The Daddy Box Set

“Love, it’s a conversation you need to have,” she said.

“You need to stay out of my business.”

“This is no longer just your business.” She took the matches from my hand and clicked on the starter. “You brought a little girl into my life and like hell am I going to let you hurt her.”

“How am I going to hurt her?”

“You’re lying to her. And if things go badly between you and Noah, Gina is going to be heartbroken. It’s better to hash this all out now and save yourself heartache down the line.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I’m a big girl.” Yet why did she continually make me feel like a child? I wondered if that would ever stop. But as long as she was alive, she’d mother me until the day she died.

“All I’m saying is I want you to be careful and know what you’re getting into before Gina gets too attached to you.”

“It’s a little late for that, Mom,” I said.

“Well, then I think you need to pray that it works out. Because at the end of the day, she is Noah’s daughter. You can’t have one without the other.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Noah

Tuesday morning arrived before I was ready for it. I barely got any sleep the night before since I was jet-lagged worse than I ever had been before. The American flight attendants were less concerned with my sleep than the Australian attendants had been on the way down. Even though Gina, Jess, and I were in good spirits. That last leg of our journey dragged on much longer than it needed to. And after dropping Jess at her apartment, Gina and I went home and passed out.

It was a good thing I’d set my alarm for work because when it went off, my body and mind were in different time zones and I had no clue what day it was. Checking my phone, I realized it was Tuesday already, and I had to get ready for work.

I lingered in the shower for longer than normal, turning the water cold so that I could wake up. I promised myself I would get right to work when I returned from Australia. That was easier said than done.

It appeared to be the first day I’d ever gotten dressed since I put my pants on backward and went through two pairs of socks before I managed to match them.

By the time I got downstairs, I was a little more grounded in my schedule. I made a strong pot of coffee and guzzled two cups before Jess arrived.

“Good morning,” Jess said cheerfully from the doorway.

I glanced at the clock. I needed to leave now.

“Hey, Jess,” I said and pecked her on the cheek. “I gotta go.”

“Have a good day,” she said as I headed out the door to start what was going to be what I knew would be a rough first day back at work.

The coffee kicked in halfway to work, and by the time I got there, my hands were shaking. At least my brain worked again.

Even though Allison rarely came in before eight-thirty, she was at my door when I arrived at the office.

“Give me everything in order of importance,” I said, opening my office door.

“Everything is important today, Noah,” Allison said. “Last week was a bit busy for everyone.” I tried not to hear the twinge of attitude in her tone of voice. I seemed to recall her taking every single vacation day since she’d come to work for me. Yes, I was the boss, but I deserved some time off too. Even if it meant I’d regret it soon after when dealing with people like her.

I tried to calm my declining mood. It was only because of my lack of sleep. Allison had done nothing wrong.

She showed me a stack of paperwork on my desk. The sight of it was alarming as I generally worked through each day’s contracts an

d proposals and other miscellaneous things to sign on a daily basis. I’d never seen this much work on my plate before. For a brief moment, I regretted going on vacation at all. But as Jess said yesterday on the way home, everyone needed a vacation.

I wished Jess could understand why I never went on them. I didn’t regret going to Australia, but I should have expected this workload. It was easy for her since, at the end of the day, she didn’t have to take work home with her, or deal with employees’ livelihoods in her hands.

Yet the time I spent with Gina last week was priceless.

I hated that I constantly battled between my personal and professional life. The daily war waged harder today, and the only way I could deal with it was to bury myself in my job.