Chapter Nineteen
It had been the day from hell, and Eliza was fit to collapse as she finally made it back to the hotel room. Her phone had died halfway through the longest crisis meeting of her career. They worked all day through how to not lose their biggest client due to a major fuck-up by none other than Rory. Although a small part of her was glad to finally have a reason beyond his sexism to fire his ass, that joy was overshadowed by the shitstorm now firmly at her feet as his boss. He was out, that was a given, but it meant the only person left to take the heat was Eliza, and she had taken it and then some.
Her phone let out incessant beeps as it came back to life, and Eliza groaned. There was nothing she wanted more than to crawl beneath the hotel sheets and sleep, but she needed to get ready to sleep and check in at home. She had had enough time before her phone died to message Rowyn and let her know there was no chance she was making her flight, so it would be Wednesday evening before she got home. Rowyn hadn’t replied by the time her phone went dead, but at least she knew not to expect Eliza tonight.
Her eyes were heavy as she let her phone continue charging and did the bare minimum of her evening routine. She let the powerful jets do all the work of washing away the day as she stood beneath the shower. She generally had good boundaries with work and not taking things personally. Work was important to her, and she took pride in her job, but it wasn’t like her to let it sit so heavily on her mind after she had left the office.
This year was important, though; she was so close to the promotion she had been working so hard for, and losing a client this big could ruin it. On the other hand, saving face with the client and getting them back in full swing could be the final piece of the puzzle needed to prove herself. As tough as the day had been, it had ended with her securing a face-to-face meeting with the CEO tomorrow morning. She had yet to lose a client once she got time to sit with them and assure them that she would take care of their account personally, and she was confident tomorrow would go her way. All she needed was a good night’s rest and a clear head.
Eliza grabbed her phone as she finally slid beneath the duvet and glanced at the screen. She ignored the many notifications and pressed call on Rowyn’s number, which had quickly become consistently her most recently dialled. Her eyes were heavy and her body longed for sleep, but her heart ached to be comforted by the voice that had become so familiar to her.
“Yeah?”
Eliza pulled the phone back from her ear and frowned, as if she had somehow mistakenly called a stranger. That’s what it sounded like, considering the one word from Rowyn had sounded anything but familiar. Eliza opened and closed her mouth in confusion.
“Rowyn? Is everything okay?”
There was silence on the other end of the line for long enough to have Eliza’s body on edge.
“The kids are fine. It’s been a long day, so I was going to sleep.”
It was late enough for that to make sense, but Eliza wasn’t convinced that was all there was to it. Eliza was intimately aware of the sound of Rowyn’s sleepy voice. It was nothing like the current tone, which was flat, almost lifeless.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t call before now. My day went on foreverand my phone went dead. I didn’t even have time to plug it in with how horrendous the afternoon was. I’m sorry for leaving you to deal with it all for another night, but I’ll be home before dinner tomorrow.”
Silence stretched again, and Eliza was more unsettled than ever. She had been looking forward to crawling into bed, unwinding with Rowyn for a few minutes, and then slipping off to sleep.
“I’m not the one who needs an apology. You told Amelia you’d be at her sports day tomorrow. How did you forget? I saw it in your calendar.”
Eliza hadn’t forgotten, not exactly. She didn’t feel great about missing it, but in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t a major event in the kids’ lives that couldn’t handle being put behind a work emergency.
“I’ll apologize to her tomorrow, and I’ll make it up to her this weekend. I already messaged Henry about it, so he will be in attendance. Is that why you’re angry with me? Because I’m missing a school sports day? It seems a bit…disproportionate, Rowyn.”
By the sharp intake of breath on the line, Eliza gathered that she had said the wrong thing. Again.
“It’s late, and you’re not going to make it back now regardless of what I say, so discussing this over the phone is pointless. We can talk when you manage to get back.”
Eliza bristled. It wasn’t so much the words but how Rowyn delivered them that stung. If the day hadn’t already been as long as it had, Eliza might have more patience and understanding to deal with this.
“Yes, we will talk. Because I get enough aggravation for being a working mother who occasionally has to leave my children from the rest of the world, I do not need it from inside my house too. I foolishly thought you understood better, but I wasmistaken.”
“It’s not about—”
Rowyn interrupted, but Eliza cut her off again before she could continue. She needed to get off the phone before they made everything worse by allowing their personal feelings to once again interfere. This is why we have boundaries, she reminded herself.
“Please tell my children to have fun tomorrow, and I will see them for dinner. Feel free to take time to yourself upon my return, and you can take Saturday off to make up for the extra time too. Goodnight.”
Eliza held her finger over the end call button. She had meant to click off right away, having no more to say and desperately needing this day to be over. Something stopped her, though, and she had a feeling it was that tiny twinge of longing combined with hope. That Rowyn would fix this, that something would magically change, that life would be simple and they would fall asleep together in the calm that had surrounded them up until now.
“Goodnight.”
Rowyn whispered the word before the line went dead.
Eliza plugged her phone back in beside her bed and quickly glanced at the messages that Rowyn had sent earlier in the day. Five in total.
Is there any way you can make it back tonight? Amelia is really excited about you making the sports day, it’s tomorrow.
Or even an early flight in the morning might get you here before it if you went straight from the airport?
