Page 17 of That First Night
I turn around to see if Peyton is still there and quickly look back over to my sister.
“Watch James for a second, let me go talk to her.”
“Don’t let her get away, Tommy,” she yells as I take off in a sprint to get to her.
I’m running down the path to catch up to her. She’s already made it around the path to the wooded area of the park covered with trees. I spot her and immediately pick up my pace.
When I catch up to her, my hand finds the crook of her elbow to stop her and spin her around. The momentum from my pull causes her body to crash into mine with more force than I intend. Her hands are on my chest as if she’s ready to push me away and tell me to fuck off. But she closes her eyes as she attempts to regulate her breathing, not moving her hands from my chest. My hands move up to find her wrist and I can feel her rapid pulse under my delicate touch.
“Sunshine,” I whisper. “Look at me.”
She opens her eyes to look directly into mine. “I-it’s you,” she whispers. She has the same effect on me that she had five years ago, lighting a fire in my soul with just one look.
“It’s you,” I whisper back.
Ever so gently, she removes her hands from my chest and takes a step backwards, putting space between us that I don’t fucking care for. After all this time, she’s standing right in front of me. I need her to take that step back into me. What the fuck has happened to me? I am never ever like this with women. But her? I can’t let her go again.
“I’m so sorry for wasting your time here. I had no idea that it was your son when I got the phone call. I just moved here and really need a job.”
“Peyton, stop saying you’re sorry,” I snap but offer her a soft smile. “The past is the past. I need some help with James, and you need a job. Maybe we can help each other out here.”
Her eyes widened like she didn’t expect me to still ask her to help me out with James. Like she didn’t expect me to offer her the job.
I can do this right? Keep this strictly professional?
“But that night—”
“Was one of the best nights of my entire life,” I cut her off, not wanting to hear what she has to say about that night and make it any less than what it was.
“I’m not sure this is going to work, Thomas. We have history. If I were to agree to this, it has to be strictly professional. I can’t risk anything because I need this job,” she says.
“Well lucky for you,” I say with a smirk. “I would be your boss. And from what Emiline told me about you before I ran to catch up to you, I can’t let you go. Not again.”
“Again?” she repeats, tilting her head just a little bit to question what I just said to her.
“Again, Sunshine,” I repeat. “I lost you once. Now, my son needs you. He’s the most important thing in my life. He needs a stable person in his life to guide him for the times that I can’t be there.”
“What exactly are you looking for as far as this job goes?”
“Well, you have to be at the penthouse before he goes off to school and when he gets home. He does half days of preschool right now and with my work schedule, I can’t be there to get him to school or get him after school. I work until 6pm, five days a week.” I pause to read her expression before I say the next sentence. She shows no expression other than to listen to what the job entails. “I would need you to move into the spare room of my penthouse.”
I watch as she sucks in a breath, not expecting to hear that.
I can’t have this woman in such close proximity to me. I can barely stand here without touching her as it is, but I need her to be there for James. She wouldn’t be moving in for me, she would be moving in for James. Our paths would barely cross. I try to keep my hours regular so James and I can have dinner together every night but sometimes that’s not possible. It's likely that we would barely see each other.
I hate this part of being a parent and a businessman, but I know that everything I do and all the work I put in, is helping James have the most stable future to chase whatever dreams he has. Even though right now, he wants to be a fucking dinosaur. I’m sure that phase won’t last forever. No matter how much I work, he still looks at me like I hung the moon and fuck if it isn’t the best damn feeling in the world.
Before I let her speak again, I continue, “You would have your own space in the apartment. You’d have your own bedroom, bathroom and living space. The kitchen is yours for free range to do whatever you need. When you’re off the clock, you don’t even have to see us.”
“When would I be off the clock?” she asks.
“You would have evenings off as soon as I walk in the door as well as weekends.”
“I-I don’t even know what to say,” she whispers. “Can I think about this?”
“Absolutely, Peyton, but I hope you say yes. James is a very special kid.” My hand finds her shoulder. Fuck, my body just needs to touch her.
“He seems like a great kid.”
