Dinner tonight?
I hope you’re having a nice day!
I’m craving chicken fingers in the shape of funny characters!
Rereading these makes me smile, even though I shouldn’t. I have yet to tell Travis everything, other than our relationship can’t work. I don’t want him feeling sorry for me or showing me any pity. The mistakes I made are on me, not him. He doesn’t know that one night with him would lead to a life-altering situation that could cost me my job, my freedom, and my daughter. He doesn’t need this type of drama in his life right now.
“Do you think you could flirt with your boyfriend on your own time and not on mine?” Elijah asks, clearly exasperated already by my attempts to ignore him. I open my mouth to correct him but don’t. If he wants to think I have a boyfriend, I’m going to let him.
“Actually, you’re on my time,” I tell him as I set my phone down. “What do you want?”
“I want to see Lucy.”
“You mean you want to meet her,” I point out, hoping he feels the verbal jab.
He brushes off my comment and pulls at the pleat in his slacks. “She’s four, Saylor. Moving forward, I’m building memories with her.”
I stare at him, trying to come up with a reasonable response, but words fail me. I open my mouth to say something, only to close it right away. Elijah rolls his eyes, growing exasperated with me as quickly as I am with him.
“Is it money, Saylor? You know I pay my child support. I don’t know what else you want from me.”
“Nothing,” I tell him as I clench my hands. “Absolutely nothing, which should be your clue that you need to leave my office and forget she even exists.”
He shakes his head, and if I weren’t watching him like a hawk, I would’ve missed the sly smile that formed before it disappeared. “You have no problems accepting my money.”
I hate that he’s right. I need it to pay for her education. The tuition at her private school is a bit out of my reach, and I figured his money would go to something good.
“Elijah, I don’t have time for your games. I have work to do.”
This time he nods, drops his leg back to the floor, and leans forward. “I saw that one of your clients is in trouble.”
“And?” I ask, leaning forward to match his stance.
“And I know that you’ve been seeing him.”
“Excuse me?” I scoff, hoping to convey that he’s grasping at nothing.
“A colleague saw the three of you together.”
I stand and decide to pace around my office. It’s smaller than Jeffrey’s but still allows me to walk off any nervous energy.
“So let me get this straight. A friend of yours saw me with my client, and my daughter happened to be with me?”
“Yes.”
“When?” There has only been one time, and that was dinner earlier in the week. It’s not unheard of, having dinner with clients or even having them at our homes for the holidays. There is no way Elijah knows that Travis is interested in me.
“A few nights ago, and you can imagine how upset I am that you’re allowing our daughter to be near an accused rapist.”
Now I’m seeing red. The fact that he thinks I’d put my daughter in harm’s way really pisses me off, but I can’t tell him that. I need to keep my cool, remain calm. The last thing I want is for him to accuse me of being overly emotional.
“How dare you assume that I would put my daughter’s well-being at risk. You have no leg to stand on when it comes to parenting Lucy. You don’t even know how old she is. And you don’t have any clue about what type of parent I am. I have raised her, by myself, since she was born.”
Elijah leans back in the chair and crosses his leg again. My phone chimes, and I go to it, finding a text from my mother telling me that she’s sick and asking me to come get Lucy. I’d love to, and would normally drop everything, but I’m not ready for Elijah to see her. I close my eyes and think, and as my fingers hover over my phone, I know that what I’m about to do might change everything. I reply to Travis’s messages, asking him to go to my mom’s and get Lucy, explaining that my mother has fallen ill.
Of course.
Relief washes over me, and while this isn’t ideal, it’s the only thing I can think of. And I know Travis will treat Lucy as if she’s the most precious person in his life. I tell him that my mother lives in my building and give him her apartment number. I also let him know that he can get the key from my mom to gain access to my apartment. It’s risky, but the alternative is telling Elijah I need to go and having him follow me.