Page 68 of Push

“Where I go, Gwen goes,” Toby had spat. “If she’s not good enough for you, neither am I.”

Toby had sworn we’d never see his parents again. He’d been a man of his word. The ten months of peace we’d enjoyed before his father’s heart attack were some of our happiest. That sadly said a lot, really.

An awkward silence hung over the nursery. Toby gently tugged off Noah’s stained clothes and tossed them in the hamper, but there were none of the usual tickles or jokes. No silly song filled the room. His jaw stayed firmly shut.

Something was bothering him.

Orsomeone.

I shuffled closer. My heart pounded in frantic beats. Feeling so uncomfortable around someone I’d known for so long was strange.

“I haven’t taken Noah to the sandpit yet,” I said. “Did he have fun?”

“Yeah.”

No stories. No details. Justyeah. I fidgeted with the top of my yoga pants, eyes darting everywhere, unsure where to look.

“I ran into Judy at the coffee shop,” I said.

“Cool.”

“She told me Kayleigh’s gone.”

“Yeah.”

“You fired her?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sorry she’s gone?”

“No.” Toby reached for a clean diaper, as if we were discussing nothing important. “Why would I be?”

I shrugged. “The two of you spent a lot of time together.”

“We shouldn’t have. I should’ve fired Kayleigh a lot sooner. That’s the last time I listen to that cowboy lawyer.”

“It was the right advice.”

He grunted. “You would’ve given that advice?”

“As a lawyer, sure. You landed yourself in a situation where you didn’t have a lot of options. Their aim would’ve been to do enough damage control to protect you and Ian financially.”

Toby’s jaw clenched. “Would you have given that advice as mywife?”

“No, but I wish you’d never hired Kayleigh in the first place.”

“I didn’t. I left that up to Ian. He thought it was good timing to get younger blood in, and we were dealing with what happened with your work.” He balled up the soiled diaper and pitched it in the trash. “Personally, I prefer ’em cranky like Judy. You know where you stand with people like that. No games. Just…” He dragged a hand down the tired lines of his face. “I don’t know.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you fired Kayleigh?”

Toby shrugged. “I didn’t want us to waste any more time on her. You won’t believe me, but she was never important to me. I know the way I acted made it seem like she was, and I was wrong to put her before you and Noah, but…” He shook his head. “I didn’t want her taking up any more space in our lives.”

“I’d rather know all the gory details and decide for myself how I feel. It’s thenotknowing I can’t handle.Thattakes up space. I don’t want to worry that I’m missing something or that you’re keeping secrets.”

“Secrets?” The word came out almost as a laugh, but he controlled the spark of anger. “Okay.” His chin dropped in a nod. “Got it.”

He scooped Noah off the changing table, smooched a kiss on his head, and settled him in his crib. That conversation was officially over. We were at another stalemate.

---