Good Husband Material

Natalie: I thought you might find these ads interesting. Please take good care of yourself and the baby.

Josh

He had copied several ads from an online job-listing site. One was advertising for a pediatric nurse at Children’s Hospital of Westwood, a Houston suburb. Flexible hours, it said. Salary commensurate with experience. Another hospital was looking for a neonatal unit supervisor with at least five years’ experience. She had that several times over, but the salary mentioned was significantly higher than her current earnings. A third ad, at a prestigious teaching hospital, was also looking for a neonatal post-surgical nurse. Competitive salary, great benefits, advancement opportunities.

Oh, wow. Natalie loved her job, but she had to admit she sometimes cruised job boards wondering if she could command a better salary. And with a baby coming, money would be in short supply. Of course, the jobs Josh had sent her were all in the Houston area.

Subtle, Josh, really subtle. She was almost afraid to open the third e-mail, but she did it anyway.

Natalie—

You wouldn’t believe the real estate bargains you can pick up in my neighborhood right now. One of the big telecom companies nearby closed down its offices, and homes went on the market right and left. Here’s a small selection.

Josh

Just out of curiosity, Natalie checked the ads, which he’d attached, complete with photos. Oh, my word, these were mansions—probably the type of house Josh lived in—but he apparently had no clue how much nurses earned. She couldn’t afford any of these homes, bargain or no. Although…she was a little surprised at the prices. They were lower than she thought they’d be. If she sold her house…No, no, no! This was so pointless. She was not moving to Houston.

Natalie shut down her computer and headed for bed. Her head hurt from all the decisions, all the changes coming at her as fast as a meteor shower. She stopped by Mary’s room to tell her good-night, then decided to have that bubble bath she’d promised herself.

But she couldn’t relax, not even with the soothing smell of lavender and her most sedate CD on the little boom box she kept in the bathroom. What if Josh was right? She agreed that it was important for a baby to have two parents, if there was any way to accomplish it. But was it more important than the life she’d built here?

She really couldn’t expect him to move, not when he’d just made partner. Never in a million years would he be able to get a position in Dallas that would be an equivalent. Plus, he had a son going into his senior year of high school. Uprooting him and the younger boy would be just as hard as moving Mary.

Yet Natalie could change jobs, and probably do better financially than she was doing now. She could employ her skills just as easily in Houston as in Dallas—where her baby would have a father. And she wouldn’t be all that unhappy to ditch her current supervisor, who was a real witch. A stick-in-the-mud, as Melissa would say.

She smiled, thinking about Melissa. She hadn’t yet told her friend about the pregnancy, but she was almost looking forward to it. She thought maybe she would do it in person, so she could see the look of shock on Melissa’s face.

“SO, MARY,” Natalie began, “how would you feel about moving into a bigger house?”

Mary turned to look at Natalie, a bewildered expression on her face. Natalie was driving her daughter to work at the diner where she’d gotten a summer job as a fry cook. “Leave our house?”

“Well, it’s a good size for the two of us, but with the baby coming I was thinking we might need to make a change.” Natalie held her breath, waiting for Mary’s reaction.

“Could we be in the same neighborhood?” Mary asked. “I mean, we wouldn’t move out of the district, right? We have to live in the district for me to go to the magnet school.”

“Well, actually, I’ve been looking at jobs in Houston.”

“What?” Mary exploded. “You’ve got to be kidding! What about the culinary arts program?”

“I haven’t made any decisions yet, because I wanted to talk to you about it first.”

“Then just forget about it!” Mary sounded on the edge of hysteria. “We can’t move to Houston. I refuse.”

Natalie had been afraid of this. Mary had been so calm about the coming baby, preternaturally calm. Natalie had feared something was building inside the girl, something that just needed the right trigger to burst out.

“I really think we should talk about this calmly,” Natalie said.

“Talk all day long if you want to. I’m not moving to Houston.”

“We don’t have to decide anything right now. We’ll just—”

“No, I won’t talk about it.”

