the same conclusion on your own.”

  “Will you stop raining on my thank you? Jesus, woman.”

  Laughing, she bent at the waist and kissed him. “You’re welcome.”

  It was unclear how the kiss deepened, but it seemed to ignite like gasoline on lit matches. It exploded, wild and unstoppable. Beth found herself propped on the desk, her jacket discarded somewhere on the floor. Her fingers fumbled with the buckle on his slacks.

  “No.” Cole broke the kiss. His hands caught hers, wrenching them away from his pants.

  Breathing hard, Beth stared up at him. “We can lock the door.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t.”

  Her mind raged with this new turn of events, trying to decipher what he was trying to tell her in between pants.

  “Because we’re at your work?”

  He was staring intently into her eyes, his filled with regret. “I can’t sleep with you, not when there’s a very real possibility you won’t be staying.”

  It took her muddled brain a full minute to comprehend what he was telling her. “What are you talking about? I told you I was staying.”

  “Then why haven’t you put your transfer in at work? Why haven’t you started making plans to move your things? It feels more to me like you have one foot out the door, just waiting for an excuse to run again.”

  His words stung like a slap.

  She hopped off the desk and snatched up her coat. She put the desk between them as she threw it on.

  “It’s only been a week!” She hooked her fingers in her hair and yanked the strands free of the collar. “Rearranging my entire life takes time. I can’t just uproot and leave in a day. And for your information, I have put my transfer in. It’s not up to me when they actually complete the process and Willow Creek Memorial accepts it. If they accept it.”

  This revelation seemed to take Cole by surprise, but he rebounded just as quickly. “What about your apartment?”

  “What about it?” She glared at him. “I didn’t realize there was a time limit.”

  “There isn’t, but it would be nice to know you’re serious.”

  Her arms flung open wide. “I’m still here aren’t I?”

  “Yeah, for Damon, but your indecision is making me question for just how long.”

  “It’s not indecision and I’m not here only for Damon! I’ve already decided, and why are you rushing me?”

  “I’m not rushing you,” he argued.

  Her eyebrow arched. “Really? Because that is exactly what it sounds like.”

  Not waiting for a response, she spun on her heels and stomped from the office. She hit the door with her shoulder and threw herself into the cold. Her fingers trembled as she fumbled trying to do up the zipper on her coat. Her mad carried her all the way home before she realized she was forcing the key into the apartment lock and shoving her way inside.

  The first thing Beth had done after telling Cole she was staying was call Beatrice, her supervisor at the hospital in Vancouver and put in her transfer. Beatrice had emailed her the papers and Beth had done them the same day. She had no control over when it would get faxed to Willow Creek Memorial, or if it would get approved and when, or if they would call her. It was a waiting game at that point.

  As for moving her things, the truth was she was dreading the prospect of packing four years of crap. It was the only reason she kept dragging her feet. It had nothing to do with her changing her mind, or waiting for the other shoe to drop. But she could see how it would look to Cole. How her avoidance of work would prickle his apprehension.

  Anger evaporated as quickly as it had flared. She stared at the flawless blue stretch of sky looming over the never changing town below. The light glinted off the neatly kempt rooftops, reminding her that the windows needed scrubbing.

  She turned away from the view and focused on the rest of the apartment, on the bland, emptiness of it. It wasn’t a home, but a place to exist. While she didn’t hate the place, she couldn’t bring herself to like it overly much either. Their place together had been built with love. Every item they brought through the door had meant something. And even if she brought her things there, it would just be a collection of his things and her things all crammed into a tiny place.

  Maybe that was the problem. For so long, it had been their things. Nothing had been labeled as hers, or his. But the biggest problem was building on a place that he’d gotten to forget about her. There wasn’t a single shred of what they’d shared anywhere in the place, like he’d gone out of his way to destroy her completely from his life. Did she really want to start their future together on that kind of foundation?

  Rubbing a hand over her face, she wandered into Damon’s room. She’d made his bed earlier that morning, but she puttered around, uselessly moving books and toys and adjusting the pillows. The bedroom set Cole and Sloan had set up for him was cherry wood and matched the bed, dresser, and end table. Sloan had also built him a bookshelf out of plywood that was now filled with books and an assortment of action figures. At first glance, it was evident a boy lived there. Everything from the Spiderman sheets to the stickers of race cars and superheroes on the walls made certain of that. But it was the look on Damon’s face when they’d first revealed the room to him that would forever stay with Beth. It had been the wide-eyed wonder of someone faced with something too unbelievable to comprehend. He had stood just inside the doorway like he was afraid it would all vanish if he so much as breathed. It had taken everything in her not to bundle him up into her arms and make all his hurt and memories go away.

