Chapter 5 The Emergency

• Kristen’s [POV]
• I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror.
• The office was quiet this evening; many of the assistants had already cleared out for the day, and the senior staff was all attending meetings.
• Jake had come into the office only an hour ago after a conference on the bottom floor.
• It was prep for the big meeting and dinner he was hosting tonight with the Japanese client the company wanted to woo.
• He had been in a bad mood the whole day, and I had done my best to avoid him especially since my day hadn’t been that great, either.
• My car had broken down on the way to work, which made me almost an hour late to the office.
• That had created a backlog of work, which had eaten into my lunch break and forced me to skip lunch altogether.
• Then, to add insult to injury, one of the interns from the junior departments spilled his hot coffee all over my favorite white silk blouse while I was making copies in the copy room.
• I’d had to spend the whole evening walking around with a giant stain on the front of my blouse.
• Then not even half an hour ago, I had run down to the water cooler to refill my thermos when Timothy Dugan, one of the assistant managers approached me and started sexually harassing me.
• I had excused myself at the first opportunity and taken refuge in the bathroom to try and compose myself a little.
• I stared at my reflection in the mirror, wondering what on earth I was even doing here.
• It had been a mistake from the get-go, and I probably always knew that, but for some reason, my stubborn nature hadn’t allowed me to see that.
• I unclipped my hair and retied it quickly, pulling back the loose strands of hair that fell around my face.
• I ran my hands under the water and tried to rub away the stain on my blouse, but it didn’t look like it was going anywhere.
• “What an awful fucking day,” I sighed, under my breath.
• I tried to convince myself that I might still be able to salvage the evening.
• I would finish up here as fast as I could, then I’d head back to my apartment.
• order some sushi and binge-watch something frivolous and entertaining.
• It didn’t even matter what.
• I just wanted to turn my brain off and relax.
• Maybe I’d even stop by the grocery store and get a couple of pints of Ben and Jerry's to comfort myself.
• Feeling reasonably composed, I had decided to commit to my plan, suck it up, and head back to my desk when I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket.
• I checked the name on the screen and tensed up the moment I saw ‘Mom’ emblazoned there.
• “Today just keeps getting better and better,” I said to myself. I stared at the flashing screen for a few seconds, contemplating what to do.
• I decided to just let it ring. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to Mom today especially today. I put my phone back in my pocket and headed back to my desk.
• I could hear Jake talking to someone inside his office.
• His tone was far from cheery, and I sensed that he was just nervous about the dinner tonight.
• I was about to start looking through Jake’s schedule for the next week when the phone rang. I picked it up immediately and employed my corporate secretary voice.
• “Harper Maritime Company, this is Jake Middleton’s office; how may I help you?”
• “Uh…hi, I need to speak to Jake…Mr. Middleton, please,” said a tentative voice on the other line.
• “It’s urgent.” I glanced toward Jake’s closed door.
• “Mr. Middleton is in a very important meeting,” I said.
• “May I know what this is about?”
• “I’m Janet, his babysitter,” Janet replied.
• “This is regarding his son.”
• “Is he alright?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
• “Um…yeah, of course,” she said.
• “Can you please put Jake on the phone? As I said, it’s urgent. I have a family emergency, and I have to go right away.” I hesitated for only a moment.
• “Okay, Janet,” I said.
• “I will inform Mr. Middleton. I’m going to put you on hold for a few minutes, okay?”
• “Okay.” I put her on hold and then walked around to Jake’s door.
• I knocked three times and took a deep breath.
• After a moment, I was met with a brusque, “Yes, what is it?” I pushed the door open and entered hesitantly.
• “Excuse me, sir,” I said.
• “I’m sorry to disturb you”
• “I have a lot of work to do before the dinner tonight, Kristen,” Jake said, sounding extremely annoyed.
• He wasn’t even looking at me as he spoke. His eyes were fastened on the computer screen in front of me.
• “This had better be important.”
• “It’s about your son, sir.” Immediately, Jake got to his feet, and I saw the panic flash through his eyes.
• “What”
• “He’s fine,” I said quickly, realizing what that might have sounded like to him.
• “He’s perfectly alright. It’s just…your babysitter is on the line.” More annoyance flashed across Jake’s face.
• “What does she want this time?”
• “She says she has a family emergency,” I said, wringing my hands together.
• “And she needs to leave.”
• “When?”
• “Now,” I said.
• “Now?” he repeated.
• “As in right this minute.”
• “That was the impression I got, sir, yes.” Jake groaned and walked around his desk.
• “She can’t do that… I have the dinner tonight.” He glanced towards his phone and spied the line that was lit up.
• “Is she on hold?” he asked.
• “She is.” Without asking me to leave, Jake pressed the button and put it on speaker.
• “Janet?”
• “Jake, I have to leave now.” “I’m paying you for the whole night.”
• “I understand that, and I’ll gladly return the money,” she said.
• “But I have to go.”
• “I can’t come home tonight, Janet,” Jake insisted.
• “Isn’t there someone who can…cover for you?”
• “My father won’t exactly be happy with a substitute daughter, Jake,” Janet replied, and she sounded just as irritated as he did.
• “I have to leave in the next half an hour. I expect you to be here in that time, or else I will have to leave Noah with one of the neighbors.”