Page 2 of This Moment

Beep. Beep. Beep.

With a groan, I reached over and fumbled for my phone to turn off the annoying-ass alarm that was blaring. Was it my imagination, or was it louder than normal?

After turning off the alarm, I set it back on the side table and ran my hand down my face. It felt like I had only fallen asleep a few minutes ago, and now I was back up. Same shit, different day, as my brother says.

I sat up and swung my legs over the bed. Before I even put my feet on the floor, my phone notifications were going off with incoming emails. With a sigh, I stood, went to my dresser, and pulled out some workout clothes. I needed a quick run before I started this day.

The sound of my feet hitting the pavement was music to my ears. Even with it being winter, and freezing out, I loved running. I didn’t get to work out nearly enough, so anytime I could sneak in a run or a trip to the gym was a blessing. It was the only thing that could clear my mind and lower my anxiety.

“Good morning, Mr. Carter.”

I smiled at the doorman of my building, Charles Ludwig. “Morning, Charles. How are you today?”

As he held the door open, he grinned. “My day has been magical. Just found out my daughter is having a baby girl.”

I reached my hand out to shake his. “Congratulations, Charles. I thought she wasn’t going to find out the sex of the baby.”

Charles laughed. “She wasn’t, but they had to do a sonogram yesterday, and they asked again, and she and her husband broke down. I’m glad they decided to tell everyone and not do one of those reveal parties. I’ve seen some really outrageous videos of those.”

With a chuckle, I replied, “My sister had a gender reveal party, and everything that could go wrong did. She swore never again. When is the baby due?”

Another wide smile broke out across his face. “Two weeks.”

“I’m sure you and the wife are over the moon.”

He nodded. “Yes, we both are. I’ve been saving up my vacation so that we can spend as much time as we can with her and Brian, that’s her husband.”

I nodded. “How much time do you have?”

With a slight frown, he replied, “I have three weeks saved up, but they’ll only allow me to take a week off.”

It was my turn to frown. “Is that right?”

“But a week is better than nothing.” He tipped his hat to me, saying, “Have a good day, and I’m glad to see you were able to get a workout in.”

Laughing, I said, “So am I, Charles. And congrats again, Grampa.”

Once I got into my apartment, the first thing I did was call the owner of the condo building I lived in. I didn’t liketo wear my lawyer hat outside of the office, but when I did, I could lawyer the shit out of things.

By the time we got off the phone call, Charles was cleared to take his full three weeks, and the policy of one-week-at-a-time vacation was being removed.

I checked my phone to see my father had called once and my mother had called three times, in addition to the countless emails that were awaiting my attention. It wasn’t even seven in the morning yet. Deciding to ignore her voicemail—as well as those emails—for now, I headed into my bathroom and turned on the shower.

After showering and shaving, I reluctantly grabbed my phone and started for the kitchen. As I waited for my smoothie to mix, I listened to the three voicemails from my mother, all of them telling me to call her as soon as possible. My father had also called while I was in the shower, asking me to call my mother. Unlike most kids who probably have their parents’ numbers stored as Mom and Dad, I had Lacy and Doug. It didn’t feel right to have anything else.

I pulled up my emails and didn’t see anything pressing, so I wasn’t sure what was going on that she needed to speak to me at the crack ass of dawn. It could all wait until I got to the office.

I poured my smoothie into an insulated cup, grabbed my briefcase, and headed to the subway. It was the same routine I had been doing for the last seven years: wake up, work out if I was lucky, shower, drink a smoothie, and head into the office. Stay until well past sundown, grab takeout, and maybe go on a date if I even had time tomeet anyone who didn’t work at the law firm.

Once on the subway, I took out my phone and called my mother.

“Kian, I’ve been trying to reach you all morning.”

Sighing inwardly, I replied, “Considering it isn’t even nine in the morning yet, I hardly think you can say that.”

“Don’t get smart with me; I’ve already had to deal with your brother.”

“Oh, lucky him.”

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