  Beth was still standing in the middle of the room, studying the bed when her phone buzzed in the pocket of her coat. Thinking it might be the hospital, or Cole, she dug it out and hit talk without checking the
ID.

  “Hello?”

  “Ms. Doan?”

  Not recognizing the female voice, Beth frowned. “Yes?”

  “This is principal Hamill from Willow Creek elementary. I have Damon in the office with me—”

  “Is he all right?” Beth was already at the door, yanking it open and sprinting out. “What happened? Was it his father?”

  “No,” the woman’s voice was curt. “Damon was in a fight during recess today. He broke another child’s nose.”

  Standing on the front steps of the apartment building, Beth frowned. “What? No, that doesn’t sound like Damon. Are you sure?”

  “I am very sure,” the principal muttered. “Is there any way you and your husband can come to the school?”

  “I’m on my way. Cole’s at work, but I’ll call him.”

  She hung up with the principal and dialed Cole. He answered on the second ring. She told him quickly what happened, got a pause on the other end, then an abrupt, “I’ll be there.”

  Beth had only been inside the school once before when Ms. Barns had taken her and Cole to meet the principal and discuss Damon’s enrollment. The unfamiliar maze was made simple only by the signs hanging from the ceiling, telling her where to go. The office was empty saved for a sour faced woman with a severe bun and glasses shaped like cat eyes. She peered down the length of her thin nose at Beth.

  “Can I help you?”

  Beth opened her mouth to respond when the middle door behind the front desk opened and Mrs. Hamill motioned Beth forward.

  The office was small, made smaller by the trio of bookshelves taking up three walls and the metal desk pushed against the window. Someone had forced two plastic chairs into the space and one was occupied.

  “Damon!”

  The boy was still in his coat, but the front was drenched and sticky with the same blood that speckled his dirt streaked face. He was staring down at his knees, but she could just make out the black blossom blazing bright against his jaw.

  “What happened?” Concern rushed her to his side. She ignored his protest and grabbed his chin, forcing his head up. “Are you hurt?”

  “He is fine.” Mrs. Hamill shut the door and rounded her desk to sit. “I can’t say the same for the other boy.”

  “What happened?” Beth asked again, this time to the principal.

  “Will your husband be joining us?” Mrs. Hamill asked instead. “I would rather get to the bottom of this without explaining it twice.”

  Beth glanced at her watch. “I called him. He should be here any minute.” She raised her head. “And Cole’s not my—”

  There was a knock at the door that waited for no one to answer before it was forced open and Cole marched in. His blue gaze jumped from Beth to Mrs. Hamill before settling on Damon.

  “What happened?” he demanded, taking in the blood wrecking Damon’s coat. “Who did this?” This was growled at Mrs. Hamill.

  “That is not his,” the principal stated calmly. “Please close the door.”

  Cole did and remained standing, waiting for answers.

  “Damon had an altercation on the playground during recess,” Mrs. Hamill began. “From what I’ve gathered from the children that were there, Damon attacked the boy unprovoked.”

  “There has to be some mistake,” Beth interjected. “Damon wouldn’t do that.”

  Mrs. Hamill fixed her heavily lidded eyes on Beth. “Ms. Doan, with all due respect, you’ve known Damon for all of a month. This is actually quite normal behavior for him.”

  “Maybe in the past, but he’s not the same kid he was before we got him,” Cole piped in. “He’s a good kid.”

  “I understand that you’re trying to help him—”

  “Did you ask him?” Beth cut in.

  Mrs. Hamill blinked. “Pardon?”

  “Did you ask Damon what happened?”

  The principal leaned back in her chair. “I had several eyewitnesses—”

  “Who are all children,” Beth said.

  “Ms. Doan, I have been principal of this school for a very long time. I know how to do my job, and yes, I did ask Damon. He didn’t respond.”

  Beth and Cole both turned to the boy.

  “What happened, Damon?” Beth demanded. “Why did you hit that boy?”

  Damon stayed buried to the eyeballs in the collar of his coat.

  “That’s about as much of an answer as I got,” Mrs. Hamill said. “And since Damon won’t tell me what happened, I have no choice but to believe what I’ve been told to be true. It also pains me to say, but Damon is suspended for the next week.”

  “What?” Cole snapped.

  “No!” Beth said at the same time. “Mrs. Hamill, please. Is there not another way we can handle this?”

  The woman pursed her lips sympathetically. “I wish there were, but we have a zero bullying policy.”

