Poor thing. " A man in a pinstripe suit asked Nathan what he did for a living, and when Nathan answered that he was an executive secretary, the man's smile flickered with barely concealed condescension. "A secretary? Well, that's that's a solid profession. Very stable. " Nathan endured it all with the same quiet stoicism that had gotten him through his divorce, his custody battle, the countless small humiliations of being a single father in a world that still expected men to be providers first and parents second. But then a friend of Brandon's, a loud, red-faced man who had clearly had too much champagne, cornered him near the bar and asked the question that finally cracked his composure.
"So, you're the guy who couldn't keep Rachel happy, huh? " The man laughed, clapping Nathan on the shoulder like they were old friends. "Don't feel bad, buddy. Some women are just meant for bigger things. Better to know your place, right? " Nathan didn't respond. He couldn't.
His throat had closed up, and his hands were shaking slightly. And all he could think about was Lily. Lily, who was sitting at table 14 watching him, absorbing every pitying glance and condescending smile. She was 8 years old. She didn't understand the nuances of adult cruelty, but she understood enough.
She could see that people were looking at her father like he was something to be pitied, something less than. He found her at the table, her eclair half-eaten, her expression troubled in a way that made his heart ache. She looked up at him as he approached, and her small voice cut through the noise of the reception like a knife. "Daddy, why do people keep looking at you like that? " Nathan crouched down beside her chair, bringing himself to her eye level. "Like what, sweetheart? " "Like they feel sorry for you. " Lily's brow furrowed, and she reached out to touch his face with sticky chocolate fingers.
"Are you sad? " He caught her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm, tasting sugar and innocence. "I'm fine, baby. Sometimes people just don't know how to act at parties. " But Lily wasn't convinced. She was too smart for that, too perceptive, and Nathan could see the questions forming in her eyes, questions he didn't know how to answer without breaking something inside both of them. He needed air.
He needed space. He needed to be anywhere but here, surrounded by people who saw him as nothing more than a cautionary tale. Stay here for a minute, okay? Nathan smoothed Lily's hair back from her face and forced a smile. Daddy needs to step outside.
I'll be right back. He left Lily at the table with her juice and her half-finished dessert, weaving through the crowd toward the French doors that led to the hotel's garden. The night air hit him like a wave. Cool, clean, carrying the scent of jasmine and freshly cut grass. The garden was beautiful, all manicured hedges and stone pathways, and twinkling lights strung through the trees.
But Nathan saw none of it. He walked until he found a bench near the edge of the property, hidden from view by a wall of flowering bushes, and he sat down heavily, his elbows on his knees, his head bowed. This was a mistake. Coming here, asking Victoria, believing that he could somehow salvage his dignity in front of people who had already decided what he was worth, all of it was a mistake. Rachel didn't want him here to be civil.