Saturday morning brought an announcement that felt like a bucket of ice water over the warm intimacy of the previous evening.
"I have to go to London," Alexander said over breakfast, his voice carefully neutral as he avoided Sophia's eyes. "Business emergency with the European division. I leave this afternoon."
Emma's fork clattered against her plate. "But we were going to go to the zoo today! You promised!"
"And I was going to show you my rock collection," Ethan added quietly, his disappointment palpable.
"I know, and I'm sorry." Alexander's jaw was tight with what looked like self-directed anger. "Sometimes business can't wait."
But Sophia knew this wasn't about business. This was about last night. About the moment when they'd almost crossed a line that could never be uncrossed. About the way Alexander had looked at her like he wanted to kiss her more than he wanted his next breath.
He was running.
"How long will you be gone?" Sophia asked, keeping her voice professional despite the hurt blooming in her chest.
"A week. Maybe longer if the merger complications are as significant as they appear." Alexander still wouldn't look at her. "You'll be fine managing things here?"
"Of course."
"Mrs. Henderson will handle anything you need, and my assistant Jennifer has all the emergency contacts…"
"Alexander." Sophia's quiet voice cut through his nervous rambling. "The children and I will be fine."
Finally, his gray eyes met hers, and she saw the war happening behind them, want and fear and guilt all battled for dominance.
"I know you will," he said softly. Then, more briskly: "I should pack."
After Alexander left for the airport, the house felt different. Emptier, despite the fact that he'd spent most of his time locked in his office anyway. The twins moped around all afternoon, clearly disappointed about the broken zoo plans and confused by their father's sudden departure.
"Did we do something wrong?" Emma asked as Sophia tucked her into bed that night. "Is that why Daddy left?"
"No, sweetheart. Daddy left for work, not because of anything you did."
"But he seemed sad at breakfast," Ethan observed from his doorway. "Like when he looks at Mommy's pictures sometimes."
Out of the mouths of babes. Alexander had looked sad and scared, and conflicted, and a dozen other emotions that had nothing to do with European business mergers.
"Sometimes grown-ups have complicated feelings," Sophia said carefully. "But your daddy loves you very much. That never changes, even when he has to travel."
Two hours later, Sophia's phone rang. Alexander's name appeared on the screen, and her heart did an embarrassing little skip.
"Hello?"
"Sophia." Alexander's voice sounded tired, distant across the Atlantic connection. "I wanted to check in. Are the children asleep?"
"Just went down. They were disappointed about the zoo, but we made cookies instead and had a living room picnic."
"Of course you did." There was something soft in Alexander's voice, almost fond. "You always know exactly what they need."
"They need their father, but cookies are a decent substitute."
A pause. "I deserved that."
"Alexander, why are you really in London?"
Another pause, longer this time. When Alexander spoke, his voice was carefully controlled.
"The Hartwell Group is threatening to pull out of the merger. If that happens, it could destabilize our entire European operation."
"And this couldn't have been handled from New York? With phone calls and video conferences?"
"Sophia..."
"You're running away."
The words hung in the air between them, separated by an ocean but connected by a truth neither of them could deny.
"Yes," Alexander said finally, his voice barely above a whisper. "I'm running away."
The honesty in his admission made Sophia's chest tight. "From what?"
"From you. From the way I feel about you. From the fact that I almost kissed you last night while my children slept in our arms." Alexander's voice was raw now, all pretense stripped away. "From the fact that I wanted to kiss you more than I've wanted anything in two years."
Sophia closed her eyes, gripping the phone tighter. "Alexander..."
"I can't do this, Sophia. I can't risk my children's stability for something that might not even be real."
"What if it is real?"
"Then it's even more dangerous."
They talked for another hour, carefully avoiding the emotional minefield they'd just identified. Alexander asked about the twins' day, Sophia updated him on homework and upcoming school events. But underneath the mundane details was an undercurrent of longing that made every casual comment feel loaded with meaning.
