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I turn off the television and follow Martin to our kitchen. He sits at the table with a book, and I gather the ingredients to make tonight’s dinner; meatloaf. Martin likes it with extra ketchup on top.
Dinner’s in the oven and Martin’s at the table practicing his reading. I sit next to him and help (Martin keeps pushing me away with a “Dad, I got it!”) as much as possible. The oven timer eventually goes off. As I go to get the meatloaf out of the oven, my phone vibrates. I put the meatloaf on the stove and pull out the phone. It’s Clark.
“Damn,” I mutter. “What now?”
I reluctantly answer.
“Jack,” he says. I already don’t like the tone of his voice. “Hey, sorry to bother you so late, but the investors are getting cold feet. We need that big brain of yours to sweet talk them into staying onboard.”
“I’ll take care of it,” I tell him and end the call.
“Who was it, daddy?” Martin asks.
“Just one of daddy’s friends. Ready to eat?”
Martin nods and I start making his plate. I set the plate out in front of him and my phone rings again. I look at it, and, of course, it’s Clark again. I sigh heavily and answer.
“I almost forgot,” he says. “We rescheduled for tomorrow. Make sure you wear your best tie. And be there on time.”
“Right,” I say. How long is he going to make me pay for being late the one time?
We eat the meatloaf (Martin devours every bite) and I give him his evening bath. Martin always loves playing with his toys, laughing as he splashes them with water. Watching him splash around, happy as a clam takes away some of my stress. What would I do without him?
After the bath comes bedtime and a bedtime story. I sit on his bed and read to him as he drifts off, his head against my arm. He’s asleep before I finish the book. I tuck him in and kiss his forehead.
“Sleep tight. Love you, buddy.”
Time for the nightly routine. I wash the dishes and lay out mine and Martin’s clothes for the next morning. After finishing the chores, I sit on the couch and fire up my laptop for work. Six critical bugs were detected in our app in the last 2 days. All of them needed my personal attention.
“Oh, this is going to take a while,” I mutter.
I start working on the issues. I only get about halfway through fixing the bugs, I start to feel the day creep up on me. I need to get some sleep. I rub my eyes and work for another four hours before finally finishing up and going to bed.
In the morning, I start it all over again. I wake up with my alarm, I get up and dressed and get Martin together. I make breakfast for us both, then we leave, him for school and me for work.
“Hey, right on time,” says Clark as I walk into the meeting room at work. “Early, even. You look like shit, though.”
“Thanks,” I say. “I was up all night trying to fix a couple of bugs that popped up in the app.” I glance around the meeting room. “Looks like I’m really early.”
“About twenty minutes or so. Say, why don’t you go freshen up before they get here? I’m serious. You look like hell.”
I give him a smart look and say, “Fine. I’ll get some coffee, too, while I’m at it. You want some?”
He raises the cup of coffee he already has and I nod. “Be right back.”
I snap my fingers at him in acknowledgment and I leave, going to the bathroom first. As soon as I get a look at myself in the mirror, I cringe a little. I’ve got dark bags under my bloodshot eyes and my hair was sticking up in spots. I shaved this morning, but my skin looks a little sallow and sickly like I just got out of the hospital or something.
I splash some water on my face, then use a little of the water to lay down the cowlick in my hair. It’s not perfect, but at least I don’t look like a homeless guy in a suit now.
I head to the cafeteria and grab a cup of coffee and as I turn around to sit at a table, I’m surprised to find Sarah already sitting there working on the laptop. Her black hair is pulled up in a loose bun. A few strands frame her beautiful face and her blue eyes shine in the sunlight from the windows behind her.
“Sarah? What are you doing here?” I inquire with a smile.
“Hey,” she says pleasantly. “I beat my bosses here, apparently. I live a little closer than the rest of them do.” She gives me a once-over. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve been up all night.”
“That’s probably because I was,” I sat down next to her. “Work stuff kept me up. That on top of making sure Martin’s together…it was a long day yesterday.”
Her smile broadens a little. “Aren’t you Superman? I’m impressed.”
