Always The Second Choice

14. The Tickle Monster

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Natasha stared at Dominic as he played with his phone. It was as if he was waiting for someone's call. The woman could only hope that nothing had changed so drastically in the past week that Dominic Grant was now waiting for Nicola Montgomery's calls. 

"What's on your mind?" She asked timidly, scared that he would say something that she would hate to hear. 

Dominic finally looked up. "Do you know Keith Foreman?" 

Natasha let out a sigh of relief. It was not about that Nicola at least, or so she believed. 

"Yeah, I have seen a couple of his movies." She was not about to admit to Dominic that Keith was her celebrity crush. Keith Foreman was everyone's celebrity crush. 

"Do you think that he is that great that one would get so excited about meeting him?" He asked. 

Natasha raised a brow. Was he going to meet him? If that was the case, then she was definitely tagging along.

"I suppose so. He is famous." 

Dominic let out a huff. "What's so special about being famous?" 

Natasha was confused. What was going on?

"You are meeting with him?" She asked, hiding her excitement and curiosity. 

"No, Nicola is." 

Natasha deflated and then suddenly had her interest piqued. "Why do you care who she meets?" 

Dominic shrugged. " She is my wife."

Natasha let out a high-pitched cackle so unlike her usual self. "When did you start caring? Is this part of the damage control? In that case, you are doing great."

Dominic had planned to share about the previous confrontation and his understanding of it to Natasha before but her words had him second-guessing how much she would be willing to help.

Dominic was not that much of an idiot to think that Natasha's feelings towards him had magically disappeared and those feelings would cause some animosity between her and Nicola.

He cared deeply for Natasha but he needed to make Nicola his priority if he wanted to fix everything that was wrong and have a peaceful and amicable relationship with her after the divorce.

He did not want his grandfather to suffer the loss of a family he held dear because they failed in their marriage.

"I am trying to make things cordial between me and Nicola, yes, but not just for the sake of the company. I just want to fix things."

Natasha hummed dejectedly, afraid to say anything wrong.

They turned to their dinner instead and for the first time, had nothing to talk about.

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Dominic came home around nine in the evening. He had expected a dark apartment but all the lights were on, files and papers strewn everywhere.

He made his way into the kitchen to find the island in the same condition, with the laptop on and a pizza box and a can of Coke open.

"Nicola?" He called out, turning around and walking over to her bedroom where the door was left open.

"Nicola?" He called out to her again. He peeked inside to see that the bathroom door was open and the lights on.

"Nicola?" He stepped inside, some sort of dread clutching his senses at the lack of response and as he did, she walked out, patting her face dry with a towel.