Page 22 of Quinton's Quest

“Great. I’ll check back in a bit.” With that, she was gone again.

I grabbed my knife and fork—but didn’t cut into my food.

He gestured to it.

I rolled my hand—clearly encouraging him to continue his story.

“I hired a nanny and kept working. We saw Gideon every two weeks for the video call, and I tried to help the kids move on with their lives.”

“Let me guess, it didn’t work.” I held in the sarcasm—barely.

He grabbed his fork and speared a leaf of lettuce in the Caesar salad.

Personally, after the day we’d just had, I would’ve picked fries. “So it didn’t work…”

“May I have a few bites before I bare my soul?”

I shrugged, doused my massive waffle in syrup, and then cut a piece. I snagged a piece of strawberry and just the right amount of whipped cream. I shoved the concoction into my mouth and gazed up to find Leo staring. Since my mouth was full of food, I merely arched an eyebrow.

He ate his piece of lettuce.

We carried on in silence for a good ten minutes as we demolished the food on our plates. Some days I wasn’t hungry when I got off shift—a few bites of leftovers were all I needed before crashing into bed. Some days, like tonight, I needed amassive amount. That meant staying up a bit later so the food would digest, but I was okay with that.

Finally, I took a sip of tea. Barely anything remained on my plate.

Leo had cut his burger into pieces—because of course he had—and most of the burger and all the salad was gone.

“So Gideon’s back in your life now.”

He nodded. “Yeah. It’s a long story, but his partner Archer reached out to me. He let me know Gideon was in counseling and dealing with the physical pain. Look, you can’t say any of this to anyone, okay? I’m out of line even discussing it.”

I could’ve been offended he’d even suggest I’d blab, but he didn’t know me. His only impression of me was pretty negative—even though he was the reason for that. “Forgiveness feels like a big step.”

Leo held my gaze with those hauntingly stunning green eyes. “I didn’t think I ever would. But Archer—a divorce lawyer no less, although not Gideon’s—pointed out that I was punishing Gideon for an addiction I had helped create.”

I cocked my head.

“I didn’t take his pain seriously. I was a doctor, I knew better, and yet I still wasn’t there to support him. Instead, I took what I believed to be the moral high ground. Did what I thought was best for my children.” At my raised eyebrow, he corrected, “Our children.”

“Yeah, I thought that’s what you meant.” I scooped the last bit of whipped cream onto my fork and shoved it in my mouth. Then I motioned for him to continue.

“I took a long look in the mirror and didn’t like what I saw. I contacted Archer and arranged to meet Gideon with the kids. Melodie was beside herself and made us promise to never take him away from her again. She’s a bright child and understood far more than the rest of us what the impact had been. Trevor’syounger, and although he was glad to see Gideon, he was far more enamored with Gideon’s dog, Lucky.”

“Dogs are awesome. Kids and dogs together are even better.” Pushing aside the dog bites I’d witnessed over the years. And the child who had died last year in the neighboring province from a dog attack. But that was bad parenting and dog training rather than the animal’s fault. I pushed that sad thought aside. “And…?”

“The health authority wanted a cardiac surgeon in Abbotsford. Slowly, they’re increasing the number of surgical specialists. They need to increase the capacity of the hospital.”

“Yeah, you coming here was considered quite a coup.”

“Several of my coworkers lived out this way anyway and were happy to transfer. One nurse lived in a tiny apartment in Vancouver. Out here, she was able to get a small townhouse.”

I nodded. “Better quality of life too. Slower pace.”

“Almost too sedate.” He smiled sheepishly. “I was born and raised in a city. Living in the country is…an adjustment.”

“You said you lived in Mission City, but I didn’t think to ask where.”

“In the mountains north of the town. I bought a house close to Gideon and Archer’s.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin. “I wanted as little disruption for the kids as possible. This way, when the time comes, they can take the same school bus. Their friends might live nearby. Heck, there are several kids on the street where Gideon lives that they’re already friends with. I don’t think they miss their old home much at all.”