Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 73

Theo POV

The shower was hot and relaxing, and I had left Bethany asleep, trying to give her an extra half hour before she needed to be up to get ready for work. The bathroom smells of her, and I feel like I am the luckiest man in the world, and I have no idea what I did to get such a woman. She is beautiful, spontaneous, loving, and kind. I could make a list but still miss something. I live with her and try to make her happy, but she always catches me unawares, like at the restaurant. I am still in shock that she did that, and I am so very lucky that Markus did not notice I was there earlier, or it would not have been very comfortable if he caught me in the act of having that happen. He had mentioned something similar to his partner and stopped me now. I do not wish to put his experience in the same place as mine, nope, just NO. I shiver at the thought and push the memory of that conversation out of my head.

Just after the coffee pot started to brew, Bethany stumbled into the room. She showered and was ready for work, yet she looked like she was walking in her sleep, her eyes barely open.

'Something smells good.' Bethany leans over, pinches a slice of bacon out of the pan, and squeals.

'Ouch.' She rushed over to the sink and ran the cold tap, placing her hand under the tap while she ate the piece of stolen bacon with the other hand.

'Not too burnt, I hope! As a doctor, I worried she had burnt her fingers, which kept her out of the theater for a few days. 'Nah, just shock, no blisters. She giggled as she grinned at me like the cat got the cream. We ate, and after cleaning up the kitchen, we decided to walk to work. This book has many missing chapters and scenes if you're not reading it on Jo b n ib.c om. Bethany insisted we have to be ourselves and not change because of a threat. It does not hurt to change things a little but not lose ourselves completely. I understood what she was saying and was okay with trying to keep the days as normal as possible if we even have normal yet.

We spent the rest of the week doing random things after work, but Bethany did not surprise me again with an under-the-table surprise. This kept me in suspense, waiting for something unexpected to happen. With Bethany, I was quickly learning to relax; she always had little surprises. On Friday, I was in for my next surprise.

She put food coloring in my hair shampoo, and I came out of the shower pink, not just my hair, but my hands and face where the shampoo touched. I had to go to work in pink, and Bethany made a sash for me to wear, promoting breast cancer, and from now on I squirt a bit of shampoo on the shower floor and wait to see if it runs pink or some other color. I have to watch the calendar more and be careful when it is a day of some significance, as I would not put it past Bethany to do something like that again. Don't get me wrong, I love it.

She kept me laughing and enjoying every moment we spent together; the thoughts of the contract were far behind us, not gone, just no longer looking over our shoulders and being paranoid over every sound.

We stayed home on Friday night, Saturday, and Friday because I refused to go out with pink hair. I was embarrassed enough about going to work like that, but the staff all thought it was nice that I did something special for a great cause. I did not have the heart to say it was all Bethany and her pranks, because I didn't want Bethany to stop doing them. They are fun and never dangerous, and they keep me happy, and the staff were all in a good mood because of it. Even Robson thought it was a great idea and maybe look at doing promotions of that sort at the hospital. We may be heart specialists, but that does not stop us from supporting other causes.

Sunday was sports day, and like every sports day, we were loud. This time it was back at my parent's place. Dad had several friends over to join in the semi-finals; Bethany did her happy dances to the joy of the guests. It was good to see that she was not shy around them, and being herself, Bethany said it was because we were all there for the same reason. She also said how it was better to show how happy she was when they scored than to do a happy dance. Still, at the end of the match, she had our guests get up and do a happy dance; even my Dad tried it. Her Dad said when it came to sports, Bethany had never been shy when celebrating; even at the tender age of five, she started doing the happy dance.

'Next, here again, for the grand final. Dad said as we were all packing up to go. He was really pleased with his den and the praise he got over it. Bethany surprised Dad with a gift for the den. It was a finals flag for the one-hundredth final win, signed by every one of the players and reserves, as well as the manager and coaches. You could only buy this particular flag at the game, on the final day, and to get it signed like that, Bethany had to have been at the game and met all the players and had the people sign it; not many people would think to get even the coaches and manager to sign it. It filled an empty place in Dad's den. Bethany had it framed.

Bethany told me earlier about the gift and asked if he would like it. I said it was a rare gift indeed, and said she had six signed. She gave one to her Dad and has the other four in her house.

At home, we relaxed a little. I watched some movies before calling it a night. We had a great day, and it was good to see both fathers getting along so well; even my Mum and sisters came down for the second half of the game. They may look a little stilted compared to Bethany when we won, but at least they put in the effort. Something they had never done before, and it had to do with the vitality that Bethany brings to the house. Dad said his friends love Bethany and are glad they have found such a nice girl. He also hopes that it will be a long-term relationship. It was a little too early for me to be saying that sort of thing yet, but I am inclined to agree with them; Bethany is a breath of fresh air; even at work, since she came to work with us, the sickies are less, and the staff seems to be smiling more.

Another week flew by. How it went by so fast is beyond me. Now I am in a panic, as it is Mum's birthday, and I have not thought about getting her a present. Her birthday is the same day as the final, and she already knows that while she parties upstairs with her girlfriends, Dad will entertain the men in the den; I'm not sure how that will go if they are not all sports fans. Now, I am back to, what to get her for a gift.

Bethany to the rescue. What would I do without her?

'Here, give this to your mother, and give her a nice hug too! Bethany gave me a present, a gift wrapped in Mum's favorite colors. Bethany might spend most of her time in the den when she comes over on Sunday, but she does not miss much. I am going to have to look at having more meal times at the folks' place so Mum can spend more time with her.

We have our Saturday family meals day, but Bethany likes to cook her pies for the sports game that day, so I doubt I could get her to change that anytime soon.

We arrived early, a little before ten, and Dad was still setting up. Bob had made his own way over and was down there helping all day. You could hear the television going and Dad and Bob laughing over something. It was a really good sound, and again, I feel rather blessed to have Bethany and Bob in my life.