Sunday night's call lasted even longer. Alexander had been in meetings all day, but he called at exactly the twins' bedtime to read them a story over video chat. Watching him on the phone screen, reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" with different voices for each character, Sophia felt her heart constrict with an emotion she didn't want to name.
"Daddy, when are you coming home?" Emma asked as Alexander finished the story.
"Soon, princess. Daddy's working very hard to finish everything so I can come back to you."
"We miss you," Ethan said simply. "The house is too quiet without you."
After the children said goodnight, Sophia expected Alexander to hang up. Instead, he stayed on the video call, his tired face filling her phone screen.
"How was your day?" she asked.
"Long. Complicated. I spent six hours in a conference room arguing about profit margins and market positioning." Alexander rubbed his eyes. "How was yours?"
"Emma lost a tooth at lunch and was convinced the tooth fairy wouldn't be able to find her in your house because it's so big. Ethan taught me how to play his favorite video game, and I'm terrible at it but he was very patient."
Alexander's smile was soft and real. "They're lucky to have you."
"They're lucky to have you too, Alexander. Even when you're scared."
"Am I that transparent?"
"To me? Yes."
They stared at each other through their phone screens, the video connection creating an intimacy that felt almost more intense than being in the same room.
"Sophia," Alexander said quietly. "When I come back…"
"When you come back, we'll figure it out," Sophia interrupted gently. "Whatever this is between us, we'll figure it out together."
"And if we can't? If I'm too damaged, too complicated, too much of a risk to your job and their stability?"
"Then we'll figure that out too."
Monday night Alexander called while the twins were doing homework. His voice sounded different, more relaxed, but also more frustrated.
"The merger is going to be fine," he said without preamble. "It was never as complicated as I made it seem. I could probably have resolved everything with three phone calls from New York."
"But then you would have had to face me."
"Yes."
"And now?"
"Now I've had three days to think about what I'm running from, and I'm starting to realize I'm running toward something much worse."
"Which is?"
"A life where I'm too afraid to take any risks. Where I'm so terrified of losing someone again that I never let anyone get close enough to lose." Alexander's voice was quiet but determined. "I don't want to be that man anymore, Sophia."
"What kind of man do you want to be?"
"The kind who comes home to his family. All of his family."
The implication in those words made Sophia's breath catch. All of his family. Including her.
"Alexander..."
"I'm coming home Thursday. We'll talk then."
Tuesday's call came later than usual. Alexander sounded tired but less conflicted, and he spent twenty minutes helping Emma with a math problem over video chat, his patience infinite as she struggled with addition.
"You're a good father," Sophia told him after the children went to bed.
"I'm learning to be. You're teaching me."
"I'm not teaching you anything you didn't already know. I'm just reminding you."
"Is that what you call it?" Alexander's smile was visible even through the pixelated video connection. "Because it feels like you're saving us."
"You're saving yourselves. I'm just... present."
"Present," Alexander repeated thoughtfully. "Yes, you are. You're the most present person I've ever met."
Wednesday night's call was different. Alexander looked more rested, more settled, and when he smiled at something Emma said, Sophia saw the man from those old photographs, the one who'd been happy before grief taught him to be afraid.
"One more day," he said after the twins said goodnight.
"One more day," Sophia agreed.
"Are you ready for this conversation we're going to have?"
Sophia considered the question seriously. Was she ready to risk her job, her stability, her growing love for Emma and Ethan, all for the possibility of something more with their father?
"No," she said honestly. "But I think we need to have it anyway."
"Even if it changes everything?"
"Especially if it changes everything."
Alexander's smile was soft and real and full of promise. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sophia."
"I'll be here."
And as she hung up the phone, Sophia realized that somewhere over the course of four late-night phone calls, she'd stopped seeing Alexander as her employer and started seeing him as the man she was falling in love with.
Thursday couldn't come fast enough.