Three Wishes(100)

Nate didn’t spare his two employees a glance (if he had, he would have seen their eyes widen in surprise), he just picked up the phone.

Lily had called him once to complain about her living room furniture being carted away.

Tash, on the other hand, called him every day when she got home from school to tell him every minuscule piece of news that she felt might be of import which was practically every second of her day. Nate looked forward to his daughter’s calls. Natasha was talkative but clever, incredibly clever. She had at her command a great number of words, and she used them well and often, far better than people three times her age. It was clear Tash was advanced and Nate was already looking into special schools for her something, he thought vaguely, he really should discuss with Lily.

Nate had learned quickly that Tash’s calls were to come on a regular schedule and he had Jennifer clear his diary for that hour, without exception.

But Lily had only called once. There was no more furniture to be hauled away and most of the work was being completed that week. He had no idea why Lily would call and he was concerned it was not good news.

“Lily,” he greeted her.

“Hi! You busy?” she responded brightly, her light hearted tone taking him by surprise.

Nate was busy. Nate was always busy.

“No,” he replied.

There was a pause. Then she asked, “What’re you doing?” And she spoke as if she was calling just to chat, as if she did this every day.

He sat back in his chair, taken aback by this latest development that was the New Lily and finding himself wondering at her intentions.

His glance slid past his two employees who were pretending (poorly) not to listen in to their normally cold and indifferent boss’s unprecedented conversation with the unknown “Ms. Jacobs”, a woman for whom he would interrupt a meeting without even the briefest hesitation.

He ignored them.

“Working,” Nate answered.

She let out a carefree laugh then remarked, “Of course.”

“Lily, is there something –”

She interrupted him. “Tash is going to be on school holidays soon and I think we should plan a family trip.”

Nate froze at her unexpected words.

He’d had family holidays with Victor and Laura but as Victor worked constantly, they’d been few and far between. During those holidays Jeff had taken every opportunity to torment Nate in his own special way while Danielle had taken her own opportunities to torment Nate in entirely different ways.

Nate did not have fond memories of family holidays.

Then again, Nate had very few fond memories and most of them centred around two weeks eight years ago and his most recent three.

Not knowing any of this, Lily continued. “I’m thinking Disneyland Paris. Tash has been wanting to go there forever and I’ve never –” She stopped abruptly and then quickly went on, trying to cover her reference to what she and Natasha had done without over the years, a reference she knew would put Nate on edge. “Anyway, we’ll all go for a few days and then Fazire can take Tash to the park and perhaps you and I can go into Paris for a day, or a couple of days, just the two of us. I’ve never been to Paris.”

Nate was silent at this suggestion of a stereotypical family holiday with the inclusion of an intimate couple’s getaway. Lily was also silent.

Lily’s silence was expectant. Nate’s was stunned.

And pleased.

She finally broke it. “Well, what do you think?”

“I’ll have Jennifer set it up,” Nate replied.

“Yippee!” she shouted so loudly that he had to take the phone away from his ear and he couldn’t stop a small grin from forming on his lips as he heard her unconcealed glee.

Nate was also relatively certain his two employees heard her cheer especially since they glanced at each other with knowing looks and they definitely saw his heretofore unseen grin.

“I have to go,” Nate told her, his grin gone and he was sending a cold look to both his staff which immediately wiped any speculation off their faces.

“Oh, okay.” Her voice sounded disappointed and at that, Nate felt that strange, relaxed feeling in his chest again. “When will you be home tonight?”

“The usual time.”

“Oh, okay, she repeated then hesitated then she sighed deeply, and if he wasn’t mistaken, meaningfully, then she said, “Bye.”

“I’ll see you later.”

He waited for her to hang up. She didn’t.

“Lily?”

“Nate.”

“Hang up,” he commanded.

“You hang up,” she retorted.

His eyes lifted to his employees again and one of them had dropped her head to stare at her lap, the other one was looking to the side and his lips were twitching.

“Lily, I have two of my staff in my office with me.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “If you were busy, why did you take my call?”

“I’ve missed enough of your calls in the past, I won’t miss another one,” he responded and the steel in his voice, a far more familiar sound to them, caused both of his employee’s faces to go instantly blank.

Lily’s tone was warm and soft. “Nate.”

Lily saying his name in that tone went straight through him.