Page 11 of I Won't Be In On Monday

"She speaks English, right? She grew up in the States?"

"Yes, of course."

"I know you speak English, Mr. Parker. I think you'll be able to communicate just fine," I say dryly.

"I mean, I don't know how to communicate with a little girl of seven. I've never been around a little girl of seven."

"What?” I gasp in shock. “Not even when you were seven?"

He chuckles slightly. "Well, maybe whenIwas seven. Who knew you had such a sense of humor, Juniper?"

"Um, my friends and family."

"You should let it out more in the office. You'll help me tomorrow?"

"I mean, I'll do what I can." I pause."I'm sure it'll be fine and you guys will get on like a house on fire and she will love you. I bet that–“

"I don't know," he says, cutting me off. "This is really going to put a kink in my love life."

"I guess that's true," I say dryly. "Do you want me to send roses to all the women on your roster, letting them know that you won’t be available for the next couple of months because you’re looking after your kid?”

“No,” he says quickly. “Not at all. I mean, we don’t want to turn anyone off, and I don't want anyone to think that…" He pauses. "Let’s just keep it between us for now."

"Okay," I say. Even though everyone at the office likely already knows. The gossip between assistants and legal secretaries was enough to launch a daytime soap. Though I wasn’t going to bring that up.

"Thanks, Juniper. You really are the best assistant ever.”

“Well, thank you, Mr. Parker. I'm really glad to be appreciated. I was going to ask—" My voice is soft, and I’m not surprised when he cuts me off. I’m not really sure what I was going to say.

"I better go now." He lets out a sigh. "I think Jennifer Ortega is expecting a call from me."

"Okay." I hope he can’t hear the hurt in my voice.

"You did send her the roses, right?"

"Honestly, I can't remember the names of all the people I send roses to for you." Because there have been a lot.

"Touché. I know she wanted to go out tomorrow evening, but obviously that's not going to happen." He sounds pissed. "But it's fine."

"I’m going to go now, Mr. Parker. I don’t really care if you can see one of your many women tomorrow night or not," I say under my breath.

"What did you say? Sorry, I didn’t hear you properly, Juniper."

"It’s nothing. Have a good evening."

"You, too. See you in the morning."

“Yeah.” I hang up and just stare at the phone as I lean back on the couch. It’s brown leather and swallows me up whole as I push a throw cushion into my face and scream into it. My heart is still racing in irritation and annoyance. I know that Remington is taking advantage of me, but a secret part of meenjoys being the one that he reaches out to in his time of need. I know I’m an idiot. I need to get over my school-girl crush on my boss. It is going nowhere.

I throw the pillow off of my face and grab the remote control. I want to distract myself from my wandering thoughts. I stare at the TV screen as it flickers to life, and I quickly press the button to take me to Netflix so I can watchThe Mindy Project. The sitcom always makes me feel better about myself. If Mindycan find love after all the drama of her life, then I certainly can.

My mind drifts as I lie there, trying to focus on Mindy and Danny as they argue, but I can’t stop thinking about the phone call. So the rumors are true, then. Remington Parker is a father to a seven-year-old girl. I wonder how he is going to do it. He doesn’t seem like the paternal type. Not like my dad. I have no clue how he will change his bachelor ways and accept the responsibility of a young child. A daughter. I can't imagine him as a dad, and I’m pretty sure he can’t imagine himself as a dad either, and that's why he's panicking.

I wonder what she looks like, his little girl, and I wonder if she’ll be his spitting image in female form. Then I wonder what her mom looks like. I’m sure she is gorgeous. Remington only dates gorgeous women. He doesn’t seem the sort to go for personality. Though, if I’m being honest with myself, I couldn’t name one guy who went for personality over looks.

Maybe money, but then those guys were gold diggers.

I wonder if he and the mom might give it another shot, if he would give up his playboy lifestyle to become a family man. I almost start laughing at the thought.

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