The Client: A Second Chance Romance

by Hazel Parker

  Arabella remembers Corbin’s theatrical embrace after he said those lines in Central Park beneath a canopy of green leaves. He hugged her, turned her, and dipped her back over his leg like a tango dancer. She laughed. He brought her up into his arms. They kissed.

  She shakes her head at her foolish and rash response to the pregnancy.

  If only she had told him.

  If only she hadn’t panicked.

  If only, if only, if only.

  But, now she has a second chance. She hopes.

  She slides out of her high heels and twirls around in the toy-covered living room. She hops over Tucker’s trucks and police cars and ambulances in her dance of joy. She’s so happy, she wraps her arms around herself and pretends that her arms are Corbin’s arms holding her. She collapses onto the couch, closes her eyes, and conjures up the feel of his lips on hers.

  *****

  The next morning Corbin texts Arabella: Picnic in the park? Noon?

  She grabs her cell phone that has been on the coffee table while she built a gray LEGO castle with Tucker on the living room floor. Quickly she texts back: Sounds good.

  Instantly he replies: We’ll pick you up then. I’ll bring Luz too. Chloe can’t go anywhere without her.

  A tinge of guilt touches Arabella’s excitement. She looks up at Ana who walks by with a basket of laundry. They smile at each other. Arabella doesn’t know what she would do without Ana. All those months after her parents died and she felt like she couldn’t get out of bed, Ana helped care for Tucker. They took turns bathing him, changing him, dressing him. Arabella breastfed him and cuddled with him. But, she had little energy for the domestic duties: cooking, cleaning, laundry. Now that Tucker is almost four and running and jumping and pulling things down, Arabella feels like she needs Ana more than ever. She can understand why Corbin is bringing Luz.

  She dashes off a response: We’ll bring Ana too. Tucker adores her.

  And just like that, Arabella has a date. A date with Corbin.

  Is it a date?

  Technically, it’s a playdate for Chloe and Tucker. Their nannies will be present. Knowing Corbin he will probably bring his chef. He likes to travel with his staff. It makes his life easy. It explains why he’s so easy-going. If he needs something he finds it, buys it, or acquires it.

  If she’s being honest with herself, she knows that she’s not so different. She has hired chefs and housekeepers and butlers from time to time when she had events (like Tucker’s birthday parties), and she needed help. She’s had her friends over when she had a last minute billionaire client who needed her assistance in Dubai or China or India.

  Speaking of friends… Arabella hasn’t spoken to any of her girls all week. She clicks open her phone and writes in the group chat with Sasha, Nora, and Audrey:

  Arabella: Girls! Guess what?

  Audrey: What?

  Arabella: I have a date.

  Sasha: A date?!

  Nora: With who?

  Arabella: Okay, brace yourselves…

  Audrey: The suspense is killing me

  Arabella: Corbin

  Nora: Ummm, I’m confused.

  Sasha: Corbin Goode?!

  Audrey: Billionaire Corbin Goode?!

  Nora: I thought you weren’t dating.

  Sasha: How did this happen?

  Audrey: Corbin who you dumped???

  Arabella: Girls, yes. That Corbin Goode.

  Nora: So, you two are dating again?

  Arabella: Well, it’s sort of a playdate. For his daughter and my son.

  Sasha: Omfg. Arabella Wilder?! Are you kidding me?

  Nora: Mistake. Big mistake. Somebody’s gonna get hurt.

  Arabella: Thanks for the support, ladies.

  Audrey: Well, if you’re happy…

  Arabella: I am happy. I’m excited. I never thought I’d see him again.

  Nora: Never? Did you tell him?

  Arabella: Yeah

  Sasha: How did he take it?

  Arabella: He seemed happy.

  Nora: Define seemed? Did he smile? Cry? Scream?

  Arabella: He was actually pretty chill about it

  Sasha: Chill? Hmmm…

  Arabella: Ladies, can you just be happy for me?

  Audrey: I’m happy for you! You deserve happiness.

  Sasha: Just be careful...

  Nora: And go slowly.

  Arabella: Okay, okay. I will. Thanks lovelies!

  Arabella closes the chat group. She leans over and ruffles Tucker’s hair. He smells like lavender shampoo. He laughs as she fixes his hair.

