A dumpster fire was burning, and it reeked of bullshit and backstabbery. Or maybe frontstabbery. At this point, Damien would no sooner turn his back on Bankes than he would a grizzly bear with a machete, and that was being unfair to the grizzly bear.
In any case, the atmosphere in the Goldcorp Group building was colder and more oppressive than usual on that November afternoon, and Damien was fairly certain it had everything to do with the fact that he’d taken a half day to accompany Matthew to Dr. Triassi’s office. It had been almost a month since his first ultrasound, and since then, his morning sickness had been giving him grief. When Damien had come home one day to discover Matthew hunched over the toilet while Emily slept on a makeshift bed of blankets in the bathtub, he’d decided enough was enough and scheduled a follow-up visit. Luckily for him, it turned out that Dr. Triassi had wanted to see them, anyway—prenatal visits were once-a-month affairs, and happened more frequently the closer the due date came.
But Damien would be damned if he’d let his boy attend the appointment alone when he was already feeling so shitty.
Unfortunately, investment banking was cutthroat—people didn’t take time off. A few years back, an associate had twisted her ankle after slipping on a freshly washed floor, and rather than go to the doctor, she’d hobbled around the rest of the day using her office chair like a walker. No one attended prenatal checkups with their partners because no one in the industry had time to start a family.
Fortunately, Damien wasn’t no one, and he didn’t give a rat’s ass what anyone thought about his work ethic. He’d worked himself to the bone for the Goldcorp Group for over a decade—it was time he set some boundaries. The fact that everyone else was too afraid to do it was on them.
Not willing to deal with infuriating office politics, Damien shut himself in his office and got to work. After jotting down what he had to accomplish with the time he had left in the day, he checked his phone for updates from the Single Dads.
GlitterDoctor: Today is one of those days where every time I look at the clock thinking an hour has gone by, ten seconds have gone by instead
GlitterDoctor: Send help
GlitterDoctor: or booze
Gwynning: I don’t think the medical community would take too kindly to you drinking on the job
GlitterDoctor: Mrrehhhh
GlitterDoctor: Then can someone send a time machine? I’m so ready to be done with today
KnotMyProblem: Me too
KnotMyProblem: If we pool our funds, we might be able to afford a Single Dad private jet. If my understanding of time travel is correct, all we’ll need to do is fly super fast toward the east and we’ll end up in the future
GlitterDoctor: I don’t think this plan is backed by science, but I’m so there for it
Gwynning: It’s not
GlitterDoctor: You want in, Gwynn?
Gwynning: Who’s flying?
GlitterDoctor: Harley
GlitterDoctor: For sure
KnotMyProblem: Glit’s right. Out of all of us, he’s the most likely to have had flight experience
Gwynning: Guys, I don’t think SEALs work like that…
KnotMyProblem: sshhhh
KnotMyProblem: Hush your lips
KnotMyProblem: Belieeeve
GlitterDoctor: Think of all the adventures we could have in the future, Gwynn
KnotMyProblem: a metric fuckton of potential awaits
While the chat went on, Damien poked through his team’s latest reports, attempting, but ultimately failing, to educate himself on how things were going with Phigma. He’d already flown in once to their Seattle headquarters, but follow-up was necessary. Nadja had sent him a text not all that long ago to remind him that he’d need to fly out to Seattle sometime next week to made sure everything was going smoothly with the acquisition, but the usual joy Damien got from imagining time out of the office just wasn’t there. The thought of leaving Matthew and Emily alone bothered him, and not just because Matthew’s pregnancy was making him so sick.
In years past, business trips had offered a much-needed reprieve from the stressful environment at the office. They’d given Damien room to breathe. But now that Matthew had come to live with him, Damien didn’t need to get away to feel relaxed. The only place he wanted to be when he wasn’t in the office was at Matthew’s side.
Which was exactly the kind of mushy gunk he would have teased the other Single Dads about when they’d been the ones falling in love, but damn if it wasn’t true.