“Mary, I’m surprised at you. You’re not usually so unreasonable.”

“Me, unreasonable? You want to ruin my whole life and then you accuse me of being unreasonable about it?” Mary almost screamed. They were stopped at a light about two blocks from the restaurant. Mary collected her purse, flicked open her seat belt and opened the door all at once. “I’ll walk the rest of the way.”

“Mary, wait—” But Natalie’s words fell on deaf ears. Mary was out of the car, standing on the corner, fuming, her whole body tense.

Natalie leaned her forehead against the steering wheel. Now Mary shows her teenage angst? Now, when Natalie’s life was being turned upside down by a baby and an ex-husband? Mary had a right to be upset, but Natalie had never expected her to be hysterical.

As the light turned green, she realized the game she’d played with Mary had backfired. She had already decided on the move. She’d found a job that paid thirty percent more than she was earning now, with fewer and more flexible hours. And she’d found a house she could afford only a couple of blocks from Josh’s home.

Actually, Josh had found the house. A friend of his had gotten a new job in another city, but he didn’t want to sell his home in a depressed real estate market. He’d been looking for someone responsible to rent the house, and was willing to give the right person a huge break on the rent. The rental would give Natalie plenty of time to shop for just the right home to buy.

Meanwhile, during the baby’s crucial early months of life, Josh would be nearby.

Natalie had delayed saying anything to Mary until she was positive. Then she’d thought she would ease into the subject, slowly, and make Mary believe she’d been part of the decision. But Mary was too smart for that. She knew if her mother wanted to move, they would move. So she’d gone on the offensive, striking hard and hitting close to the heart at the first opportunity.

The light turned green, and Natalie headed for the hospital. She hadn’t told any of her coworkers she was leaving, but they’d all noticed something was up with her. She would have to give her notice soon. Just what she needed—more people angry with her, more people pushing and pulling and trying to tell her what to do.

“YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE NATALIE,” Josh said. He and his two sons were about halfway between Houston and Dallas on I-45. Josh was driving while Sean and Doug sat in the backseat ignoring him, fighting over a video game just like they had when they were eight and ten years old. “I can’t believe I never introduced you to her before.”

“Maybe because she’s your ex-wife?” Sean snorted. “And that would have been just too weird?”

Doug snorted, too.

“Obviously Nat and I had our differences, but she was an important part of my past, part of what made me who I am. Besides, she’s great.”

Sean snorted again. “You said that. We know you’re all excited about having a new kid and all, but do we have to be?”

“Yeah, Dad.” Doug, who was normally placid and agreeable, was emboldened by his older brother’s attitude and was joining in the revolution. “This was the last weekend of summer. We were gonna go to the beach, and you wrecked that for us.”

Josh gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. He’d thought it was a great idea, enlisting his sons to help out with Natalie’s move.

“Nat has a teenage daughter. Once we get the heaviest stuff loaded, all three of you can go hang out somewhere fun for a while.” And he would get some time alone with Natalie, time to smooth over her irritation with him. Yeah, he’d pushed her to move. He’d found her the job opportunity that would entice her from her current position, and he’d even gone so far as to buy a house one block over from his and set a ridiculously low rent so she could afford to live comfortably in his upscale neighborhood. Of course, she didn’t know he was her landlord, and he felt slightly guilty for deceiving her. But he’d been determined to use any means, fair or foul, to get her down to Houston.

His child was going to have two involved, available parents, and that was all there was to it.

“What if the daughter’s a loser?” Sean asked.

Josh gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Number one, you know I don’t approve of making judgments like that. But as I understand it, Mary is very smart and very pretty.”

“And you heard that from her mother, right? Yeah, she’d be unbiased.”

“Look, I don’t care if this girl looks like Jabba the Hutt. She’s making a huge sacrifice, moving away from her school and her friends. I want you to be nice to her.”

“Dad, give us some credit. If she looks like Jabba the Hut, we won’t say anything. We’ll just make her walk ten paces behind us if we go anywhere.”