  “Ready for a picnic?”

  “With Daddy?” Tucker’s hazel eyes widen in excitement.

  “Yes!” She stands up, picks up Tucker, and swings him around the sun-drenched living room.

  Outside the windows, white snow is melting. The end of February seems to be bringing warm March weather. Arabella hopes that the bright sun and blue sky are good omens. She hopes that the winter clouds have gone and the snow is done.

  It is not until two hours later that Arabella realizes the implausibility of a picnic in February. She was so excited about Tucker meeting Chloe—and seeing Corbin again—that she didn’t think about the improbability of finding a patch of green grass in Princeton to spread a blanket on and sit down and enjoy the nonexistent warm sun.

  Her phone rings at noon. Corbin’s name appears on the screen, and her heart melts. She remembers all of the excitement she used to feel every time he called her. She feels the warmth and the anticipation of seeing him now.

  “We’re here,” Corbin’s voice warmly speaks to her through the cell phone.

  “We’re walking out right now.” She nods to Ana who picks up a large blue bag stuffed with all their crap.

  Ana zips up Tucker’s navy-blue winter coat. She helps him put on his Thomas the Train book bag. Then Arabella opens the front door to see a black Tesla SUV parked in front of her home.

  With a ball of sunshine warming her from within, Arabella holds Tucker’s hand, and they skip to the SUV. When they get close, the side door opens up slowly like a falcon’s wings.

  “Oooooh,” Tucker’s eyes grow wide as the doors rise.

  From inside the car, the light squeals of Chloe float out to greet them.

  “Who’s that, Mommy?” Tucker points at Chloe sitting in the middle row passenger seat closest to them.

  “Please don’t point.” Arabella gently lowers Tucker’s hand. “That’s Chloe...she’s your…your sister.”

  “Sister?” Tucker gawks at Chloe as if she’s a magic trick. He seems to be waiting for her to turn into a rabbit.

  “Daddy!” Chloe calls to Corbin who hops out of the driver’s seat and jogs around the car to take the bags from Ana. “Who’s that?” Chloe points at Tucker. Her au pair tells her in Spanish not to point.

  Corbin drops the bags in the trunk, and the door closes automatically.

  “Chloe,” Corbin says gently, “this is your brother, Tucker.”

  “Brother?” She raises both her hands like a confused emoji.

  Tucker laughs at Chloe’s gesture. The two feed off of each other’s laughter and squeal in delight.

  “Hop in.” Corbin holds out a hand to help Tucker into the car. “Tucker, you can sit across from your sister in the middle row.”

  Tucker places his little hand into his dad’s bigger version of his olive-toned hand. Gingerly he helps the little boy up into the SUV. Tucker stares wide-eyed at Chloe as he walks around her and climbs into the car seat behind the driver’s.

  “Ana, Luz,” Corbin turns to Ana who nimbly pulls her slender frame into the SUV. “Luz, Ana,” Corbin nods at Luz who sits in the back row of the six-seat electric vehicle. The two nannies converse in Spanish. Chloe and Tucker chime in a few Spanish words.

  “They’re both from Barcelona.” Arabella hears the similar Spanish accents flitting back and forth between the nannies.

  Corbin presses a button, and the door floats down.

 
“Oooooooh!” Tucker’s excitement fades into the soundproof vehicle.

  Corbin moves to open the front passenger seat for Arabella and bows dramatically, “My lady.”

  She tilts her head back and laughs.

  “A bit dramatic.” She pulls herself up into the front seat.

  Corbin extends a hand to steady her. His palm rests on the curve of her waist. Although she’s wearing a coat, she’s acutely aware of his palm pressing into her. Heat and happiness sear through her veins. She inhales sharply.

  “Everything okay?” He peers into her face.

  She tilts her head back and looks up through the windshield and says, “You can see the sky.”

  “Panoramic windshield.” Corbin grins that boyish grin that reminds her of when he surprised her with tickets to a sold-out Broadway show and she gushed at his thoughtfulness.

  Arabella settles into the front seat. Thinking about the night they had together after the Broadway play makes her squeeze her thighs tightly together. She stops herself from crossing her legs to appear too obvious. Corbin knows her mannerisms. He knows when she’s happy—when she’s horny. They stare at each other.

