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I laugh at her little joke. “Yes, I will do. I’ll text you when I get a chance. Love you, Robyn.”
“Yeah, I love you too, babe. See you soon, okay? Can’t wait to hang out!”
As I hang up the phone to her, I feel a brightness in my chest. This decision has been weighing heavily on me ever since I first heard about it but now I don’t think it’s quite so soul destroying as it once felt. Robyn has made me see that there’s more to life. Maybe, as scary as it is, I can walk away from being a lawyer and do something else.
But not for now. Right now, I have to help Evan with his business. Once I’ve done that, then I can start making all the choices about my future. One thing at a time.
Chapter Seventeen – Evan
“No, it’s okay. I understand that it’s your day off. Thank you anyway, Marie.”
I hang up the phone and look at my boy who’s playing in the corner of my office. So much for keeping his existence away from my employees. They all know that I have a child now! But it can’t be helped, the sickness bug hit Anika hard, it came from nowhere and she doesn’t want to pass it on to Liam. After calling all the other nannies and finding out that none of them are available today, she didn’t have any choice but to bring him here. I just don’t like Liam being in the office, it’s boring for him. I might have to leave in a moment to take him home…
“Hey, how’s it going… oh!” Katy’s face contorts in shock as she sees me and Liam alone in my office. “I’m sorry, have I got the date wrong? Am I not supposed to be here?”
I can tell that she feels awkward, which isn’t surprising. I feel it too. I always keep the women in my life away from my son until I know for sure that they’re going to last… which of course hasn’t been any of them so far, so this is strange. I can’t halt it now, it’s too late.
“No, you are.” I move across the room and rub Liam’s head. He glances up from the tablet screen he’s playing on, but only for a second. He’s engulfed in the game. “We just have a bit of an unexpected visitor at the moment. Liam’s nanny is sick, so I might need to go home. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be a jerk, I should have called you to save you the trip.”
“Oh right, okay, I see.” Katy nods slowly. “There’s some stuff I really need to go through with you today. Do you have time?”
I know that once me and Katy get started with talking business, we can talk for hours, so doing it here with Liam in the room isn’t ideal. I’ll be distracted by him the whole time. Instead we need to go somewhere we can all be a little more comfortable. This isn’t something I would ever normally do, but I don’t see what choice I have right now.
“Did you want to come to my home with me to talk about it? That way Liam has all his toys and stuff to play with and we have snacks on tap? Me and you can get some real discussion time in.”
The thought of Katy in my large home actually brings a bit of a smile to my face. I haven’t wanted anyone to invade my personal space before, which just confirms how deep my feelings for Katy are. I like her, too damn much. She’s just so awesome. I guess in a way this will be a weird test for us. If she can’t handle being around Liam then we can both take a step back now before we get too involved with each other. That way, it won’t hurt so much and Liam won’t get attached.
“Oh yeah.” Katy’s face lights up with glee. “That sounds great actually.” She glances towards Liam, with a shining happiness in her eyes. She doesn’t look as freaked out as she probably should be. “Then we have plenty of time to go over all of this.”
I pat Liam on the back. “Come on, buddy, let’s get going. We’ll head home to play there.”
“No,” he instantly whines. “I don’t want to leave. I want to keep playing this game, it’s fun!”
I sigh loudly, preparing myself for a battle, but somehow it doesn’t quite head that way. Instead, Katy bends down and she stares right into Liam’s eyes which forces him to meet her gaze.
“Hey, Liam, my name is Katy. Do you think maybe we could go back to your house so you can show me your toys? I bet you’ve got lots of superhero stuff, haven’t you?”
Liam drops the tablet on his side and opens his eyes wide and excitedly. “I do! I have a Batman, and an Iron Man, and I also have a Hulk. He stomps around like this…”
Liam jumps up from his chair and he stomps around like a mad man. I expect Katy to freak out a bit but she laughs and joins in with him. I haven’t ever seen him take to anyone so quickly, not even any of his nannies. He’s known for taking a moment to warm up to people so this is shocking. Maybe he has an intuition and he can see right into Katy’s warm soul.
“Wow, that’s awesome,” Katy laughs gleefully. “Now you have to show me all your toys.”
“Yeah.” Liam grabs my hand and he pulls me. “Come on, Daddy, we have to get going. I need to show the nice lady my toys.”
“The nice lady is called Katy,” I call after him. “But yeah, come on let’s go.”
***
I chuckle to myself as I watch Katy and Liam in the middle of an intense game of… well, something or other. I think it started out as alien hunter but now I’m not so sure. It’s transformed into something crazy, but they’re both having a lot of fun, that’s the main thing. It’s left me sitting at my home desk reading through the paper work alone, but I don’t mind.
“Daddy!” Liam calls out while shrieking playfully. “Daddy, come and play.”
“I can’t come and play, I’m in the middle of doing something…” I answer wearily. But as I rub my forehead hard I realize that I’m not actually getting much done now. I’m reading and re reading the same sentences and not drinking anything in. “Do you know what, I’m coming.”
I leap off my chair and I grab a pretend gun to join in. It feels good to actually have some fun in my life, especially with my child. As w
e race around the house, throwing cushions around everywhere, I feel high as a kite. It makes me see that I’ve shut off from Liam more than I realized, he hasn’t had any time to actually get to know me which is wrong. I need to bring myself back into his life more, I need to be the father that he needs me to be. I need to make up for his lack of mother. I just quite simply need to be better. I can do that. It’s fine.
