Page 48 of After the Fall

With her eye on the clock, she tapped her foot impatiently. It was getting late and Joe should’ve been home already. Harper’s birthday cake was sitting on the table and she wanted both her parents there to light the candles. Hope was running out of excuses.

“Any word from Dad?” Harper’s face peeked down the stairs.

Hope hated to disappoint her. She nodded, and said, “He’ll be home soon,” while crossing her fingers behind her, where she hoped Harper couldn’t see.

Harper nodded and disappeared back into her room.

Joe had been coming home late these days, sometimes not until after dark – what he’d promised would end when he accepted the job last year. It’s true that the money was great. Hope had been able to quit her job and be a stay-at-home mom,but truth be told, she missed working for Cynthia and spending her days amongst the flowers. Her daughter’s calendar was filled with school and extracurricular activities, leaving her wracked with boredom most of the time.Now this, she thought, tracing her finger along the sharp edges of the card.

Another hour passed before the front door creaked open. Joe walked into the living room to find his wife sitting on the couch with her arms crossed, a scowl plastered across her face.

“You missed Harper’s birthday dinner,” she hissed.

“I’m sorry.” He glanced around the room. “Where is she?”

She pointed upstairs and sighed. “I think she finally gave up on the cake.”

Joe’s face fell. “My experiment went longer than expected and I couldn’t just walk away from it. And then I stopped to pick this up for Harper.” He held up the tiny box that the jeweler had wrapped in shiny blue paper.

“You meant your experiment withGenocorp?” Her eyes narrowed at that last word.

“My… what?” His shoulders slunk when he noticed the card Hope gripped in her hands. “I can explain…”

“What the hell is Genocorp, Joe?”

“I—”

“You know, you never talk about your work anymore. Everything is so…” she threw her hands in the air, “secret. You promised that working for the Carders would be better for us, as a family. But we barely see you, Joe. And tonight was important.”

He sat on the couch and reached his arm out tentatively, before resting his hand on her knee. She didn’t swat it away, which he took as a promising sign. “Genocorp is a new biotech division that Maximus created. I wanted to tell you, I did. But for some reason, everything is being kept top secret. They made me sign an NDA.”

Hope’s eyes widened. “An NDA? For what? You’re a botanist, Joe.”

Joe opened his mouth, but then quickly closed it. He knew he was already in the dog house with his wife, but some things couldn’t be shared. Besides, Hope didn’t need to know that he was having doubts about Genocorp, that he suspected his boss was guilty of some shady, unethical things behind closed doors. And it wasn’t like his work with plants was a threat to anyone. If anything, he was getting closer and closer to something truly miraculous with the cryptothelys. Once his research was perfected, Hope would understand.

Instead, he said, “I’ll talk to Maximus about reducing my hours in the lab. You’re right. I’ve been missing too much family time.”

“Dad, you’re home,” Harper squealed, running down the stairs to envelop him in a bear hug. “Wait until you see the birthday cake Mom made. It’s lemon blueberry, with vanilla frosting.”

Joe looked at his wife with admiration. “You baked a birthday cake?”

She grinned, her anger already beginning to melt away. “I have a lot of free time now,” she laughed.

“Come on.” Harper grabbed her parents’ hands to pull them into the kitchen, but Joe held back.

“Wait,” he said, revealing the small box beside him. “Happy twelfth birthday, Sunbeam. I’m sorry I missed dinner. Hopefully this makes up for it.”

Harper was so excited, she tore through the blue wrapping in record time. Inside the small jeweler’s box lay a gold bracelet. “It’s beautiful, Dad. Thanks,” she said, clasping it onto her left hand. “I’ll never take it off.”

“One more thing, Sunbeam.” Joe reached into his pocket, revealing a tiny golden charm. It sparkled in the dim lighting of their living room. “May I?”

Harper looked up at her dad with huge doe eyes and nodded. After he clasped it onto the bracelet, she held it up and rotated her wrist. The jingling sound made her smile. “It’s a tulip,” she gushed.

“You know how much your mom means to me; how muchyoumean to me. I thought a tulip would be a good reminder to never settle for anything less than your one, big love.”

Hope’s eyes softened, the warmth and affection for her husband spilling through. “Oh, Joe. How thoughtful.” She clapped her hands together. “Now, how about some cake?”

Walking into the kitchen, Hope whispered quietly to her husband. “No more secrets. You need to keep me in the loop next time.”

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