I see her eyes flick towards the papers on the bench, and then she looks back at me. “Why? Why are you gambling everything over me? I’m not worth it?—”
“You’re worth far more to me.”
The indecisiveness in her eyes kills me.
“You hurt me.”
Her voice is uneven. “You are the first man I gave my heart to, and you treated me so callously. My family always told me I was not deserving of anything good. You enforced that belief. I spent five years throwing myself into my work, trying to shine in the only place I possibly could. I deserved better.”
“Yes, you did,” I agree. “I was a bastard to you. I shouldn’t have hurt you like that.”
“You’re also pretty silly, carrying around some old scrunchie like an idiot.”
She looks down at the scrunchie I’ve still not let go of.
“An idiot,” she repeats, but her voice is wet.
“Maybe.”
Her lips tremble. “I’m still angry with you. But I don’t hate you.”
She’s clearly not done, so I wait, a strange tension building up within me.
After a few seconds, she whispers, “I can’t believe you kept this all these years.”
She seems to care more about the scrunchie than the properties I’ve handed over to her.
“Natalie.” I get her attention. “If you agree with the deal, my lawyers have written up a contract you would have to sign.”
She blinks at me in rapid succession. “A contract? And what if I decide to leave before the year is up?”
“You walk away without anything,” I say slowly.
“Now that’s more like you.” She seems almost relieved for some reason. Picking up the papers, she looks at them once again, then presses them against my chest. “Fine. But I have my own conditions.”
Hope soars within me, although I don’t show it. I keep my voice even. “Which are?”
“Whatever happens between us, if we part ways, it will be civil. I want both of us to be in our child’s life. We will share custody. Nobody will have sole custody, even if that means we have to live close by. I don’t want our child to think they come from a broken home. There will be no parental alienation, no matter what our problems might be. And if things don’t work out between us, you will transfer the property to our child’s name and put it in a trust so once he or she grows up, he has a nice cushion to fall back on.”
I give her a long, curious look. “In all of this, you’re not benefiting from anything. What do you get?”
Natalie reaches out and plucks the purple scrunchie from my hand, dangling it in front of me with a small smile. “I do. I’m going to get my scrunchie back.”
It’s notlike Jake is the only lawyer I know. In Natalie’s matter, I know my brother would have had reservations about this contract. He normally doesn’t meddle in my affairs, but Iwould not put it past him to get involved and try to dissuade me or Natalie.
Although the terms Natalie has put forward are not in her favor, he would still be suspicious. She wants nothing to do with the money or the properties. She simply seems intent on our child’s happiness and future. I can’t put a pin on how she’s feeling or what’s going on in her head.
It doesn’t take long to get the contract signed.
“I thought Vanessa was doing a good job.” Natalie pries as I drive her to her apartment. “Honestly, Ethan. It might be better for us if I got another job. Things can get very messy at work given this new arrangement.”
“You can say dating.” I feel amused at how she’s dancing around the word. “And no, even if she’s doing a good job, I can’t trust her the way I trust you. Her work isn’t as refined as yours. I can’t work with her.”
My last statement is blunt, but I realize that it’s true. I’ve worked with several HR heads over the past few years, but Natalie is simply unique. It’s the way she organizes all the employees, their data. She knows everybody. Even without having a document in front of her, she can recite their achievements and their flaws off the back of her hand. SheisHuman Resources. It’s very rare for a company to have a department head so involved. And right now, Thalvyn Maritime needs her.
“I told everyone you were on vacation.” I shrug. “That was the general memo around the office, so you have nothing to worry about.”
“I’m more worried about them seeing my stomach expand.” Natalie’s voice is tense. “They’re going to be able to put two and two together.”
