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“It’s okay, Mary, she’s with me,” A voice says. I turn and nearly pass out.
This morning is a fever dream.
“Of course, Mr. Donovan,” Mary says, but it sounds a thousand miles away.
Because standing there, looking like he has never met me before, is David.
David Donovan, apparently. The head partner of Donovan and Sons, and my new boss.
CHAPTER 2
David
The morning couldn’t be going worse if I had planned it myself.
First, Laura from last night clearly wants nothing to do with me. I wasn’t all that surprised. We were both fairly wasted when we got in last night, and had already been tipsy—going on drunk—when we first met. She also looked much, much younger in the daylight. I make it a rule never to sleep with women younger than me by that large of a margin, but last night, I really hadn’t been thinking straight.
Second, Angie had called Lewis “Dad.” My daughter hadn’t called her mom’s new boyfriend “Dad” on purpose. It was clearly a slip of the tongue, one she and her brother Benji didn’t even notice. “We’re going skiing with Mom and Dad!” was all she said. She hadn’t meant to hurt me.
But she had.
Angie is only eight. Benji, at fourteen, is unlikely to form a father-son relationship with another man. Cool uncle, maybe, but dad? Unlikely. Angie, though…
I worked hard to be a good co-parent after Jessi and I divorced. I evenlikeLewis! He has been one of my closestfriends for years at the firm. There couldn’t be a better guy to be in my kids’ lives.
But…
I slam the door a bit too hard. My assistant’s head snaps up, her eyes widening behind her thick-framed glasses. I grimace—the closest my face could express as an apology—and go to my desk silently.
I am notsulking.I am just…
Well, it has been a bad weekend.
The kids are with Jessi and Lewis for a whole two weeks. When my ex-wife broached the idea of an extended vacation after Christmas, how was I supposed to say no? I hadn’t even wanted to… at least not at first. Now, though… Who knows how many slip-upDads there will be in that time!
And Laura had been more horrified about me than even I had been about her age. It is a good thing she wasn’t interested in me. It is just alsonotwhat I was hoping for when I fell asleep last night.
The sex had been otherworldly. I’m not usually one to bring home women from the bar, and I’m certainly not one to sleep with women that young. But there was something about her that had captivated even a drunk me. And though the night is blurry and hazy in my memory, there is one clear and distinctive reality: sex with her wasgood.
I look around my desk, noticing that I’m missing something.
“Piper,” I call. My assistant’s head snaps up. Her desk is inside of my office, since my office takes up half of the floor, but it’s still a good distance away. We could probably get away with a wall between them if we wanted.
“Sir!” Piper replies.
“Where is my laptop?” I can’t possibly work without it. I always keep it on my desk unless I take it home to work over the weekend, and I hadn’t, had I?
“You took it with you,” Piper says, frowning. “The Jennison case?”
Right. I was going to do that Friday night—before Angie had called Lewis “Dad” on the drive home.
“Right,” I sigh. “I left it in the car.”
I could send Piper to get it for me. I usually would, but I’m still feeling restless. Antsy. Law isn’t the most focused profession—I’d leave that to doctors and mechanics—but it does require me to think about something other than my failures as a man and a father. The walk could be helpful.
Plus, then I’d have to explain why Damon might not be here yet. And Piper is a lot of things, and great at most of them, including getting the truth out of me.
I stand up, wave her down, and leave the office. It takes a bit of genuine effort to keep myself looking like the boss, polite but disinterested in my employees. I’m bad at this bit, no matter how hard I try. I’m always too far one way or the other: too invested, too dedicated, or too uncaring and unaware. This careful balance is a juggling act I’ve never gotten good at. It’s obvious the people know it, too, when their voices all hush as I walk by, half of them smiling and the other half quivering.
