I’m so excited. Go back to work. We’ll see you in no time.
The rest of work goes by fairly quickly, all things considered. Woodcroft sends me home an hour early because, apparently, I’m not great at hiding my impatience to see my ladies.
“Honey, I’m home!” I call out as I get back to the apartment.
“Shh. She just fell asleep.” Claure rushes out, looking all kinds of out of sorts.
She’s never looked more gorgeous.
“Sorry.” I cringe.
“Why are you home early?” She frantically rushes around, picking up burp clothes.
“Hey.” I walk over to her.
“I’m sorry everything’s a mess.”
“Claire.”
“I expected another hour,” she rambles.
“Hey.” I step up in front of her, grabbing all the laundry. “I don’t care. I will never care. If the house looks like a bomb went off when I get home, I’ll help clean it. If you get a burst of energy and decide to clean the baseboards, I will also support that. I don’t care about the house looking perfect. If Charlie is happy and healthy, if you are happy, then that’s all I care about.” I reach out to cup her cheek and kiss her.
“Today was so hard,” she whimpers.
“How can I help?”
“I have no idea. I think I was just used to you being here, and being alone with Charlie was hard. She was fussy as hell. I think she missed you.”
My heart clenches hard. I know she’s not guilt-tripping me, but man, I wish money wasn’t an object and both of us could just stay at home and spend every second with Charlie. I know that’s not realistic, though. Charlie needs both of her parents to be happy, which involves both of us working to some extent.
“It’s just a transition period. Give it some time.” I hope to hell that’s all it is because I don’t think I can handle Claire having a hard time like this every day. I’ll figure out a way to make things work, but I’m really hoping things get better.
She takes a deep breath before stepping back. “You ready to sign the papers after Teeny wakes up?”
“I am. I was actually thinking of getting your office set up first so you can have space to work. I know you were saying Masie has a new artifact she wants you to check out.”
“Yeah?” Claire’s eyes light up, and I know this is the right move.
“Totally, but there is something I need to tell you. Something I found out at work.”
“Oh?”
“We found some information about Charlie. He, uh, worked for a company that ran a lot of the artifacts through it. He came upon some information that could have jeopardized the entire operation, so Cano was tasked with … taking him out. He was never on drugs, Claire,” I whisper. I didn’t know how to broach the subject, so I figured pulling off the band aid was the best option.
“What?”
“He was killed for finding out too much information. He was never doing drugs.”
“But— I—” Her eyes move around like she’s trying to piece together things. “He wasn’t doing drugs?”
“No.” I shake my head.
“Good, that’s good. I-I knew that it wasn’t like him, but the evidence was so overwhelming.” She nods, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Thank you. For telling me.”
“Of course. I’m sorry that I can’t take out that asshole Cano again for what he did to Charlie and you.” I grab her shoulders, pulling her to me to hug her.
“I’m glad I know,” she murmurs, pressing a kiss to my chest. Just as I’m about to lift her up and kiss her again, baby Charlie decides it’s time to wake up.
