Chapter 343: You Guys Really Had a Fight?

"Go on to work." Anna Linden didn’t try to keep her.

Anne Sutton left for work.

After a morning of seeing patients, Anne Sutton suddenly recalled Anna Linden’s question: "Did you and Ethan Linden have a fight?"

’What could Nathan have told his mother? For her to ask me that?’

At noon, Caleb Summers was in Nathan Fawcett’s office, revising a proposal. He hadn’t even had lunch yet.

Nathan Fawcett was at his own computer, tapping away at the keyboard, apparently busy with something. He hadn’t left either.

Caleb Summers glanced at Nathan Fawcett. "Should we go grab a bite first?" he asked.

’He had no idea what was wrong with Nathan today. Why was he getting on his case so much?’

Nathan Fawcett said, "You can go eat. I’ll wait here for you to come back and finish revising."

Caleb Summers’s lip twitched when he heard that. ’He’s not even leaving. How could I possibly go? That wouldn’t look right, would it?’

Although Nathan hadn’t forced him to stay, Caleb felt too awkward to leave.

So he had no choice but to sit back down and continue his revisions.

’Looking at the intimidating man, he realized Nathan still hadn’t cooled off. Was he taking all his anger out on him?’

In the afternoon, when Anne Sutton finished up and came out, she saw Caleb Summers standing by the door.

Anne was a little surprised to see him. "What are you doing here?"

"My stomach hurts. I came to get a prescription," Caleb said, his face a mask of resentment.

"Is it serious?" Anne asked.

"It’s not too bad," Caleb said. "It’s just... Nathan has completely lost it. Thanks to him, I didn’t get to eat lunch today."

"What’s wrong with him?" Anne asked, curious.

"It’s nothing, really," Caleb said. "He’s just deliberately giving me a hard time. I could have just grabbed lunch and come back to finish the revisions, but he insisted I do it right there through my lunch break. I think he’s deliberately retaliating against me. I got so hungry my stomach started to hurt."

When Anne didn’t say anything, Caleb added, "It’s probably because of what I said about him yesterday. I must have pissed him off! Now he’s using his position to get personal revenge."

"Surely not?" ’He wouldn’t do something so petty.’

Caleb sighed helplessly. "He might not do that to you, but he’d definitely do it to me! He’s never liked me. I slave away day after day, and for what? All I wanted was for him to improve his relationship with his mother and not throw away his future, you know?"

"He’ll understand," Anne said.

"You think he’ll understand?" Caleb countered. "He only has eyes for you."

"He’s been like this with me, too!" Anne said, recalling her recent conversations with Nathan. His attitude toward her had become noticeably colder.

’But that’s just how people are!’

’You can’t always get what you want.’

’I tried to talk to him, and he got upset. That’s his problem!’

’It’s not like I did anything wrong.’

Caleb looked at Anne. "You should go home and spend some time with him. Try to cheer him up, help him cool off. Otherwise, he’s really going to torture me to death."

Listening to Caleb, Anne nodded. "I’ll see what I can do. But don’t get your hopes up."

"Okay, I’m heading out," Caleb said, and then he left.

Anne watched him go and was about to leave herself when she turned and saw Anna Linden.

Anna Linden walked over and asked, "Was that Caleb Summers?"

Anne nodded. "Yes."

"What did he say to you?" Anna’s gaze settled on Anne. "Why are you getting so close to him?"

Anne’s lip twitched, as if she’d been accused of some heinous crime. "He was telling me about Ethan Linden. He said Ethan is in a bad mood and keeps giving him trouble, and asked me to talk to him."

Anne then looked at Anna. "Dr. Linden, what did you think he was here for? That there’s something going on between us? I’m busy all day, I don’t have time for that! Just dealing with Ethan Linden’s issues is already a huge headache for me."

’She really didn’t have that much time to waste on men.’

Anna Linden gave her one last look, then walked away.

’Watching Anna leave, Anne thought she was a real piece of work. On the one hand, she didn’t want her to be with Nathan, but on the other, she wouldn’t let her get close to any other man.’

’So what exactly did she want from her?’

After work, Anne didn’t rush home. Instead, she went to Mrs. Sutton’s shop.

Since both Nathan and Anne had to work, Mrs. Sutton was busy at the shop during the day, and Ian would sometimes come play there.

When Ian saw Anne arrive, he ran over. "Mommy."

Anne looked at the little guy and picked him up. He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Mrs. Sutton came over. "Done with work?"

"Are you busy right now?" Anne asked her mother.

"Not too bad," Mrs. Sutton said.

"Want to go practice driving for a bit?"

Mrs. Sutton nodded. "Sure."

Anne sat in the passenger seat while her mother drove for a while. Ian was there too.

He sat on the side, watching intently.

That evening, Anne waited at the shop for Mrs. Sutton to close up before they returned home together.

Usually, if Nathan was working late, he would call her. But he didn’t today.

When she and her mother got home, they found he wasn’t there. There was no sign of him in the house, and he hadn’t sent a message.

Ian asked, "Daddy isn’t back yet?"

"He must be busy with something," Anne said. "Don’t wait up for him. Let’s get you to bed."

"Okay."

Anne carried Ian upstairs, gave him a bath, and tucked him into bed before finally calling Nathan.

He answered after a moment.

He was silent on the other end. Anne asked, "Where are you?"

Nathan was quiet for a moment before replying, "At the office."

"You’re still at work?" Anne asked. "It’s really late. Why haven’t you left? Is there an emergency?"

Nathan didn’t answer her questions. He just said, "You should go to sleep."

"..." Recalling Caleb’s words, Anne asked, "Nathan, are you planning on not coming back here anymore?"

Nathan didn’t respond.

Anne said, "If that’s the case, just let me know. That way, when you don’t come back, I won’t bother waiting up."

Nathan said, "You don’t need to wait for me. I never asked you to!"

Hearing that, Anne hung up immediately.

She put her phone down and lay on the bed, staring at his number. His words echoed in her mind: ’I never asked you to wait for me!’

’Fine!’

’I must have been looking for trouble.’

’If he didn’t want to talk to her, fine!’

’She couldn’t be bothered with him either!’

And just as he’d implied, Nathan really didn’t come home that night.

After finishing up at the office, he went back to his own place.

Anne, for her part, focused on her work and paid him no mind.

For the next few days, Anne spent her time after work practicing driving with her mother.

Mrs. Sutton asked, "How come Nathan hasn’t been back recently? Ian asks every day what his daddy’s so busy with."

Anne paused when she heard that, realizing it had indeed been several days since Nathan had shown up.

"He’s busy with work," she said. "He’ll come by when he’s finished."

Mrs. Sutton said, "I thought you two might have fought over what happened the other day."

Hearing this, Anne’s lip twitched. "Even if we did fight, isn’t that perfectly normal? How many men are actually reliable, anyway? I’d rather focus on my own life than wonder what he’s doing."

"So you’re saying you two really did fight?" Mrs. Sutton asked.