Nadine stretched her neck a bit, taking in the look of her nails as the brush spread the cool nail polish over them. Denise did her nails with focus, making sure to cover every corner with hot pink polish. Nadine had decided to give her restaurant a well needed make over and extension after she finally gathered enough money. Dominic had offered to help but she wanted it to be something she did for herself so she sweetly refused his offer. After a few months of struggle, she was getting it done.

It came at the perfect time, as she needed a distraction from all the noise rioting in her mind. Every day, she spent time at the cemetery, talking to stones that would never reply to her but somehow it calmed her. Dominic had suggested that she talked to a therapist, and it was an idea but she did not fancy it too much. She missed her children, every day, each time she saw Dominic she would sometimes wonder if he was as happy as he looked. If he felt complete or if he wished, their lives could have been different. Each time she thought she could handle them talking about their child, her mind would never allow her ask the questions she so badly wanted answers too.

"Is it Dominic?"

Nadine looked up from her nails, shaking her head at Denise. "Come again."

"What's distracting you? Is it Dominic?"

"No." Nadine shook her head again, and then shrugged. "Yes and no. Dom is great but I am a mess and it is indirectly linked to him."

"I have no clue what that means." Denise leaned over to blow on Nadine's nails before adding another layer of clear polish to it. "Look, I think you are overthinking things. I have known you for seven years, almost as long as your relationship with Dominic. I think you should just finally bite the bullet and have a sit down with the man."

"I already said is not about that. Well, yes, it could be about that a bit." Nadine took her hands back, slouching against the chair. "It has been a month and a few weeks since our girl passed and... well how do I put this? Dom has been acting really strange."

Denise laughed. "I am confused. You are upset because Dominic is acting strange. How? He isn't buying you flowers and calling you princess?"

"Don't laugh and I am not talking about that specifically. I feel like he is pulling back from me. There are times when I catch him looking at me, watching me. There is something going on with him and he is keeping it from me. Something is bothering him but I think he is keeping it to himself so he wouldn't bother me."

"For all you know, it could be work related."

"Doubt it." Nadine sighed.

"Well"—Denise walked around the desk to perch herself on the table, closer to Nadine—"I think he is waiting for you to say something. If you ask me, I think Dominic is giving you all the space for you to heal. Dominic has been very patient with you since the moment you met. From what you told me, he doesn't pressure you to do anything when he knows it would make you uncomfortable. Like when you told us that your parents would not be at your wedding, he supported you. Dominic is not going to back you into a corner and shake the words out of your mouth. If he wants to know, he is going to wait. You know that."

"I know. I know but you don't think it's something more? You don't think...he might be...I don't know. Forget it. Forget it. I don't know what I am asking."

Denise watched Nadine stand and she did the same. Following Nadine to stand by the windows. "If you are trying to ask if I think he is interested in another woman then the answer is a solid no. As I said, I have known you both a long time. Watched you suck face with each other until I got disgusted. That man is incapable of looking elsewhere while you are still alive. He loves you, even with all the craziness. There is nothing like that on his mind. I know your pregnancies have been hard on you but you also have to realize that you are not shielding him from anything. Even worse, your absorbing the pain might be killing him more than you think."

Nadine looked out the window thoughtfully while Denise stepped closer. With a firm squeeze on Nadine's arm, Denise turned to leave the office. Years ago, after meeting Denise in college, Nadine had despised the woman with all her might because of all the jokes she made at her expense. Denise had been one of the people who openly accused Nadine of seducing Dominic for her scholarship. Of course, they were not dating then and Nadine hated the false rumours but afterwards, Denise began to mellow out. One thing led to another, they met years later and became close friends. No matter what anyone thought of Denise, she always had good advice to dish out. The sad thing was that good advice was too hard to follow.

Nadine looked towards the door when Denise poked back in. "Yo! You gatta get out here. Michael just arrive and he came with the contractors."

Nadine pushed away from the window, grabbing a band from the desk to wrap her hair up as she followed Denise out. The restaurant was large, at least larger than she ever dreamed it would be. Closing it down while she expanded had been her initial line of action but she would bleed money if that happened. Money she seriously needed to fund the extension of the restaurant. Michael had been able to find a way to keep the restaurant open while they worked on the changes to the building. Nadine was hopeful that their plan worked, she did not want to close her business unless it was totally unavoidable.

"Here she is. Nadine Marseille meet Jordan Price and Levana Gates. They are the contractors working on your expansion."

Nadine stuck her hand out, shaking them firmly. "I am so glad that you could make it. Michael told me that you have handled everything from materials to the labourers and you have come up with a fitting budget for all of this. Correct?"

Levana nodded confidently, pulling a document from her file and passing it to Nadine while her partner, Jordan, spoke. "We have gotten the best architects to work on your expansion and they have drawn up some blue prints of what they plan to do with the space. They are five different blue prints and you get to choose which one suits your tastes for your restaurant."

Nadine looked down at the file before politely ushering them to her office. Denise opened the door but brought up some excuse to leave them alone as Nadine settled into her seat. Jordan rolled out some of the blue prints for her to see and she gave them all her attention. It took a while to find the one she liked, as all of them were well done, but when she found it, she passed it back to them. The budget was also something she could work with. It gave her so much relief and brightened her day considerably.

"Honestly this has to be the best offer I have seen so far. Thank you. When do you think all this can begin?"

"In two days we would be set and ready to work."

"And this won't affect my restaurant? You see, the plan is that we stay open while the expansion is going on."

"We have been told. We would make it as easy on your business as possible. There may be a few days when we would need to close restaurant but it would not be too often. Maybe once or twice."

"Perfect." Nadine stood and they did the same as well. "If you come with me, I would show you where the expansion is happening, so you can walk me through how you'd work. Would you like something to drink?"

"No, thank you." they both replied and she smiled, leading them out of the office and around the front of the restaurant.

"I heard from Michael that you are from the city." She looked back at them and they nodded with a smile. "I hope the town has been treating you nicely."

They nodded but Levana spoke first. "Yes, it has. The temperature is more preferable than that of the city but we are most excited about the job. We want to make a good impression so I promise that this job would be done to perfection."

"I appreciate..." Nadine stopped, apologizing as she reached into her back pocket for her phone. "Please go ahead, I just need to answer this and I would be right with you."

"Hello?" Nadine turned away from the building to face the street as she tried to listen to the person on the other side of the call. All she could hear from the other end was silence and a bit of static. Nadine frowned, peeling the phone from her ears; she looked at the number again then tried to listen one more time. "Hello! Who is this?"

Nadine looked up from where she stood, fixating her eyes on the street in front of the restaurant. The cars were drooling past in small numbers, people were walking along the sidewalk. Some business had already opened and a few where just getting started for the day. A few of them met her eyes and they waved to her in greeting but she could only manage a small smile in reply. The person on the other end was still quiet, complete and utter silence. She looked at the number again then cut the call. Nervously gripping her phone as she looked around.

Nadine turned to look behind her in panic, returning her phone to her pocket. "Don't do this to yourself Nana. You are already going through enough. It was a wrong number. It was a wrong number."

Nevertheless, they didn't say so. They did not reply. Something was not right.

Nadine watched the road, trying to see if anyone was looking at her but it was pointless. They were always watching her, how would she pick out from them who had made the call. She smoothened her sweaty palms down the front of her jeans, walking backwards cautiously before turning to rush towards the contractors. She sent one last nervous glance over her shoulder but nothing looked out of place. She walked away, never noticing the man who watched her from the cover of the shrubs.