Matters of the Heart

Bonus: Tricky Tenley

|| Calum ||

"Another week?"

"I know. I'm sorry, lief, but the publishers here are being difficult."

I suppressed a defeated sigh. "It's okay, sweetheart. I understand. The kids will be disappointed though. Two weeks without you's been bad enough for them."

"I know. Oh God. I'll facetime with them tonight and tell them."

"Yeah, okay."

"Lief vir jou."

I couldn't stop my smile. "I love you too, sweetheart."

After wrapping up the phone call, I set my cell phone down on my desk and let out a small sigh.

Madison's been away in Germany for the past fortnight working on signing a deal with a major German publishing house to translate her latest book in German. I was looking forward to her coming home within the next two days but clearly there's been a dent put in that plan.

My phone buzzed to life just as I was about to look through some financial reports and the caller ID let me know that the call was coming from the kindergarten school that Tenley attended.

"Calum speaking, hello?" I answered.

"Hi, Mr Ryder, it's Nicole from Preston James Montessori here."

"Hi, Nicole. What can I do for you?" I asked her, frowning in concern. I didn't usually get calls from Tenley's school. "Is Tenley okay? Is it Logan or the twins?"

"Tenley's in an absolute state and we just can't seem to figure out why. She's been inconsolable for the past two hours and no one can get through to her. She won't eat or settle down to nap either."

I continued to frown. "Um, okay. I can come and pick her up then?"

"That might be best."

"Okay, Nicole. I'll be there shortly."

"Alright, Mr Ryder. See you then."

I ended the call and then slipped my phone into my suit jacket pocket before putting it on and then packing my laptop and other papers into its bag.

"Rebecca?"

"Yes, Calum?" My secretary looked up at me from her desktop when I stepped out of my office.

"I have to head out for the rest of the day. Can you ask Allison to reschedule to tax department team appraisal for...next week maybe?" I asked her. "And can you try and postpone my meetings for tomorrow and Friday to next week as well?"

"Yeah, I can do that," She nodded as she picked up my diary. "You're not coming in for the rest of the week?"

"I don't think so," I told her. "I have to go and pick Tenley up from school now cause she's not having a good day and I have to tell the kids that Mads isn't coming home for another week. That's guaranteed to end in tears and pure difficulty tomorrow morning so I'll probably keep them home from school for the rest of the week to avoid the morning mission. You know how it goes."

She nodded sympathetically. "Don't worry about your meetings, I'll delegate and then email you to confirm dates. And give Tenley and Ethan and Graham a big hug from me, okay."

"Thanks, Rebecca. I will," I said before stepping into the elevator and travelling thirty stories down to the basement car park.

While driving in the direction of the private kindergarten institute that my little girl, along with my godson and goddaughters, attended, I instructed my phone that was connected to the hands-free device to call Kayli.