Page 50 of Saved by my Baby Daddy Spy
I should have known that being accountable to someone else was going to be a lot more than I’m used to doing. I should have been prepared for this.
“Yes. You should have been. You promised to come home for dinner. You promised to be here so I could get some work done on my novel while you took care of Kerri. Do you know how hard it is to work with a toddler tugging at you every two minutes?”
Guilt continues to gnaw at me as I shake my head. She’s been dealing with trying to work and having Kerri need her all the time for the last two years. I can’t imagine what dealing with that on your own would be like.
“No. I don’t know. I’m sorry, Hannah. I should have been here when I said that I was going to be here.”
She shakes her head. “You’re still not seeing the entire point. I want you to have the life you want. I want you to be able to pursue your dreams, but you need to understand that my time is valuable too. You can work late when you need to, but you also need to respect my schedule.”
“Then I really don’t understand what the problem is.” I pinch the bridge of my nose for a moment and close my eyes. “I don’t know what the right answer is, Hannah. I’m sorry that I was late. I should have been home on time.”
“No,” she says, her shoulders slumping like the fight has gone out of her. “You should have called. That’s all you had to do. I know that sometimes you’re going to have to work late, but you have to call and let me know. We’re suppose to be partners, but you’re not acting like one.”
In that moment, I feel worse than I did before. She isn’t entirely mad about me not coming home on time. She’s upset that I didn’t think to call her.
“I’m sorry.” I lean back in the chair. “You’re right. I should have thought to call you. I’m used to not having to answer to anyone. I’ll do better next time.”
Hannah smiles, but it doesn’t meet her eyes. She’s still upset about this, but there’s nothing more I can say tonight to fix it. I have to show her that I mean what I say. That I’m not going to leave her wondering where I am for hours.
“You know, I sent you messages. I tried calling you.”
I pull out my phone, seeing dozens of missed calls and messages from her. The pit in the bottom of my stomach only grows bigger. “I’m sorry. It’s been on silent all night so I could focus.”
“Holden, have you thought about what would happen if there was an emergency and I couldn’t get in contact with you?” She runs her hand through her hair, looking like this conversation is draining the life out of her. “You’re a father now. By all means, put your phone on silent if you need to focus, but you better be checking it periodically. Or set it so that I can override the silent mode when I call.”
“I’ll do that.” My heart races as I adjust the settings on my phone. “This isn’t going to happen again.”
Hannah nods, but she doesn’t look me in the eyes. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
It seems like there is nothing else for me to say right now. I wait for a moment longer to see if she is going to start a new conversation, but she keeps her eyes steady on her work.
I stand and stretch, still stalling. “I’m going to go get a bit more work done in my office, but I’ll take care of Kerri if she wakes up.”
“Thank you.” Hannah glances up at me and then turns her attention back to the papers scattered across her desk. “I should only be a few hours, but I have to get this plot figured out if I want to get this book done anytime soon.”
There is an uneasy feeling that sits in my chest. I want to talk to her about her day and what she wants to do this weekend, but I need to give her space.
I don’t know how I’m going to make this up to her.
I have to make sure that she knows she and Kerri are my priorities. Although, that seems like a nearly impossible task while working on expanding my company. A lot of work and effort is going to be needed over the next few weeks to get the new division established.
As I take the baby monitor and leave the office, I know that I’m going to do everything I can to make this relationship work, but keeping secrets from Hannah is weighing on me.
Chapter Eighteen
Hannah
Thewordsonthecomputer screen stare back at me as if they’re taunting me. I haven’t been able to add to my word count in nearly two weeks. The last time I was able to do anything substantial with my story was the night Holden came home late.
In the weeks since then, I’ve been sitting down at my laptop every night once Holden gets home, and trying to figure out where the story is going.
Nothing is making sense to me though. I can’t figure out my main character’s next move. She should be going to capture the bad guy by this point in the novel, but instead, I’m not sure who the true villain even is.
“Maybe it’s time to give up on spy novels,” I say to my empty office. I look at a picture of Kerri sitting on my desk and smile.
It might be time to write a romance novel.
My life is going good in the romance department. Holden is everything I could want in a partner, even though we’ve had our rough patches. He still makes me feel like I’m the only person in the room whenever he looks at me. I’ve still got butterflies in my stomach even weeks later.
