"I beg your pardon?" Jonathan asked. "I set aside a whole two-hour block this morning to discuss your latest plans for my company's ad campaign, Eddie. If we want to launch next month, then time is of the essence. Isn't that what you told me?"
"Yes. I did tell you that." Time is of the essence. Eddie looked down at his phone. "But I think… I might have a personal emergency to attend to this morning."
"You might?" Jonathan's voice was cool and furious. "You better be sure of it, son. Because if you walk out of this meeting, then I might be forced to take my business to someone who knows how to prioritize with my best interests in mind."
Eddie wanted desperately to look to Trinity and Sam for backup. He wanted either, or both, of them to jump in and save him from having to make this decision. But if they could, they would have already done so. They were sitting at the same table, but
Eddie was on his own.
"I do have your best interests in mind," he said quietly. "And that's why I have to go, Mr. Daley. It's Margot. She needs me."
"You've already shown your commitment to Margot. You're going to marry her like we agreed," Jonathan growled. Trinity's eyes bulged. She looked at Sam, but Sam looked just as surprised as she did by the news. Eddie closed his eyes against their incredulous faces, but he couldn't wince himself into nonexistence no matter how hard he tried. "Eddie? Do you hear me? She's my little girl, but whatever it is, it can wait."
"No. No, it can't wait. I'm sorry, Mr. Daley, but I have to go. I'm going to have to ask Sam and Trinity to take over this meeting for me." Eddie rose. "And if you need to reschedule, please talk to my secretary."
"Eddie, this had better be a fucking—"
Sam muted the call and turned to Eddie. "You're really taking off?"
"I have to," Eddie said. "I'm sorry to you both, but… Margot. I have to find Margot.” He knew he was rattling on, that he wasn’t making any sense, but her name was the ticket he needed to get out of the room. He sprinted down the hallway, thumbing open his schedule as he rushed for the next elevator. Why hadn’t his reminder popped up? Had he even remembered to set one?
On my way, he texted Margot in the elevator. Then he leaned back against the wall and shut his eyes.
His ride through the city was a complete blur. By the time he arrived at the building across town hosting the class, he was exhausted. He had forgotten how many cups of coffee he’d had already to keep going. Had he had any espresso since yesterday evening at dinner?
“Fuck,” Eddie whispered below his breath. The cab halted, and he piled out of the back. He hadn’t had the time to wait for someone to bring his car around back at the agency. Margot was sitting alone on the stone steps leading up to the building’s front entrance. When her eyes lifted, and she saw Eddie, she grabbed the railing and hauled herself unsteadily to her feet.
Too late, Eddie thought desperately. I’m always too late for everything that counts. I try to get out ahead of everything...I try to be the man she needs, and I…
“Where were you?” Margot’s eyes were black as storm clouds. Eddie froze. He wanted to take a step back, but that would have put him back out in the flow of heavy traffic.
Then again, maybe that would have been the best decision he made all day.
“Margot. I am so sorry,” he emphasized.
“The class is over. I did it all alone.” There were tears in her voice, and crystalline beads trembling in the corners of her eyes, even though her words were dreadfully steady. “I was the only person there by myself.”
“God, Margot. I am sorry.” Just looking at her he could feel his heart breaking. “How can I make it up to you? Just name it. I’ll do anything.”
Margot shook her head. Eddie had the impression that she wasn’t even listening to him, not really; those shimmering storm cloud eyes were distant now, as if the danger of a downpour had already passed him by. “I want to be the best parent possible to our child, Eddie. I want to get married. I want to move into the classic six. I want to be involved in every part of her – or his – life. I want to be like my parents were with me.”
“Involved,” Eddie repeated.
Margot glanced up from the familial fantasy she was entertaining; her eyes refocused on him, curious about something she sensed in his tone. “I’m sorry?”
“Your parents are so involved in everything, Margot. More than you can know.”
“What do you mean by that?” she asked. “Eddie?”
“I mean that it was your father’s idea all along that I ask you to marry me.” The words, the truth, bled past his lips before he could think to stop them up. He was so tired he wasn’t thinking straight. Was this the right time? Was there any right time to tell her? He couldn’t gauge anymore. All he could do was latch onto what she was saying, and hope his instincts weren’t steering him completely untrue.
He needed to say more, though, because now Margot was staring at him as if he had grown a second head...and as if that head looked very much like her own father. “But I...I asked because I love you, Margot,” he said in a rush. “I didn’t want to tell you like this...I didn’t want to tell you any of this.” He raked a hand through his hair. “But I love you. I know that much. Even if I’m making up the rest as I go.”
“Love me?” she repeated. She sounded faint. Eddie reached for her, to help her sit back down if need be, and she shook him off her elbow. “How can you...Eddie, my father...were the two of you just troubleshooting a scandal? Was that what this was all along?” The tears sprang into her eyes again. “Is that all I am to you? How can you say you love me and that this was all my father's idea in practically the same sentence?”
“Margot, wait–“
"No, Eddie. I'm done waiting. I've been waiting all along for you to figure out what kind of man you want to be. It just…this isn't working. I wanted it to. God, I wanted it to." Margot straightened her shoulders and glared past him, as if she could direct her disproval inward and vaporize whatever weakness she saw there. "But I've never been someone who needed to be looked after. No matter what you or my father might think. I can attend parenting classes on my own. I can take care of myself without you."