“Hey, I’d be a shit babysitter if I didn’t look out for her.”
“You’re more than a babysitter, Iris.” The implication that she’s not almost physically hurts. “I mean, I appreciate you watching Hailey, but you know that’s not all you are to me, right?”
“I know. I’m just tired. That came out wrong.”
A thought occurs to me, and I do the time zone math again. “Have you eaten?”
“Mm-hmm. I made Hailey her breakfast, but since we had to leave in a rush this morning, I let her pick something from the cafeteria here at the office. Don’t worry! No sugary stuff. She was good and picked a sandwich and an apple.”
“Haveyoueaten?”
There’s a slight pause. “I had a bagel this morning.”
“Lunch, Iris. Have you eaten lunch today?”
She sighs into the phone. “Not yet. I’ve just been so busy. I figured I’d have an extra slice of pizza at home when I ordered dinner for Hailey and me.”
“If you were at the cafeteria with Hailey, why didn’t you grab something for yourself?”
“Like I said, I’ve been busy. I don’t always eat lunch when I’m working. It’s okay, Micah. I promise I’m not starving myself.”
I don’t like her answer, but if she’s stuck in her office with Hailey sleeping, I can’t exactly order her to go get some food. Then something else occurs to me. “If Hailey’s got your chair, where are you sitting?”
“I’m not. I’m standing.”
Before I have a chance to chide her for not taking care of herself, I hear a knock on the other end of the line. There’s muffled speech, then Iris comes back to tell me she’s got to go.
“Expect the contract email in fifteen, twenty minutes. I’ll call you back when we get home. Later, Micah!”
She hangs up before I can say what I want to say. What I need to say.
I’ll have to say it tonight. When she’s back home with Hailey, when she’s had some time to relax and decompress. Now is probably a terrible time for it. She doesn’t want to hear that when she’s trying to negotiate contracts and finalize the campaign details.
There’s a time and a place, Micah, and now isn’t it.
Chapter 19
Iris
Micah’s sweet to worry, but I’ve got too much work to do. If I don’t get these contracts finalized and get the campaign shooting set up, I’m in deep shit.
Hailey is a trooper. She gets bored long before we leave, but she doesn’t really complain. I manage to scrounge up some paper and colored markers for her to draw with, and she sets herself up at my desk with them. The negotiations seem to go completely over her head, though she does pause her drawing on occasion, as though something the grownups said caught her attention.
By some miracle, we’re able to leave before dark. I take Hailey’s drawings with us to show Micah when he gets back. Thankfully, she didn’t draw on any important papers. If she had scribbled on some contracts or other documents, that would have been disastrous.
The drive home takes forever. Traffic is bumper to bumper, and by the time we get through the door, I’m almost too tired to order the pizza. I can’t let Hailey starve just because I’m exhausted, though, and I kinda promised Micah I’d eat. I get us double pepperoni with some garlic bread on the side. Hailey dives in with vigor as soon as I get the boxes inside, but I only manage to nibble on mine. This has been such a long day for me, and I’ve still got a lot on my plate for the coming weeks.
I let Hailey pick what we watch after dinner, and she opts for some movie about talking animals. I snuggle with her on the couch to watch it, but before long I’m out cold.
When I wake up, the movie’s shut off, and Hailey’s nowhere to be found. Panic seizes me as I sit straight up and scream her name.
A strong hand clamps over my mouth, cutting me off, and I struggle for a few seconds until I recognize Micah’s voice whispering at me. “Shh! Iris, calm down. It’s four in the morning. You both fell asleep here on the couch. I just took Hailey upstairs and tucked her in. Now it’s your turn.”
I try to blink away my confusion, but I still have no idea what’s going on. Micah removes his hand, and I blurt out the first question that comes to mind: “Why are you home?”
Micah’s arms slide under me and lift me off the couch. I lean into him, grateful for his touch even if I don’t know why he’s here.
“I ditched the convention. You two need me.”
