“Like what?”
“Oh gosh, Walker. Do you not remember what fun is? You used to have a lot of it back in the day.” She taps her chin as she tries to consider our options.
My cell phone buzzes in my pocket. I reach into it and pull it out to find a text message from my assistant.
Bradly: Emergency! Mr. Walthorn has been accused of breach of contract by several suppliers. They are threatening to go public and ruin the deal unless rectified immediately. I’m running into the office now. Meet you there!
My head drops low, and a heavy weight presses down on my chest. Just seconds ago, I was planning a day with Jessie and Eli, and now I’m ditching them to go into the office for a scumbag who can’t keep his word and screws over his vendors.
Jessie’s face drops. It’s as if she knows what’s about to happen before the words leave my mouth.
“Work,” she says faintly.
I nod my head. “I need to go into the office.”
She chews a bite of her French toast slowly. “For how long?”
I pull at the tension mounting behind my head. “I don’t know. Could be awhile. I’m sorry. I really wanted to spend the day with you.” I sigh and look down at my phone. “I need to see if Eva can take Eli.”
“I’ll take her.”
“No, I’m not asking you to do that.”
“It’s fine,” she replies, though not with a lot of conviction. “I’m here, and we were planning on hanging out anyway. I’ll spend the day with her.”
I feel like if she could finish that sentence, it would be,Because you won’t.
My mind is being pulled in a million different directions. I want to spend my free time with my daughter. I don’t want to miss these moments of her growing up. But I also do have a career. One that is needed in order to give Eli the life that she deserves.
But is the life she deserves one with more dad time and less money? A less demanding job doesn’t mean you go broke. You have a ton invested in stocks.
The thought nudges inside my brain and won’t leave. Even after I thank Jessie and get ready to go into the office. But it’s a ridiculous thought. I’m not going to walk away from what I’ve worked so hard for. I’m a partner at one of the largest firms in the city of New York.
Who the hell walks away from that?
Bradly and I spend five hours looking through all of the contracts our client signed and what the claims against him are. It’ll cost him nearly three hundred thousand to square up withall of the costs he screwed his suppliers out of. But that’s nothing compared to losing this deal with his competitor.
It’s in his best interest to pay the money and get this deal made before any whiff of this gets out.
After I make the call to him, he bitches and moans for another hour, but I finally convince him to pay the damn money. All of this could’ve been settled by him not being a prick and honoring his contract, but here we are.
He’s stealing my weekend away from me, and he couldn’t care less. All he cares about is the money he’s losing. He wants my sympathy for having to cough up three hundred thousand dollars today, but he isn’t going to get it.
When I open the door to my place, I find Jessie lying on the ground with Eli next to her. Eli is babbling on the floor as Jessie holds up a musical toy above her head. Jessie smiles and talks to Eli, encouraging her as she works to make sounds.
“That’s right, Eli,” she says with a smile. “You are such a good talker.”
I take a step closer, and Jessie turns her head.
“Oh, hi,” she says, her soft smile for me not as bright as it was for my daughter. “How did it go?”
She stands up and picks Eli up, and she places Eli in her swing.
I undo my tie and toss my briefcase onto the ground with a thud. “Crisis averted.”
“That’s why they pay you the big bucks.”
I get the feeling there’s sarcasm and resentment in that comment. I know she thinks I sold my soul for the money.
