“I told you that I will.” But he wouldn’t admit to her that a part of him was glad this had happened. He was going to live with his children again for the next three months. But it was obvious how unhappy Olivia was about it. She didn’t want their nights together to stop, and she could see a lot of long lonely nights ahead of her for the next three months. Why was Eileen getting to have all the fun and going to Paris? While Paul had to play babysitter.
“Can’t they stay alone?” she insisted.
“No, they can’t. They’d run wild, and what if there’s a fire or one of them gets sick?” She hadn’t thought of that. She lay back down on the bed next to him, and they made love a few minutes later. But she wasn’t any happier afterwards. It all sounded like bad news to her. Between his spending Christmas Eve with Eileen and his children in Greenwich, and moving back in for the next three months, she was beginning to see what the future would look like. His children were the priority and she wasn’t. Or was Eileen still a priority for him too? She wondered.
“I’m sorry, Olivia,” he said again after they made love.
“I don’t think you are,” she said nastily. “I think you’re looking forward to it.” He didn’t dare admit to her it was true, but he didn’t want to lose her either. He hoped he wouldn’t. But Eileen was pursuing her dreams now, and he wasn’t going to steal them from her again. He had his own dream with Olivia. Eileen had a right to hers too.
Chapter 10
Paul and Olivia spent a quiet New Year’s Eve in her apartment, making love and drinking champagne. Paul knew it was his last night of real freedom until Eileen returned at the end of March, and he wanted to enjoy it with Olivia.
He drove to Greenwich the following afternoon, on New Year’s Day, and got there an hour after Eileen had left for the airport for her flight to Paris.
She had left him a nice note, thanking him again, with all the contact numbers where he could reach her. She promised to be in touch with the children every day, and he knew she would. She was a responsible person, and he wanted to be that for her now too. Olivia had been annoyed with him when he left her apartment. She had hated it when he was married and living at home in Greenwich, and now he was back there, and still married. From Olivia’s perspective, their situation had just gotten worse, after two and a half happy months. Now playtime was over. He’d be rushing back to Greenwich every night.
The kids were in a bad mood when he got there too. The twins were in their room, and he noticed that Mark was sulking.
“What’s up?” Paul asked, and sat down on his bed. Seth was ignoring his brother and reading a book about the life of Tolstoy. He had just read War and Peace and loved it.
“If you hadn’t moved out, Mom wouldn’t be going to Paris and trying to learn how to be a cook.” Mark glared at his father.
“That’s probably true. But your mom is a talented cook, and she might really enjoy it. She’s earned the right to do something special.”
“It’s that girl’s fault too. The redheaded one. Olive or whatever her name is.”
“Olivia. And it’s not her fault, it’s mine. This is between your mom and me, no one else.”
“Are you still dating her?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Is she going to come here while you’re staying here?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
“Mom wouldn’t like it.”
“That’s probably true. She might drive out to see me sometime, and we’d go out to lunch.” He didn’t think she should hang out around the house with him either. He wanted to respect Eileen. “What do you want for dinner? I thought I’d order pizza.”
“We already had pizza this week. Can’t you cook?” Mark looked irritated.
“No, I can’t. Not like your mom.” Mark grudgingly agreed to pizza, and when he checked with Pennie, she said she was going out to meet friends. She was eighteen now and seemed very grown up to him.
“Do you need a ride?”
“No, they’re picking me up.”
He was getting a taste of Eileen’s life, home-cooked meals and constant chauffeuring.
He ordered the pizza and he and the twins ate it in the kitchen. Tina had agreed to cook for the kids in the evening during the week, and he would deal with their meals on the weekend. Eileen had arranged it. He was beginning to wonder how he was going to see Olivia and when. Eileen had also left him their tutoring schedule, which happened mostly in the evenings. Seth and Mark had tutors, to help them with homework. He had already warned his office that he would have to come in an hour late every day for the next three months, so he could get them all off to school. And the first thing he was going to ask Tina the next day was which nights she could stay overnight that week. He was willing to pay her handsomely for it. Peace in his relationship with Olivia was worth it. He called Tina from the office to discuss it. She said the only night she had free that week was Friday. She had promised to help a sick neighbor, and her niece had just had a baby and she was lending her a hand too. This was not going to be easy. He was wondering who he could ask to fill in.
He texted Olivia and they agreed to meet for an hour or two when he finished work. He had driven in so he wouldn’t be dependent on train schedules. And as soon as he got to her apartment at six o’clock, she started complaining about how difficult it was.
“Why is it difficult for you?” he asked her, exasperated. He was doing the best he could, and it had barely started. This was only the first day.
“Because I don’t even know when you can spend the night. And the rest of the time we’re going to be stealing an hour here or there and that’s it.”
“I can spend the night on Friday,” he said, trying not to get irritated with her.
“That’s it? One night?”
“It’s all she could give me this week. She promised to give me two nights next week.” Then suddenly he remembered a notice pinned to the kitchen bulletin board. There was a college prep night at school on Friday that was mandatory for Pennie, and he had to go too. “Shit. I just remembered I can’t do Friday. I have to go to school.”
“So no nights this week? Is that it?” She glared at him.
“I guess so. Look, try to be patient about it. I don’t like this either. They have demanding schedules, and the boys need help with homework. I don’t know how the hell Eileen does it, but she covers all the bases, and so I’ll have to now, for a while.”
“This is like a bad movie. Why don’t you try to remember that I don’t have kids, and this is not how I want to live?”