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“Yeah,” he whispered, walking around my desk.
He turned my chair to face him and crouched in front of me. His hands landed on my knees, and he cleared his throat. I watched his hands, fingers caressing my outer thighs.
“Hey, look at me, Button.”
I shook my head. His disappointment at my lack of work-life balance was a familiar feeling for me. When we were together, I didn’t tend to stay in the office until late since we commuted together, but my desk at home had seen many late nights. He would often come to get me from my desk around midnight and would dejectedly sigh to our bed. My insistence that he went to bed without me often made him angry.
“Button…please?”
I looked at him. His dark eyes were washed in concern. He looked at me with a sad expression. Not disappointment, worry.
“When was the last time you ate?” he raised his hand to my cheek.
“Not sure,” I whispered, knowing how disappointed he would be. “What time did we finish our update meeting with Connor?”
“Around ten. Have you not eaten since then? All you had was like a banana.”
“It was an apple.”
“Blake.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I uncovered that we missed this, and I’ve been hyper-focused. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, hey, Button, it’s okay. You’re going to run yourself ragged. Let me take you to get some food, and then I’ll walk you home.”
“No, I can’t. I need to finish this before the morning. I’m almost done.”
“Blake, you’re falling asleep sitting here, and you look like you’ll pass out any minute. Let me help you. I’m going to run downstairs and get you some food. Then I’ll help you finish this. It’ll go quicker with both of our brains.”
My stomach chose a terrible time to growl, and Erik chuckled slightly before he walked away. I was too tired and hungry to put up much of a fight.
As I waited for him, it dawned on me that this was a different Erik. In the two years that we worked and lived together, he had never offered to help me. Our discussions often resulted in arguments and with me apologizing after his berating.
Maybe he had changed.
Erik came back about fifteen minutes later. He had picked up a burger and fries from the nearby fast-food place. The smell of food sent my stomach into a frenzy. He took my computer to the conference room and plugged it in before setting the food in front of me. I felt reinvigorated with every bite.
My phone dinged, but it was on the other side of Erik. He reached for it and took a peek before handing it to me. There was a text from Parker on the screen. Erik gave me a strange look, but I just locked my screen and set my phone aside. Parker could wait.
I was still exhausted, but the food made a big difference in my energy levels. I could read the words on the screen again and focus on doing what I had to without my eyes closing on me.
Erik let me quickly walk him through everything I was looking at and what needed to be done. He provided valuable feedback on the mockup that Stephen had done. I wrote everything down. He helped establish an excellent timeline and raised some questions and discrepancies I hadn’t considered before. By the time one in the morning rolled around, I felt confident that the draft was complete enough to send to the client in the morning.
Our big clients were important, but we couldn’t disappoint the small ones that had given us the opportunities that led us here.
“I can’t thank you enough,” I turned to Erik as we left the building.
“It’s nothing. Let me walk you home.”
“It’s okay. You’ve done more than enough, and my apartment is out of your way.”
“It wasn’t a request, Button. It’s one in the morning. I’m not letting you walk home by yourself.”
I didn’t argue further or tell him I had done this walk at odd hours in the morning many times. He walked me to my front door.
The small talk during the walk gave me time to think about the many memories of us walking around our hometown before we were old enough to drive. To the dollar store for snacks. To the gas station for ice cream. They were the only place in town that always had good ice cream bars. It also brought back memories of driving home together after a hard day at work. This was familiar. Natural.
“Thank you, Erik. Let me know when you get home, okay?”
