Olivia called Paul when she got home from her mother’s and told him she missed him. He didn’t tell her about Eileen’s plans. He was going to tackle that in person. He lay on the couch where he was sleeping, after the call, and wondered how she’d take it. If he could have had her spend weekends with him in Greenwich, it would have been better for him, but he knew Eileen would never allow that, nor would his kids. Their family home was sacred to all of them, to him as well, and there was no way he could bring a woman there. He just hoped that Tina, the housekeeper, would give him a night off from time to time so he could sleep with Olivia in the city. If not, there were going to be fireworks. There might be anyway. It was a lot for her to swallow. For the next three months, he belonged to his children, on full-time duty, standing in for his absentee wife. But how could he blame her? After what he’d done, she had a right to a new life, and to train for it. He admired her no end, and wanted to do all he could to support her plan.
* * *
—
The next morning, they talked about Eileen’s plans again over breakfast. With her usual military precision and flawless organization, she had thought of everything and covered all the bases. She assigned them specific chores that they would be responsible for. Pennie was responsible for laundry, Seth for unpacking groceries, Mark for helping their father shop for food on weekends. And they all had to tidy the living room and clean up the kitchen.
“And what am I responsible for?” Paul teased her. She was the family drill sergeant, which was familiar to him.
“Try not to lose any of the children before I get back. And…unfortunately for you, homework. They’ll need your help with it, or the twins will.” He had his work cut out for him for the next three months. He was going to be a full-time solo dad, just the way she was a full-time single mom, and had been even when they were together.
Paul left before lunch, after thanking them for a beautiful Christmas, and he took the train back to New York to meet Olivia. He had a lot to tell her. She said she’d be at her apartment. He was apprehensive about what he had to say. He couldn’t tell Eileen he wouldn’t cover for her, in order to protect his relationship with his girlfriend. He couldn’t do that to her now. He and Olivia would just have to suck it up for three months, which wasn’t the end of the world. But he knew she might think so.
* * *
—
Olivia was lying on her bed, watching a series on TV, when he got to her apartment. She threw her arms around his neck and was happy to see him, and wished him a merry Christmas.
“I’m so glad you’re home! I missed you. It didn’t feel like Christmas without you. And my mother and grandmother were very disappointed you didn’t come.”
“We’ll work it out next year,” he promised, and kissed her. She sounded like a little girl. He lay down on the bed next to her and put an arm around her. “There’s something I have to tell you.” He felt her stiffen next to him.
“You’re not going back to her?”
“No, I’m not,” he said calmly. “But I have to go back to Greenwich for three months to take care of my kids.”
“With her? Is someone sick?” She looked panicked.
“Without her. That’s the point. She’s taking a class in Paris for three months so she can open a business. I owe this to her, Olivia. I have given her a crap deal with what we’ve done. And there’s no one else to take care of the kids.”
“Can’t you hire a nanny?”
“No, I can’t. They’re not infants. She’s leaving in a week. The housekeeper will stay with them from time to time, so I can spend the night with you. And they’re going to Paris to see her for ski week in the middle of it, so we can be together then while they’re with her. But other than that, I’m going to have to commute from Greenwich every day and live with my kids.”
“Are you serious? For three months? What am I supposed to do?” She sat bolt upright in bed next to him and stared at him.
“We’ll just have to live with it, and do the best we can. I have to do it. There’s no one else who can. And you can’t stay there with me. I wish you could.” He was sincere and earnest. He didn’t like the idea of being away from her either, although he was looking forward to living with his children again. He missed them, even though he loved her. They were his children, a relationship Olivia didn’t understand since she had none. “Some people have to do this all the time. It’s only for three months. We can manage it. And I’ll stay in the city with you whenever the housekeeper stays with them, or if they stay with their friends on weekends. That’s the best I can do.” She could tell it was nonnegotiable.
“Can you at least spend the evenings with me before you go out there?”
“As much as I can, as long as I don’t miss the last train. And I have to have dinner with them occasionally and help with homework. Eileen is a full-time hands-on mom. She’s on deck for them all the time.”
“And she expects you to do that in her absence? How can she sign up for a class in Paris without even asking you beforehand?”
“I guess she wanted it desperately. I’ve screwed up her life pretty badly. I can’t stop her from doing this now. It wouldn’t be right.” Olivia got off the bed and paced around the room. She hadn’t expected this. He was about to turn into a full-time suburban father who had to be home with his kids to do homework every night. “We can try introducing you to the children again, so you could come out there. But you can’t spend the night. It’s Eileen’s house now, and she’d go through the roof. And I wouldn’t feel right about it.”
“Then she should stay home and take care of them herself. Why does this have to be your problem, our problem?”
“Because they’re my kids too.”
“I can’t believe she’s doing this to us.”
“Think about what we’ve done to her. I can’t refuse to help her out so we can spend every night together. She has a right to a life too.”
“Yeah, and so do I. And not with a boyfriend babysitting for his children in Greenwich for three months.”
“That’s the deal, Olivia,” he said quietly. “It’s who I am.” And who he should have been long before, he realized. She wondered suddenly as she listened to him if it was some kind of blessing, and would give her time to decide just how committed she was to the relationship, and how deep into it she wanted to be. It was going to give her a second look at him, and the fact that he had three kids, two of whom still needed him. And sometimes Pennie did too.
“You haven’t even filed for divorce yet.”