Page 3 of Coming Home

His intercom beeped, and Lydia’s voice filled the office. “I’ve got Mr. Ian Warner in the waiting room. Where should I direct him?”

Patrick stood. “Sounds like that’s my cue to get out of here. We’ll meet for drinks after we’re done?”

David nodded. “Sounds good.”

When Patrick was gone, he told Lydia to keep Mr. Warner in the waiting room for Patrick to pick up.

Fifteen minutes later, Lydia buzzed him again. “I’ve got Dr. Mallincoat on the phone. Should I put her through?”

“Tell her I’ll call her tomorrow, please. And tell her I’m not ducking her calls, I’m just busy.”

“She said it concerns Emily.”

He closed his eyes. He couldn’t ignore Emily. That woman meant everything to him.

“Put her through please and let me know when Ms. Rodriguez gets here.”

His desk phone rang a moment later.

“What’s wrong, Tamara?”

“Hello to you too, David,” the woman said curtly.

“I’m not in the mood right now, Tam. Lydia said it was about Emily. What’s wrong?”

“She’s pushing herself too hard to finish this Master’s degree. I thought you were a stickler for her taking care of herself.”

“I am, but I can’t stop her from putting in the hours she wants to put into it. Not when I’m putting in the number of hours I am.”

“Well, you should know I sent her home from campus today and told her she isn’t to come back until she has class on Wednesday. She’s exhausted, she’s stressed, and she wasn’t feeling well. You need to check on her.”

David dragged a hand through his hair. “OK. Thanks for the heads up. I have a meeting I can’t get out of, but then I’ll cut my day short and go check on her. She’s not feeling well?”

Tamara laughed. “She just didn’t look well. And I’m sure she’s a little lovesick for her husband. It sounds like the two of you might need a vacation. When was the last time you went to Solitaire?”

David didn’t disagree that they needed a vacation, but they both had a lot on their plates. As for Solitaire, he hated just how right Tamara was. It had been months since they made the trip.

“Mr. Eastman, Ms. Rodriguez is here.”

“I need to go Tamara, my meeting is here. Is everything OK with you?” Something about her voice told him something else was on her mind.

“We can talk about it later, it’s nothing terribly urgent. Go take your meeting and then go home to your wife.”

“I will. I promise. And we’ll have dinner soon. You can come to the house.”

As he ended the call, he reached over and pressed the intercom. “I’ll meet Ms. Rodriguez in the hallway. We’re going to take a ride and tour the lab. Make sure a car is waiting downstairs. And get word to Patrick that we’ll have breakfast tomorrow instead of drinks tonight.”

“Yes, Sir,” Lydia said.

He stood and pulled out his phone to call Emily as he picked up a binder to take with him on the lab tour.

There was no answer on her cell. Hopefully that meant she was sleeping.

In the hallway, he extended his hand to Mina Rodriguez. “Thank you for coming. There should be a car waiting for us downstairs. I hope you’re ready to see something extraordinary.”

He didn’t hear the woman’s response because he was preoccupied with thoughts of Emily.

David stayed distracted for most of the tour, but thankfully his staff did a good job of picking up his slack as they walked through the state-of-the-art diamond lab.

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