and looked at Max. Max stood, and in two long strides was across the room and had Reese in his arms. Unable to speak, Reese held him in return.
Max eventually broke the silence. “I don’t know what to say, Reese,” he whispered. “Gretchen and Isaac both? Why? I know that Gretchen won’t be coming back, but God, Reese, I hope Isaac does.”
Reese’s blood ran cold. She pulled back and looked at him, eyes open so wide she could feel air drying her eyeballs. “Do you think he might not?”
“No! No, of course not. I’m so sorry, Reese. I didn’t mean it that way. I think I’m just staying stupid things because I’m overwhelmed by Gretchen’s sudden departure. And now Isaac hasn’t come home. But we don’t know what’s going on, so we can’t panic yet, okay? I’m sorry.”
Reese nodded. She pulled away and resumed pacing. “You’re right. It’s too early to panic. And it’s late. We both need sleep. Go home and go to bed. I’ll do the same.” When Max looked at her skeptically, she folded her arms across her chest and used her firm expression, the one that she usually reserved for Dominic. “I’m serious. We both need sleep so we can deal with whatever tomorrow brings. Hopefully when you drop Elise off, Isaac will be here to greet you. And if not, we’ll deal with it then.” She approached Max and gave him a final hug. “Thank you for coming. I needed this. Now get out of here!”
“Well, I see where I stand.” Max’s smile told Reese that he was okay with her kicking him out.
“You’ll be standing in my kitchen before long. So let’s call it a night.”
After calling it a night, Reese proceeded to toss and turn in bed and pace between her room and the front window, looking for Isaac’s returning car. The minutes ticked slowly, agonizingly by, yet too soon she had to prepare for the day and head to the kitchen, ready for everyone else. Ready, that is, for everyone but her husband, who had yet to come home. “Where are you, Isaac?” she muttered as she stared absentmindedly out the kitchen window into the empty backyard.
When she heard the knock at the door, she knew it was Max, but she found her heart pounding with the hope that it was somehow Isaac. She jogged to the front door and, expectant yet hesitant, threw it open. Crestfallen that it was not her husband, she covered her face with her hands and muttered, “Morning, Max.”
“Oh, Reese.” Max’s voice sounded more disheartened than it had in the last two days, and that was saying a lot. “No Isaac?” She shook her head slowly, and Max reached out with one arm and pulled her close. “I’m sorry.”
Reese grunted. “I don’t know how to feel, Max. I’m worried sick, and I’m totally pissed off. Should I be afraid? Sad? Anxious? Angry? None of the above? All of the above?” She pulled away from Max so she could look directly at him.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“The answer is yes. To everything. You have no idea what’s going on, so every single one of those emotions makes sense.” Max adjusted Elise on his hip and kissed her chubby cheek. “You know what? I should stay home from work today. I don’t think you need to deal with a baby today. I can take Dominic off your hands, too.”
“Max, that’s kind of you to offer, but I need the distractions today. Please. I want to keep things normal for Dominic, too.”
As if on cue, Dominic trotted down the hall. “Good morning, Mommy. Good morning, Uncle Max. Mommy, where’s Daddy?”
Reese shot a look at Max before turning her attention to her son. “Oh. Um, Daddy left for work already, Tiger. He had to go in early.”
“Oh. Okay.” He skipped back toward the kitchen, singing as he went.
Reese blew out a breath of air. “Oh, man. I do need to keep things normal, so let me take Elise and get the morning going. I just hope Isaac returns today.”
For the second time in two days, Reese found herself relying on the dreaded television for a distraction. Dominic certainly didn’t seem to mind when, after breakfast, she popped in the movie Cars, and Reese absolutely wanted him to be otherwise occupied when she made the phone call she was about to make.
Once the kiddos were content with their attention on things other than her, Reese rushed to the kitchen, dialed the number to Isaac’s office faster than she’d ever dialed a number before, and paced as she waited for the receptionist to answer. She chewed her thumbnail. When the call went through, Reese tried to sound nonchalant when she spoke, “Good morning. May I speak to Isaac Bittman, please?”
“I’m sorry. Mr. Bittman is no longer with us.”
“Um, what?”
“Mr. Bittman is no longer here, ma’am.”
Reese furrowed her eyebrows. “I’m afraid I don’t understand. May I speak to Aubrey Watson, please?”
“Of course. May I ask who’s calling?”
“Yes. This is Reese Bittman. Isaac’s wife.” Her voice sounded much more hostile than she had intended it to be. While she was on hold, she barely heard the aggravating baseball stadium music. She instead heard her own heart beating wildly in her head. Did Isaac really no longer work for the Conifers? Since when? And why? She needed to get to the bottom of this, yet she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answers. Had he, just like Gretchen, quit his job and taken off for a new life? Oh my God, did they take off together? She was overcome by a strong sensation of vertigo. Just as she was lowering herself into a chair, Aubrey Watson came on the line.
“Hello, Reese. I understand you called looking for Isaac.”
“That’s right.”
“I’m deeply sorry. Apparently he hasn’t told you yet. We had to let him go yesterday. He no longer works for this company.”
Reese’s heart, just moments ago beating so wildly, felt like it completely stopped. Isaac was fired yesterday? Why? And did he think he couldn’t come home because of it?
“Reese?”
Reese cleared her throat. She didn’t know how long she had been sitting here silent, leaving Aubrey Watson hanging on the other side of the line. Screw Aubrey Watson. Frankly, Reese didn’t give a hill of beans if Aubrey Watson sat there all day. She did need to know something, though, so she cleared her throat again and asked, “May I ask why you fired him?”
“I’m sorry, Reese. We don’t disclose that information.”
“But he’s my husband.” There wasn’t a part of her that wasn’t tense with apprehension, and, as if of their own volition, her hands and fingers were opening and closing and picking at the bottom of her shirt. She had a very fleeting image of her mother on the phone when Reese was young; her mom constantly pulled and stretched and twisted the phone cord around her wrist. Reese would love to have a phone cord right now. That, or her mother to talk to, but she knew all too well that that would only end in disaster. It was probably for the best that her parents lived on the other side of the planet.
“Yes. I understand that he’s your husband. And it’s our policy not to disclose such information. If you’d like to know, the person to ask is Isaac. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m about to enter a meeting.”
Reese
