Page 16 of The Holidays with Dr. Mitchell
“He got stuck in traffic,” I said, feeling irritated by my husband’s absence but ultimately used to it.
“Yeah, okay,” John said, deflated. “Grandma Carm,” John turned his attention to his favorite lady, “do you want to share a cinnamon roll with me?”
“Aw,” Carmen smiled and ran her long red fingernails through John’s hair, “youknowI want to. Go grab your things, and you can ride with me and Papa to the diner.”
“I’ll be right back,” John said with excitement.
“Where is Jacob?” my dad questioned after setting Kaley down so she could go get the doll she left in her chair. “He’s missing out on all the good stuff. He’s never going to get these moments back.”
“I know, Dad,” I answered with irritation. “Last I checked, I married a surgical chief and signed up for this way of life while raising kids. Don’t start.”
I hated defending Jake when he wasn’t around for events like this because it was bullshit, especially since he planned on being here tonight. It was a complete letdown, but I was just thankful I had Carmen’s jubilant energy, and my kids loved her like she was Mickey Mouse. I did, too. There were many times when being disappointed or let down by Jake made me sad, but fortunately, I had a great dad and a lively stepmom who kept all the sadness away when I felt it—kind of like right now.
“Well, they’re only this age once, kid,” Dad told me.
“Don’t we all know it,” I answered as if I were the one in trouble for Jake missing this whole thing because he was stuck in traffic. I wanted to kick Jake’s ass after I read his text, but after he sent a video of a life flight chopper landing on the freeway, I knew there was nothing he could do but sit there and wait for ambulances, tow trucks, and California Highway Patrol to arrive and clear the thing. He was screwed, and I knew he was as upset about missing tonight as I was.
“All right, let’s go,” Dad said. He scooped up Kaley, grabbed John’s hand, and ran to the exit like he was kidnapping them, making them laugh the whole way.
I was so thankful for thesetwo people because they stepped in at every opportunity, not just helping Jake and me when we needed some alone time but also putting huge smiles on the kids’ faces. And on nights like these, we needed that.
I walked into the house,surprised to see the motion-activated lights turn on as if we were the first ones home.
“Where’s Dad?” John questioned.
“I was about to ask the same thing,” I answered him. “Go put your stuff upstairs in your room, and I’ll call him.”
“Cool,” John said as Kaley started whining after waking up from dozing off in the car on the ride home.
“Let’s get you to bed first,” I said, picking her up and heading up the stairs to get her tucked in.
I walked past John’s room and grinned while he put everything away in perfect order. “Did you want to call Dad and give him a hard time, or should I?” I teased.
“You can,” John said, not too concerned with Jake’s whereabouts. “I have to finish homework.”
“You did so well tonight,” I told him. “I sent your dad all the videos I took, so even though he wasn’t there tonight, he sort of was.”
“I know,” John said. “It’s cool, Mom.”
This was just our everyday family life. There were plenty of times I eyed other parents, husbands and wives sitting in the crowd, and wished I had the cute little nine-to-five family, too, but I didn’t. Truthfully, I wouldn’t trade my husband or his love for the three of us for anything in the world. This was the life of being married to the big cardiovascular chief. We got him when he was off work, and nothing stood in the way of us then.
I could feel sorry for myself, but I wouldn’t. I also wouldn’t put any guilt on Jake because his job was his passion, and he was a brilliantly gifted surgeon who saved lives under impossible circumstances after other physicians had given up. Regardless, more and more these days, it felt like his job was who he was married to and more his family than we were. Nights like tonight sucked, and that was why I was willing to join forces with the other wives to get our workaholic husbands to plan for the holidays. Having them more involved, like we did on Halloween, worked out nicely, and the kids were thrilled to have their dads be a part of the holiday. It was lovely.
Seeing the disappointment in John’s eyes tonight just reinforced my resolve to get Jake more involved. I knew that roping him into planning and attending a couple of holidays was not a permanent solution to our problem, but I needed to take action to bring back the spark that was starting to fizzle out in our marriage.
CHAPTER 9
Ash
Ifinished custom wrapping one of my most expensive art pieces for a client who’d placed an online order and handed it to their assistant, who was sent to pick it up.
“Tell them I hope they enjoy it. If it doesn’t meet with their expectations for their space, I will issue a full refund as promised,” I told the young woman.
She smiled at me. “Mr. Hawk will most likely love this,” Candace responded. “Mrs. Monroe wasn’t lying when she said you were the artist to furnish multi-million-dollar beach homes.”
The chime at my door announced the devil herself, Natalia Monroe. She pulled off her oversized, glam sunglasses as she floated into the gallery and smiled at the lovely young woman at my counter.
“Candace, I was hoping to catch you before Ash wrapped the damn thing,” Nat acknowledged her with a hint of annoyance.“If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s when I try to get my ass where I said I’d be on time, and fucking traffic ruins it all.”