  “Bully?” Beth gasped. “Since when is two little boys fighting bullying? Isn’t it normal? I mean, they’re just little boys, for crying out loud!” She took a deep breath. “He can’t be suspended. It will go on his permanent record.”

  “He broke the other child’s nose,” the principal said tightly. “His parents are expecting some type of punishment as I’m sure you would if it were Damon in the hospital right now. I’m sorry, but there really is nothing I can do.”

  No one spoke as they led Damon from the principal’s office. Cole took him into the boys’ washroom and tried to get as much of the blood off as possible while Beth signed the papers stating she understood why Damon was being suspended. Afterwards, Cole led them to the car and took them home.

  “What the hell happened, Damon?” Cole shut the apartment door and turned on the boy. He jerked down his zipper and shrugged his coat off. He tossed it over the back of the sofa, never once taking his eyes off Damon. “Why did you hit that kid?”

  Damon said nothing.

  “Answer me!”

  Damon jumped at the vicious growl, but stayed frozen in place.

  “Cole!”

  Beth hurried forward and reached for Damon, but the boy jerked away and ran to his room. A moment later, the door slammed shut and then there was silence.

  “Are you happy now?” Beth snapped at Cole. “What’s the matter with you?”

  “He can’t just go off picking fights, Beth!” Cole shot back. “We’ll lose him if Ms. Barns finds out about this. They’ll think we’re unfit, that we can’t control him. They’re not going to see this as some stupid thing that boys do. They’ll see it as our inability to be responsible.”

  A cold cyclone started in the pit of Beth’s stomach, churning until she was sure she’d be sick.

  “Okay, so we’ll be responsible,” she murmured, sounding breathless even to her own ears. “We’ll ground him and he has to write a letter to the boy apologizing for what happened and tomorrow, I’ll grab his school work and he has to finish those, too.”

  Cole stalked around her and went into the kitchen. He yanked out a cup and filled it with water.

  He turned his head towards the window and stared out, the glass forgotten. Shadows played in the hard grooves around his mouth.

  “I didn’t mean to yell at him,” he mumbled at last. He set the water down, untouched. “I just don’t want to lose him.”

  “Maybe you should tell him that.”

  Cole sighed. He turned his head and his eyes met hers. “I’m sorry about earlier, too.”

  Beth shook her head. “We can talk about that later.”

  With a slow bob of his head, Cole pushed away from the counter and turned his head towards the bedrooms. He exhaled once before making his way to Damon’s room. Beth dumped her coat on top of Cole’s on the sofa and followed.

  Damon stood in the middle of his room, still fully dressed in his ruined jacket. He reminded Beth of a small soldier about to face the end. It broke her heart.

  “Are you sending me away?”

  The tense lines around Cole’s face softened. He crossed the room and kne
lt in front of the boy. Carefully, he undid the zipper on Damon’s jacket and peeled the wet material off him. Beth took it gingerly by the collar and wondered if there was a way to salvage it.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Cole told him. “Not if we can help it.”

  Chapter Seventeen ~ Cole

  It was a week after the incident, a week after Beth had called to let her know what had happened at the school, before Ms. Barns returned their call. It came through the morning Cole was getting prepared to meet Mr. Goode at the bank. Beth was bundling Damon up in his new coat. The snow was still a fine powder over the town so Cole was able to talk her out of stuffing Damon into ski pants as well.

  It was Damon’s first day back from his suspension and Cole was more nervous for him than he was for his presentation with the bank. He kept double checking to make sure all of Damon’s work was properly done and packed inside his backpack and that the apology letter was tucked away in his pocket to give to his teacher. He wanted so much for Damon and the school to put the whole mess behind them. He didn’t want anything getting in Damon’s way of having the future he deserved.

  “You ready, buddy?”

  Wiggling into his backpack, Damon nodded.

  Beth gave Cole Damon’s lunch bag. “There’s no room,” she said.

  Cole eyed the tiny bag compared to the massive weight the boy was struggling under. “Hey, why don’t you take this and I’ll take your pack.”

  Damon didn’t argue. He tossed off his bag and took the one Cole handed him.

  Beth bent down and kissed the top of his head. “You good?”

  Damon nodded again. “Do I have to go back there?”

  “Yes, because we don’t run from our mistakes,” Cole told him. “You own up to them.” He settled a hand on his shoulder. “And you face them like a man.”

  Damon sighed, but he reluctantly moved towards the door. Cole followed with Beth right behind them.

  “Big day for both of you,” Beth said with nerves in her voice. “Good luck and I’ll see you both when you get home.”

  Damon walked through the door with a wave over his shoulder. Cole paused to press a kiss to Beth’s mouth.