Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
At least that was settled. Now, on to other matters.
I returned to my office and closed the door behind me. Parker stood in the middle of the room, rocking Joy in his arms while watching me with an expression I struggled to read. I couldn’t decide if he was angry at me or fearful.
“Sir. Mr. Foster, please call her back. This is unnecessary,” Parker began as soon as I crossed the room. I didn’t answer until I sat behind my desk.
“Now, Parker, please tell me what has happened. Starting with that phone call a week ago.”
5
PARKER CAIN
If I hadn’t been so aware of Joy in my arms, my knees might have buckled when he said my name. I couldn’t remember Declan ever saying my given name while we were in the office. It was always Mr. Cain, unless we were in bed together. Then it was a growl between calling me annoying or bastard.
Since I’d found him in my office with that flabbergasted expression on his hard face, I’d been expecting him to fire me and kick me out of the building. My assumption felt even more sound as he led me to his office for added privacy.
But he was talking about buying soft things for Joy so she could be more comfortable and letting me use his office. My brain locked up. I didn’t have it in me to fight it any longer. It was easier to go with the flow.
So, now I was sitting in my boss’s office with my daughter in my arms, and it felt like all the balls I’d been trying so hard to juggle had just come crashing down around me, and I wanted to cry.
Two days…
I’d been on my own with Joy for two days, and it was already a mess. How was I supposed to do this?
The tears fell before I could catch them, and I gasped on a lump that had formed in my throat as I’d almost cursed Molly for getting herself killed. Thinking about her was like touching a raw nerve that would send a fresh shock wave of pain through my body.
“Oh. No. Don’t. I—”
My head popped up to find Declan coming closer with a pained expression. He pulled his handkerchief from his breast pocket and thrust it toward me.
“I don’t think you should do that. Isn’t it bad for them? Crying on them, I mean.”
A fractured laugh escaped amidst my crying, and I blindly took his handkerchief to wipe away the tears. At least there was someone on the planet more helplessly lost than me.
Declan sat in the chair beside mine and awkwardly patted me on the shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m not angry. Just…worried.” He’d paused as though he were trying to find the right word, and even after it came out, it sounded awkward.
Another bark of laughter escaped me. “Worried? You don’t even like me.”
Declan pulled his hand away and dropped it into his lap. “I don’t…hate you.” He paused and made a face. It was as if he didn’t like any of the words that were coming to him and yet he still had to spit something out. “The last time I saw you, you were so upset…from that call. And now you’re here with a daughter, but I didn’t think…” He stopped again and shook his head. “You mentioned a woman. Molly. Was she your wife?”
“I thought I’d made it very clear that I’m gay. Do I need to be more obvious?” It was easier to fall back on sarcasm. It was like moving a protective shield into place after being so vulnerable and broken for so fucking long.
“No, you’ve been quite obvious, but there could have been circumstances.”
Now, wasn’t that a great word? Circumstances. That covered all types of sins and disasters.
Declan’s manner was so forthright and his attention unwavering that I found my protective shield slipping from my grasp even as I tried to secure it. I couldn’t remain sarcastic, no matter how hard I tried.
“Molly was my best friend. We’d known each other since elementary school. She wanted a baby, but she didn’t want to do the marriage route. She asked me to donate the sperm to help make Joy. So, biologically, I am her father. But there was no plan for me to step into Joy’s life as her day-to-day father. But…”
“There was an accident,” Declan supplied as the words became stuck in my throat.
I nodded. “Last week was about getting the funeral arranged and moving all of Joy’s things into my apartment. Figuring out how to even care for a baby. My parents flew in after it happened and they were helping me for a while, but they returned home after the funeral.” I sighed, balling the monogrammed linen handkerchief in my fist. “Why does this have to be so hard? Yesterday wasn’t a total disaster, but this morning, Joy had a low fever. I squeezed in for the first pediatrician appointment of the day and they said it wasn’t anything serious. They gave me some medicine and sent us on our way, but because she has a fever, I couldn’t take her to daycare. And I-I-I don’t have any other daycare lined up for her. I didn’t want to bring her to the office, but there was no other option. Plus, I’m out of PTO days, and the money is really going to be needed now that I’m raising a kid.”