All Chapters of Mommy, Please Give Daddy a Second Chance: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Ivy Smythe grabbed her coat. “Geoff, hop to it. Kathy will be here any minute to take you to school.” She knew today would be one of those days. Last night’s rain hadn’t helped her sleep, or her old injury. Years ago, she broke her leg, and during her treatment, she learned about Geoff’s pending arrival. The break was bad, the doctors wanted to operate, and it is standard practice to test a woman for pregnancy before any procedure. Ivy’s test, of course, returned positively. They forced her to choose, lose her baby, or walk with a limp. The doctor failed to tell her there’d be pain for years, but she wouldn’t change her decision if she’d known. She’d still choose Geoff.“Yeah, Mom.” Her son’s voice echoed through the hallway. The apartment was in the artisan section of the city. Nowhere near the museum she worked for. What it was close to her best friend and artist, Kathy Mills. It allowed Kathy to mind Geoff.Ivy looked in the mirror by the front door and adjusted her blonde bun. She

“What do you want now, Monica?” Heath Allan closed the storage closet door as he asked this. Only for the door to open immediately to admit Parker Stephens right behind him, and Parker had the good sense to close the door promptly. Parker whispered to Heath. ‘Monica again?’ Heath nodded with the phone still to his ear.Of all the worst timing, his soon-to-be ex-wife called him to complain about something not being to her liking. “They declined my credit card, again. Why is my credit card no good, Heath?” Monica’s voice held a hint of a whiny tone as she tried to guilt him into giving her more money by pretending to be helpless and clueless. “Have you paid the bill for it lately?” Heath didn’t want to have this conversation with her again. It was the same conversation they had every time she called. “No, don’t bother answering that question. Of course, you didn’t pay the bill. Listen well, because I’m not repeating myself again, Monic

Heath entered the museum early. He needed to speak with Ivy. What he’d read and saw in about her life after she’d disappeared from his life kept him awake most of the night. He still debated if he should call her into his office or storm into hers. Finally, he decided they would need a neutral ground. Because he feared this would end up badly if one of them lost their temper. With a better grasp of the way things worked in the museum, he stopped in the cafeteria at the front of the museum before he went to his office. While his fate brought Ivy into the cafeteria, and she sat there drinking a coffee with her phone in her hand. Coffee in hand, Heath strolled over and sat down. “We need to talk Ivy.” “I’ll have my department’s budget for next year to you by the end of the week. There won’t be anything outrageous in it.” She didn’t look up from her phone and he finally put his hand over the screen, so it forced her to look

Thankfully, Ivy didn’t have any surprise visits from Heath in her department, and Alice took pity on her by doing the coffee runs. It wasn’t until lunch approached that something tore Ivy’s attention from her struggles to work out the budget perfectly and find a way to present it reasonably.Her phone rang, which happened rarely, so the sound made her pause and wait to ensure she’d not imagined it. When it rang a second time, Ivy picked it up and looked at the screen. Kathy’s number appeared on the screen, and Ivy’s heart sank. She never called during work hours unless something very wrong happened that would directly affect Geoff.“Hello, Kathy, what’s up hon? What’s wrong?” Ivy hated phone calls like this. They always meant inconvenience and plans changing at the last minute. Which was something that was bad as a mother with a picky child. Predictability was something Geoff needed in his life to thrive.“I’m having one of those days, Ivy. I went to do a postal run to ship this week’

Heath entered the executive office floor where his new office was and met with Parker in the outer office.“What’s up? You just went for food and a break not even ten minutes ago. Now you’re back without food and you look upset.” Parker did like the look on Heath’s face. He couldn’t decide if Heath was furious or worried. Parker wasn’t sure why either, unless Heath encountered Dr. Smythe and spoke to her. If that happened, it hadn’t gone well.“I need you to cancel my meetings for the rest of today. I have a family emergency and need to leave now.” Parker perked up at the words ‘family emergency’. Heath never had issues with those. When his father had his latest heart attack, Heath hadn’t stopped working, but waited to go to the hospital after his workday was over. Parker knew about Heath’s son Geoffrey before Heath and his mind went instantly to something being wrong with him.“Okay, but I just received a response on that photo analysis you requested, and I sent the report to you. Yo