Chapter 5

Kristen’s POV

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. 

The office was quiet this evening; many of the assistants had already cleared out for the day, and the senior staff was all attending meetings. 

Jake had come into the office only an hour ago after a conference on the bottom floor. 

It was prep for the big meeting and dinner he was hosting tonight with the Japanese client the company wanted to woo. 

He had been in a bad mood the whole day, and I had done my best to avoid him especially since my day hadn’t been that great, either. 

My car had broken down on the way to work, which made me almost an hour late to the office. 

That had created a backlog of work, which had eaten into my lunch break and forced me to skip lunch altogether. 

Then, to add insult to injury, one of the interns from the junior departments spilled his hot coffee all over my favorite white silk blouse while I was making copies in the copy room. 

I’d had to spend the whole evening walking around with a giant stain on the front of my blouse. 

Then not even half an hour ago, I had run down to the water cooler to refill my thermos when Timothy Dugan, one of the assistant managers approached me and started sexually harassing me. 

I had excused myself at the first opportunity and taken refuge in the bathroom to try and compose myself a little.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror, wondering what on earth I was even doing here.

 It had been a mistake from the get-go, and I probably always knew that, but for some reason, my stubborn nature hadn’t allowed me to see that. 

I unclipped my hair and retied it quickly, pulling back the loose strands of hair that fell around my face. 

I ran my hands under the water and tried to rub away the stain on my blouse, but it didn’t look like it was going anywhere. 

“What an awful fucking day,” I sighed, under my breath. 

I tried to convince myself that I might still be able to salvage the evening. 

I would finish up here as fast as I could, then I’d head back to my apartment. 

order some sushi and binge-watch something frivolous and entertaining. 

It didn’t even matter what. 

I just wanted to turn my brain off and relax. 

Maybe I’d even stop by the grocery store and get a couple of pints of Ben and Jerry's to comfort myself. 

Feeling reasonably composed, I had decided to commit to my plan, suck it up, and head back to my desk when I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. 

I checked the name on the screen and tensed up the moment I saw ‘Mom’ emblazoned there. 

“Today just keeps getting better and better,” I said to myself. I stared at the flashing screen for a few seconds, contemplating what to do.

 I decided to just let it ring. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to Mom today especially today. I put my phone back in my pocket and headed back to my desk.

 I could hear Jake talking to someone inside his office.

 His tone was far from cheery, and I sensed that he was just nervous about the dinner tonight.

 I was about to start looking through Jake’s schedule for the next week when the phone rang. I picked it up immediately and employed my corporate secretary voice. 

“Harper Maritime Company, this is Jake Middleton’s office; how may I help you?” 

“Uh…hi, I need to speak to Jake…Mr. Middleton, please,” said a tentative voice on the other line.

 “It’s urgent.” I glanced toward Jake’s closed door. 

“Mr. Middleton is in a very important meeting,” I said. 

“May I know what this is about?” 

“I’m Janet, his babysitter,” Janet replied. 

“This is regarding his son.” 

“Is he alright?” I blurted out before I could stop myself. 

“Um…yeah, of course,” she said. 

“Can you please put Jake on the phone? As I said, it’s urgent. I have a family emergency, and I have to go right away.” I hesitated for only a moment. 

“Okay, Janet,” I said.

 “I will inform Mr. Middleton. I’m going to put you on hold for a few minutes, okay?” 

“Okay.” I put her on hold and then walked around to Jake’s door.

 I knocked three times and took a deep breath. 

After a moment, I was met with a brusque, “Yes, what is it?” I pushed the door open and entered hesitantly.

 “Excuse me, sir,” I said. 

“I’m sorry to disturb you”

 “I have a lot of work to do before the dinner tonight, Kristen,” Jake said, sounding extremely annoyed. 

He wasn’t even looking at me as he spoke. His eyes were fastened on the computer screen in front of me. 

“This had better be important.” 

“It’s about your son, sir.” Immediately, Jake got to his feet, and I saw the panic flash through his eyes. 

“What” 

“He’s fine,” I said quickly, realizing what that might have sounded like to him. 

“He’s perfectly alright. It’s just…your babysitter is on the line.” More annoyance flashed across Jake’s face. 

“What does she want this time?”

 “She says she has a family emergency,” I said, wringing my hands together. 

“And she needs to leave.” 

“When?”

 “Now,” I said. 

“Now?” he repeated. 

“As in right this minute.” 

“That was the impression I got, sir, yes.” Jake groaned and walked around his desk. 

“She can’t do that… I have the dinner tonight.” He glanced towards his phone and spied the line that was lit up. 

“Is she on hold?” he asked. 

“She is.” Without asking me to leave, Jake pressed the button and put it on speaker.

 “Janet?” 

“Jake, I have to leave now.” “I’m paying you for the whole night.” 

“I understand that, and I’ll gladly return the money,” she said. 

“But I have to go.”

 “I can’t come home tonight, Janet,” Jake insisted. 

“Isn’t there someone who can…cover for you?” 

“My father won’t exactly be happy with a substitute daughter, Jake,” Janet replied, and she sounded just as irritated as he did.

 “I have to leave in the next half an hour. I expect you to be here in that time, or else I will have to leave Noah with one of the neighbors.”