  Unexpectedly, with the winter air competing with the warm air blowing out of the car’s heaters, Corbin reaches for the seatbelt and pulls it down across Arabella’s breasts. Her breath catches. Her nipples harden. She gazes into his green eyes turning hazel. She recognizes desire in his eyes. She presses her thighs even closer as a delicious pain darts through her. Her heart pounds. He says something. She can’t hear him.

  “Excuse me?” Her breath is husky.

  He leans close to her face to reach into the car to click the buckle.

  “Wanna be safe.” Corbin’s breath hitches.

  Arabella’s breathing grows shallow. She hears yearning in his voice; sees the longing in his eyes. He wants her. He leans so close that if she were to tilt slightly forward, her lips would graze his.

  “Is that all?” Arabella regrets the question the instant it escapes her lips.

  “You tell me.”

  She can smell bacon and coffee on his breath.

  “I hope not.” She whispers.

  “I’m gonna move away from you now, Miss Wilder.”

  “Are we back to Miss Wilder?”

  “You tell me.” With that, he leans away from her and shuts the passenger door.

  She swallows. Glancing into the side mirror, she watches his athletic physique walk around the back of the car to the driver’s side. When he gets in, he puts on his seat belt, looks over at Arabella, and then turns to the group in the back.

  “Everybody ready?” His voice is light again.

  “Ready!” Chloe screams and throws her fists up in the air.

  “Ready!” Tucker imitates his half-sister.

  The nannies give Corbin the thumbs up.

  “Alright. Let’s go!” Corbin turns around, presses a button, and the car self-drives out of the parking space.

  “Where are we going?” Arabella looks at Corbin’s gorgeous profile. Her stomach clenches. She wills her body to cool off.

  “That’s a surprise.” He grins, winks at her, and then drives down the gray streets covered with white salt, melted white snow, and clumps of sand.

  The drive through the suburbs of Princeton is smooth. The children play “I spy” with Ana and Luz. Arabella tries to get Corbin to tell her where they’re going. He laughs at her guesses and tells her to enjoy the ride.

  They pull onto Princeton University campus. The electric SUV glides along campus and turns onto a narrow road that leads to a sprawling glass-enclosed greenhouse.

  “What’s that, Daddy?” Chloe’s high-pitched voice fills the interior.

  “A greenhouse.”

  “But it’s white.” Chloe strains against the seat belt to see through the front window.

  The adults erupt in laughter.

  “I know. But, inside there are green plants.”

  “Ohhhhh.” Chloe stares at the large windows that appear frosted.

  “We’re here!” Corbin announces to everyone in the car.

  The six occupants bounce out of the SUV. The nannies carry the children’s bags. Corbin carries two sizeable wicker baskets. Arabella carries Tucker’s backpack that he forgot in his excitement when he hopped out of the car.

  Corbin swings the door open, and a gush of warm, floral, humid air greets them. Arabella’s cheeks warm up from the cool winter air. He gestures for them to follow him. They walk along a clay-red hallway with palm trees and green leaves and bamboo sticks line the walkway. Arabella, Tucker, and Chloe trail their hands along the smooth and rough tree trunks.

  “Ooooooohhhh,” the two children say when they step into a large room with high glass ceilings misted white from the snow covering it.

  “It’s summer time!” Chloe runs to a fountain in the middle of the sprawling room lined with more palm trees, green bamboo sticks, ferns, and orchids.

  Tucker runs after Chloe and tries to reach up over the red-bricked two-feet high bench encircling the pool of warm water.

  “Be careful!” Arabella trails after Tucker.

  Corbin and Arabella spend the next hour with the children sitting around the fountain, catching the water sprouting from the mouths of clay fish decorated into the side. Chloe and Tucker squeal when they plunge their hands into the basin, trying to touch the bright orange and white Koi fish swimming below their feet.

  Thoroughly soaked from the children splashing water, Arabella and Corbin carry their children to an enormous green and brown quilt that Ana and Luz spread out beneath hanging green ivies and budding blue flowers.

