Page 9 of I Won't Be In On Monday

I sit there in silence, staring at the wall for ten minutes, just processing.

My daughter, whom I've never met before, is going to be spending the next couple of months with me.

In my bachelor pad. I did have a spare bedroom, but it had absolutely nothing in it—except for random boxes and junk. No bed, no dresser… Nothing in my apartment was kid friendly.Fuck, I think to myself, as I remember the dirty magazines, the sex toys, and other accouterments I have in my apartment. I'm not going to be able to clean this out by tomorrow. I pick up the phone one last time. There's only one person I can call to help me. There's only one person I trust.

I just hope that Juniper is not going to be pissed off at me.

I need her. Now.

Never was an assistant more needed.

Chapter Three

Juniper

The dramatic green-and-gold floral wallpaper greets me as I open my front door, and that momentary thrill of happiness fills me as it always does when I take in my eclectic and abstract interior.

I switch on the hallway light and power on my phone as I walk into my studio apartment, but I'm surprised to see a plethora of voicemails and text messages come through. I blink as I see that they're all from Remington. “What on earth?” I mumble in surprise as I wait to hear the messages.

I press the first voicemail message, and his voice is urgent. "Hey, give me a call when you get this."

Then I listen to the second one. "Hey, Juniper, it’s your boss, Remington Parker. Please call me.”

And then the third. “Hey, Juniper, please call me as soon as you get this."

There were five more voicemails and five text messages. I look at the time. It's 1:00 o'clock in the morning. I debate whether or not I should call him, seeing as it’s so late, but before I can make the decision, my phone rings again.

I answer quickly. “Remington, what’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“Juniper, there you are. I’ve been trying to call you.”

“I know,” I say. “I just got in. My phone was off.”

“Look, we’ve got a problem.”We’vegot a problem? Huh?

“What do you mean? What happened? Oh, no, it's not about the Poseidon case, is it? I thought that the deadline was..."

"No, no, no, no. It's not work related. It's something else."

"Okay, and what's that?"

"You may or may not have heard through the grapevine that..." He pauses. I don't say anything, and he sighs. "I have a daughter."

"I did hear that there was a possibility," I say softly, my heart beating. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Well, I just spoke to her mother this evening and..."

"Are you getting married?" I say, feeling shocked and maybe slightly jealous.

"No, no, no, no. Of course not. I don't even know the lady. I mean, obviously I know her. We had one passionate night together, I suppose. But no, Canyon is now..."

"Sorry, who?"

"Canyon is my daughter."

"Oh, that's a pretty name."

"I suppose it is," he says. "Well, anyway, Karen, Canyon's mom and my one-time lover, I suppose you could call her, is..." He lets out a deep strangled noise.

---