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“Do it,” I said curtly.
I dismissed Mike and Alicia with a wave of my hand and turned my chair back towards the window. I knew why I was distracted and I knew why I was upset. The more time I spent fielding a bunch of whiny men, the less time I got to spend with Grace. I was working until six every night and then getting on my computer and writing emails back and forth until almost nine. I hadn’t seen her since my return to work and I was getting anxious. Upset.
I missed her.
I picked up the phone and dialed my mother’s number. I had it memorized after the past three and a half months. I leaned back into my leather chair as the phone rang in my ear, and I closed my eyes to take in the quiet of my office.
Because I knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long. The beeping of my email computer would soon take the place of the restful silence I was experiencing.
Tough shit for my investors if they didn’t like it.
“Hayden? Is that you?”
“Hey, Mom.”
“What number are you calling from?” she asked.
“It’s the office number,” I said with a chuckle.
“Wow. I haven’t received a call from this number in… many, many years.”
“We all miss him, Mom.”
“Some days more than others, but we all get through somehow,” she said with a sigh. “Is everything okay at work?”
“It’s… going.”
“You sound distracted.”
“I am, but that’s not why I’m calling. I want to take you and Cara out to dinner as a ‘thank you’ for all your help during my recuperation.”
“Hayden, that isn’t-”
“I didn’t ask, Mom.”
“You sound like your father,” she said coyly.
“I get all my worst traits from him,” I said with a grin.
“When were you thinking? Tonight?”
“If that’s not too soon. I’ve been at this office until nine or ten o’clock every night since I’ve been back. If I don’t have something to do tonight, the office will chain me here until I starve.”
“I remember those nights with your father. He would always come home so tired,” she said.
“I’m going to make us reservations at Daniel.”
“Oh, that French place? Hayden, don’t do that. It’s so expensive and I’ll have to dress up and-”
“You deserve a night out, Mom. You and Cara both. Let me do this for you guys. Please?”
“Please? I haven’t heard that word come out of your mouth in years,” she said with a giggle.
“Let’s just say I’ve had a change of heart.”
I looked out over the water of the city I loved dearly, but I still felt caged. As I sat in my onyx tower with the tinted windows and the flashing sign on the front of the building, the only thing I could look forward to was dinner. Was getting out. Was leaving.
It never used to be like that.
