Page 103 of Mr. Hotshot CEO
“It’s okay.” I say that for my benefit as well as Heather’s.
It’s okay.
It’s just a crying baby; it’s not like she cries only for me.
I bounce her up and down as we walk around the park. She still hasn’t stopped crying by the time we’re finished, so I head back to the house rather than taking her on a longer walk.
Heather seems happier once she’s out of the carrier, so perhaps that was the problem. Perhaps she’s changed her mind about the stroller versus carrier issue, just like Naomi changed her mind about eggs multiple times a week when she was little.
The shower is running upstairs. A few minutes later, Lydia comes down with a towel wrapped around her head.
“Will you be okay with Heather while I cook dinner?” she asks.
“Sure. We’re good.”
I find a board book on the coffee table and start reading it to my niece. She doesn’t start crying again—and neither do I—and for now, that’s all I can ask.
* * *
For the next few days, Julian is never far from my mind, despite my efforts to distract myself. I miss him so much.
If only I were someone other than who I am.
Chapter 28
Julian
When I get home fromwork at three o’clock on Saturday, I go up to my rooftop patio with a beer, as well as my laptop and the flash drive Courtney gave me on Wednesday. I’m finally going to look at whatever is on it.
The last few days have seemed interminable. Twelve-hour days at work feel like twenty-four-hour days. I haven’t been sleeping much, either, maybe three or four hours a night.
Life was better with Courtney.
I turn on the laptop. It takes me several tries to get the fucking flash drive into the USB port because I am a fucking sleep-deprived wreck. There’s a single folder on the flash drive, labeled “photos,” and I open it.
It’s all the pictures from my two-week holiday. Some were taken on my phone, some on hers. The first one is of me lying on my back in Riverdale Park, staring up at the sky and cursing, from the looks of it.
