Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 40

Theo POV

At first, I thought Bethany was avoiding me. I could not determine what I had done wrong for her to avoid me. Then she worked some long hours trying to get her heart ready, and I did not understand a lot of what was involved with what she was doing. But then, I would need to figure out where to start with that type of research or even where to begin to make a mechanical one, but she has, and I respect what she has been able to accomplish so far.

The nursing staff loves her, and the junior doctors respect her work. She is patient with them as she explains what is wrong with the heart. Bethany had made some PowerPoint presentations explaining each step, which were shown to the junior doctors. Some nurses gave up their spare time to come and sit at the presentation. Bethany should have presented it. Robson did and was proud to do so, making sure everyone knew Bethany prepared the presentation.

She had gone back to her research, leaving Robson to decide if it was good enough as a teaching tool for the student doctors to see and the hospital to use in the future. Robson had said he would see how well the presentation was put together and decide if it could be used in some exams. But by the end of the PowerPoint presentation, he was telling all the doctors that there would be some questions regarding the presentation in the exams.

I sat and watched the presentation and was more than surprised at the detail Bethany had included. You could see each step Bethany would take to insert the heart and what was involved with the quick removal and replacement. The whole operation will take about eight hours, and I hope to be included in the process.

Each day, I made sure to hang around the exit and have coffee just so I could walk Bethany home. It was part of the day I enjoyed. It was hard to catch up before work; most times, she had left before me.

Tomorrow, we have interviews. Both Robson and I will sit in them, but Bethany will make the final decision. This is the first time the hospital has ever released anything to the media. We must get the right team behind us to promote the good and to help us if things go badly.

Bethany is nervous and outside her comfort zone, but she understands the importance of having a good press release. 'Bethany, do you want to walk with me in the morning? Can we talk about the interviews? Or walk together, and I can keep your mind off it.' I was hoping she would give me an in. Something had been different. It was as if she had pulled back, and I was not sure if it was because we were working at the same place, and that had made her uncomfortable to be with someone you work with, or if something else was holding her back. I want the Bethany I first met back, the one that gave me a lot of sassy comments and made me laugh. She seemed to have been sad again, and I had no idea if it was because of me or something else had happened. I wish I could ask, but I know little about her life, and I did not want to push before she was ready to share, if ever.

'Yeah, that would be fine if I were up around six in the morning and had a good swim. Before work, if you want. I can cook us some breakfast. I need more than cereals tomorrow. It is going to be a long day!

'I agree, this is a big step for the hospital, getting the media involved; you are going to be a new face of the hospital; I think those cute scrubs are going to be a big hit. I joked, and it worked. She laughed along with me. That made me feel warm inside to make her laugh; it had been a few days since I had seen her laugh outside of work.

'How about I order takeout and have a movie night, or watch the sun go down and enjoy the noises of the city coming alive. We were arriving at our building, and I did not want to say goodbye yet.

'That sounds good. I had not thought of dinner. How about you ordering us something, and I will come to your place for a change. Well, that surprised me.

'Fancy anything in particular?' I suggested some Italian, which is our local delivery.

'How about some pizza or maybe Chinese? I am not fussy, nothing too heavy!

We parted when we left the elevator. I pulled out the takeaway pamphlets and looked at them. I ordered pizza and chicken wings.

I headed to the shower, cleaned up, grabbed some plates, and started the coffee machine. By the time I had it all ready, the phone rang, letting me know of the delivery and to get permission to send them up. When I opened the door to the delivery man, Bethany was standing there holding our order, and the man disappeared behind the elevator's closing doors. That means she paid for our food again. Bethany has paid for nearly every meal we have had together since that first day when I paid, and it was only because she was distracted. She would have paid then, too. She is used to being the one to pay for everything. I remember the phone call I walked in on. We will need to break that habit she has developed. She is expected to pay only some of the time.

We worked together, placing the food out on the balcony table and settling down to watch the night start to get active. It was interesting to watch, going from everyone rushing to get home to it going quiet for an hour or two, then picking up to being busy again, as the clubs started to get long lines of people wanting to get inside Or whatever they had planned for the evening.

The food disappeared quickly, and a few slices of pizza were left over, which I would most likely eat tomorrow or the next day. It will keep. The music played softly in the background, and sitting and enjoying the evening was pleasant. Bethany did not try to make conversation; the ringing of my phone made me go inside to answer it.

That was all it took for our night to be finished.

My sister Felicity wanted to tell me about her engagement party coming soon, and I ended up talking a little longer than I wanted. I saw Bethany come into the lounge room, place the plates and rubbish in the kitchen, and wave as she left. I tried to get her to stay by signaling her to wait, but she smiled at me and left the penthouse.

To say I wanted to curse my sister was an understatement. I am glad she is excited about her engagement and wanted to share it with me, but I did not need to hear all the ins and outs; all I needed was a day and time, and I would be there.

Bethany was at the pool when I arrived, and I managed to do at least ten laps with her before she climbed out. I decided to cut my swim shorts and leave with her. Bethany had a nice, well-toned figure, and considering how we are both indoor workers, she had managed to have tanned, long legs, and I wondered when she managed to get out into the sun.

The tiny breakfast hit my nose when I walked into her penthouse. I set the table as she finished the last of her cooking, and we sat down to eat.

'Are you ready for today?' I asked. I was a bit nervous about this.

'Not really. I am still considering all the sides of the media, and there are so many ways this could go wrong!'

'Then think of all the ways it can go right. I joked, and she smiled back.

Together, we cleaned up the kitchen and walked to work. Bethany talked about this Sunday and the time to come over for sports day. I had nearly forgotten about that. Dad would have been so angry with me if I had forgotten entirely, and he arrived expectantly, and I was still sleeping or something.