  Arabella keeps stopping herself from pinching herself. She cannot believe that she’s spending family time with Corbin and their son and his half-sister. Delirious with happiness, she can’t stop laughing when Tucker rips open a box of animal crackers, and they fly through the air. The laughter is contagious as the group scrambles to clean up the cookies. Chloe and Tucker sing in their light and innocent voices:

  “Clean up! Clean up! Everybody clean up!”

  Lunch is a smorgasbord of hors-d'oeuvre sandwiches cut into triangles. The aroma of the meats and seasonings mingle with the tropical scents of damp earth and budding flowers like lavender lilacs, white jasmines, blood orange honeysuckles, and midnight blue hyacinths.

  After everyone eats, Chloe and Tucker doze off with their heads in their nannies’ laps. Ana and Luz sit on the opposite side of the massive quilt. Facing each other, the nannies chat in Spanish about their hometowns and the plans they have for their lives if they become American citizens one day. Arabella and Corbin sit across the California-king size brown and green quilt in the opposite corner.

  Listening to the two twenty-one-year-olds make plans for their futures, Arabella can’t help but feel wistful. She longs to make plans for her own future. She wants to make plans for a happy family. She wants Corbin to make plans for them to fly to Hawaii, snorkel in Maui, surf in Honolulu, and then do it all over again in the clear blue waters of Bali and off the warm beaches of Fiji. She doesn’t know how they would get from where they are—formerly estranged—to where she dreams they could be—married with more children. Having been separated once, she doubts they’ll ever be apart again. She wants to believe that this is their fresh start. She wants to believe that this is their second chance. She wants to believe in love.

  She wonders how they can begin dating. She wonders if this is a date. It’s definitely a play date. A chance for Tucker and Chloe to meet and bond.

  “Arabella?” Corbin had been talking to her, but she was looking at his full, pink lips.

  “Yes?” She blushes at her blatant staring.

  “Are you gonna eat that?” He gestures to the last bacon and chicken sandwich on a small round plate in her hand.

  “Yeah.”

  “Doesn’t look like it.”

  She frowns and brushes her hair out of her face.

  “Here,” Corbin gestures for the
sandwich. “Let me.”

  Unsure of what he’s about to do, Arabella trusts Corbin’s good intentions. She allows him to take the plate from her. Unexpectedly, he grabs it with his fingers and brings it to her mouth.

  “What are you doing?!” She throws her hands up.

  “Your loss.” He takes a big bite out of the sandwich. Some crumbs get on his face. He uses his other hand to catch crumbs from falling onto the quilt.

  “Hey! That was mine.” Arabella leans forward.

  “So, now you want the sandwich?” he says with a full mouth. He licks the crumbs from his mouth.

  Shivers run up her spine at the sight of his pink tongue. She remembers what his tongue did to her. She remembers how it invaded her mouth and danced with her own. She remembers it parting and penetrating her between her legs. Electricity jolts up through her body. She inhales sharply.

  “I always wanted it.” She stares wistfully into his eyes, unsure of what exactly they were talking about now.

  “Okay, Miss Wilder. Are you ready for it?” He raises the rest of it and hovers it before her mouth. She opens her mouth. He holds it just before her. Her gut clenches with anticipation. She wants him to put the bacon and chicken sandwich into her mouth. She sits still. She waits for him to make a move.

  “Yes. I’m ready.” Her voice comes out husky with unresolved desire.

  “Open wide.” He enters her mouth, lays the sandwich on her tongue, and makes her take the entire portion of what’s left into her mouth.

  She chews the oversized portion slowly while staring into her eyes. She wonders what he’s thinking. She wonders what he would do if the children and nannies weren’t there. She wonders what they’ll do tonight when they put their children to bed.

  Arabella holds Corbin’s eye contact long after she finishes chewing and swallowing. She’s full of questions she dare not ask him. She wonders if he feels the same way.

  “We should get going.” He looks over at the children. “They’re knocked out.” He grins. Arabella returns his smile. She loves the ease with which Corbin talks. She loves his plain white collared shirt and navy-blue pants with little cyan whales on it. She loves his dark green socks with light green avocados on it. He loves that Chloe has on matching avocado socks.

  Ana and Luz pick up the children, while Arabella and Corbin pack up the trash, clean up the crumbs, fold up the quilt, and put empty containers back into the two wicker baskets.