Her Redemption for His Sins (Under Heavy Editing)

4

Chapter 4

Leena knew it wouldn't do her any good to think about Andreas' rude behavior from earlier but she was so angry about the way he had treated her that she just couldn't help herself. No one had ever questioned the relationship she had shared with Ike, they just knew the truth about what had happened all those years ago.

If he had been willing to listen to her in the first place, it would have made the day a lot more tolerable than their current state of affairs. However, she was beginning to learn that he was too stubborn and thick headed for listening or keeping an open mind.

She noticed his annoying behavior as it had started shortly before breakfast that morning.. Every time Leena went to do something with the kids, Ike, or Margaret; Andreas was there with that devilish charm to steer the conversation or activity away from anything related to her.

Leena was tempted to embarrass him by bringing up his delusional behavior, but she valued her friendship with their family too much.

Instead of trying to fix the situation, Leena started doing the things she knew that she had to get done.

Now that breakfast was over, Leena excused herself from the dining room table to get started on that very long list of chores she needed to get done for the day. Besides it was a Monday morning, which meant the kids needed to get on the bus and everyone else had to go to work.

Leena didn't have work anymore, which meant there were no excuses for avoiding her responsibilities.

First on her list of responsibilities included calling back her publishing agent to set some very strong boundaries between them and the second included scheduling her calendar with the same crazy agent.

Leena took a few moments to relax on the rocking chair before she pressed the call button on her phone. It did not take very long for her agent to answer.

"Leena, you finally called. I thought I was going to have to send out a search party for you!" The agent stated in a high pitched nasally tone. It was quite annoying to Leena but she understood the woman had a job to do.

"I'm fine Naomi, I just wanted to go over some things with you before we start with setting up my schedule," Leena stated as she tried to mimic the same level of happiness that Naomi constantly emitted.This was the best opportunity in her life and she wasn't going to ruin it by being a complete dud.

"Sure, what things did you want to go over? Did you get my phone call earlier, I also sent you a follow up email." Naomi chatted animatedly as she shuffled around papers in the background with extreme vigor.

"That's what I wanted to chat about. I know you are an early riser, but I am just not. I was wondering if we could schedule our morning pow wows for say 11am?"Leena asked Naomi hesitantly. As a person who wasn't used to asserting herself, Leena felt proud of her ability to do so now. Leena was normally a people pleaser, but this was just not going to be one of those things she budged on.

"If that works for you, sure. I'm here to help you do the best you can, Leena!" Naomi gushed loudly into the phone. Leena breathed a sigh of relief knowing that her morning routines would not be interrupted. There was something special about early morning crossword puzzles with a cup of hot coffee to start the day.

"Perfect, so what did you have in mind for the book tour? I have a few ideas of my own. I'll forward you my calendar and we can pencil in a meeting 11am tomorrow morning to discuss?" Leena stated confidently into the phone, feeling proud at successfully navigating one relationship for the day. It was too bad she couldn't have spoken the truth so easily to Andreas earlier.

"Ok, send it over and we will discuss it tomorrow. Toodles.", Naomi cheered before the line went dead and Leena was left alone again.

She tried to occupy herself with work for a little bit longer by looking over the sample calendar for the book tour. It was hard to think about her work when there was that nagging feeling at the pit of her stomach because of that jerk. Ike really might be leaving her life and she still had so much she owed him for saving her family.