I remember her looking at me while she was nursing Noah. Her hazel eyes were wide with panic and fear, and she looked drained and tired.
“It’ll pass, Jake, won’t it?” she had asked me. “Won’t it?”
“Of course,” I had told her confidently.
But the truth was I was terrified. I had just stumbled into fatherhood, and I didn’t have the tools or the understanding to help Daphne. She had looked at me to save her, and I had turned my face away. Had I been selfish or ignorant? Had I been too young or simply too judgmental? My head spun with the torrent of memories that threatened to sink me under the weight of its pain.
“Daddy?” the sound of Noah’s voice gave me strength.
“Yes, buddy?”
“Will you help me?” he asked. “Will you help me build my ship?”
I forced back my fears and regrets and nodded. “Of course, son,” I said. “Of course, I will.”
Chapter Four
Kristen
I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. The office was quiet this evening; many of the assistants had already cleared out for the day, and the senior staff were all attending meetings. Jake had come into the office only an hour ago after a conference on the bottom floor. It was prep for the big meeting and dinner he was hosting tonight with the Japanese client the company wanted to woo.
He had been in a bad mood the whole day, and I had done my best to avoid him—especially since my day hadn’t been that great, either.
My car had broken down on the way to work, which made me almost an hour late into the office. That had created a backlog of work, which had eaten into my lunch break and forced me to skip lunch altogether. Then, to add insult to injury, one of the interns from the junior departments spilled his hot coffee all over my favorite white silk blouse while I was making copies in the copy room. I’d had to spend the whole evening walking around with a giant stain on the front of my blouse.
Then not even half an hour ago, I had run down to the water cooler to refill my thermos when Timothy Dugan, one of the assistant managers had approached me and basically started sexually harassing me. I had excused myself at the first opportunity and taken refuge in the bathroom to try and compose myself a little.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror, wondering what on earth I was even doing here. It had been a mistake from the get-go, and I probably always knew that, but for some reason, my stubborn nature hadn’t allowed me to see that.
I unclipped my hair and retied it quickly, pulling back the loose strands of hair that fell around my face. I ran my hands under the water and tried to rub away the stain on my blouse, but it didn’t look like it was going anywhere.
“What an awful fucking day,” I sighed, under my breath.
I tried to convince myself that I might still be able to salvage the evening. I would finish up here as fast as I could, then I’d head back to my apartment. order in some sushi, and binge watch something frivolous and entertaining. It didn’t even matter what. I just wanted to turn my brain off and relax. Maybe I’d even stop by the grocery store and get a couple of pints of Ben and Jerry to comfort myself.
Feeling reasonably composed, I had decided to commit to my plan, suck it up, and head back to my desk when I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I checked the name on the screen and tensed up the moment I saw ‘Mom’ emblazoned there.
“Today just keeps getting better and better,” I said to myself.
I stared at the flashing screen for a few seconds, contemplating what to do. I decided to just let it ring. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to Mom today—especially today.
I put my phone back in my pocket and headed back to my desk. I could hear Jake talking to someone inside his office. His tone was far from cheery, and I sensed that he was just really nervous for the dinner tonight.
I was about to start looking through Jake’s schedule for the next week when the phone rang. I picked it up immediately and employed my corporate secretary voice.
“Harper Maritime Company, this is Jake Middleton’s office; how may I help you?”
“Uh…hi, I need to speak to Jake…Mr. Middleton, please,” said a tentative voice on the other line. “It’s urgent.”
I glanced towards Jake’s closed door. “Mr. Middleton is in a very important meeting,” I said. “May I know what this is in reference to?”
“I’m Janet, his babysitter,” Janet replied. “This is regarding his son.”
“Is he alright?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
“Um…yeah, of course,” she said. “Can you please put Jake on the phone. Like I said, it’s urgent. I have a family emergency, and I have to go—right away.”
I hesitated for only a moment. “Okay, Janet,” I said. “I will inform Mr. Middleton. I’m going to put you on hold for a few minutes, okay?”