Chapter Seventeen – Evan

“No, it’s okay. I understand that it’s your day off. Thank you anyway, Marie.”

I hang up the phone and look at my boy who’s playing in the corner of my office. So much for keeping his existence away from my employees. They all know that I have a child now! But it can’t be helped, the sickness bug hit Anika hard, it came from nowhere and she doesn’t want to pass it on to Liam. After calling all the other nannies and finding out that none of them are available today, she didn’t have any choice but to bring him here. I just don’t like Liam being in the office, it’s boring for him. I might have to leave in a moment to take him home…

“Hey, how’s it going… oh!” Katy’s face contorts in shock as she sees me and Liam alone in my office. “I’m sorry, have I got the date wrong? Am I not supposed to be here?”

I can tell that she feels awkward, which isn’t surprising. I feel it too. I always keep the women in my life away from my son until I know for sure that they’re going to last… which of course hasn’t been any of them so far, so this is strange. I can’t halt it now, it’s too late.

“No, you are.” I move across the room and rub Liam’s head. He glances up from the tablet screen he’s playing on, but only for a second. He’s engulfed in the game. “We just have a bit of an unexpected visitor at the moment. Liam’s nanny is sick, so I might need to go home. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be a jerk, I should have called you to save you the trip.”

“Oh right, okay, I see.” Katy nods slowly. “There’s some stuff I really need to go through with you today. Do you have time?”

I know that once me and Katy get started with talking business, we can talk for hours, so doing it here with Liam in the room isn’t ideal. I’ll be distracted by him the whole time. Instead we need to go somewhere we can all be a little more comfortable. This isn’t something I would ever normally do, but I don’t see what choice I have right now.

“Did you want to come to my home with me to talk about it? That way Liam has all his toys and stuff to play with and we have snacks on tap? Me and you can get some real discussion time in.”

The thought of Katy in my large home actually brings a bit of a smile to my face. I haven’t wanted anyone to invade my personal space before, which just confirms how deep my feelings for Katy are. I like her, too damn much. She’s just so awesome. I guess in a way this will be a weird test for us. If she can’t handle being around Liam then we can both take a step back now before we get too involved with each other. That way, it won’t hurt so much and Liam won’t get attached.

“Oh yeah.” Katy’s face lights up with glee. “That sounds great actually.” She glances towards Liam, with a shining happiness in her eyes. She doesn’t look as freaked out as she probably should be. “Then we have plenty of time to go over all of this.”

I pat Liam on the back. “Come on, buddy, let’s get going. We’ll head home to play there.”

“No,” he instantly whines. “I don’t want to leave. I want to keep playing this game, it’s fun!”

I sigh loudly, preparing myself for a battle, but somehow it doesn’t quite head that way. Instead, Katy bends down and she stares right into Liam’s eyes which forces him to meet her gaze.

“Hey, Liam, my name is Katy. Do you think maybe we could go back to your house so you can show me your toys? I bet you’ve got lots of superhero stuff, haven’t you?”

Liam drops the tablet on his side and opens his eyes wide and excitedly. “I do! I have a Batman, and an Iron Man, and I also have a Hulk. He stomps around like this…”

Liam jumps up from his chair and he stomps around like a mad man. I expect Katy to freak out a bit but she laughs and joins in with him. I haven’t ever seen him take to anyone so quickly, not even any of his nannies. He’s known for taking a moment to warm up to people so this is shocking. Maybe he has an intuition and he can see right into Katy’s warm soul.

“Wow, that’s awesome,” Katy laughs gleefully. “Now you have to show me all your toys.”

“Yeah.” Liam grabs my hand and he pulls me. “Come on, Daddy, we have to get going. I need to show the nice lady my toys.”

“The nice lady is called Katy,” I call after him. “But yeah, come on let’s go.”

***

I chuckle to myself as I watch Katy and Liam in the middle of an intense game of… well, something or other. I think it started out as alien hunter but now I’m not so sure. It’s transformed into something crazy, but they’re both having a lot of fun, that’s the main thing. It’s left me sitting at my home desk reading through the paper work alone, but I don’t mind.

“Daddy!” Liam calls out while shrieking playfully. “Daddy, come and play.”

“I can’t come and play, I’m in the middle of doing something…” I answer wearily. But as I rub my forehead hard I realize that I’m not actually getting much done now. I’m reading and re reading the same sentences and not drinking anything in. “Do you know what, I’m coming.”

I leap off my chair and I grab a pretend gun to join in. It feels good to actually have some fun in my life, especially with my child. As we race around the house, throwing cushions around everywhere, I feel high as a kite. It makes me see that I’ve shut off from Liam more than I realized, he hasn’t had any time to actually get to know me which is wrong. I need to bring myself back into his life more, I need to be the father that he needs me to be. I need to make up for his lack of mother. I just quite simply need to be better. I can do that. It’s fine.

As I watch Katy play with complete free abandon, I know that it’s her who’s made me have this revelation. Without her, I never would have seen my mistakes when it comes to Liam. She’s made me realize that I’m a workaholic and that I can’t always be that way. Once the business restructure has been set into place, I’m going to take a bit of a step back. Yes, I still want to make a success of the company for my father’s sake… but actually I think he would be proud of me if I could be there for Liam more. That’s where my focus should be.

“Daddy, is Katy staying for dinner?” Liam calls out. “She’s fun. I want her to play with me more. I want her to read me a bed time story as well.”

“Erm…” That might be a bit too much for Katy, I don’t want to push her too far. This is all a bit much for me so I know it must be crazy. She only found out that I’m a father recently, and we’ve only just started hooking up. Reading a bed time story and eating with us might be a little bit too close to happy families. “I don’t know, Katy might have dinner plans…”

“You bet I’m staying!” she exclaims gleefully, actually looking like she might be happy to do what Liam asks of her. “Are you crazy, we’ve still got so much more playing to do.”

“Do you want to come to my bedroom and see my toys?”

I glance at my watch while they discuss superheroes that I haven’t even heard of before. “You know what, you guys go and do that and I’ll get dinner started. Does that sound like a good plan?” I feel weird about it, all nervous, but at the same time I’m quite comfortable in the knowledge that Liam likes Katy even more than the women I leave him with on a daily basis. “Anything you want?”

“Sausages!” Liam screams, filling me with relief. Sausages I can do, that isn’t too hard. “Beans too. And chips. That’s my favorite. With ketchup. Don’t forget the ketchup!”

“Ooh mine too,” Katy agrees with a grin. “That sounds perfect.”

As Katy and Liam move towards the stairs I smile and shake my head in utter delight. Today has been such a surprise. When Liam first got brought to my office I was shocked, I freaked out and thought that I wasn’t going to be able to get anything done. Now, I’ve done a whole day’s work, I’ve had a life revelation, and I’ve also seen how great Katy and Liam get on. I feel like the foundation that my world has been built upon has ripped away, but what’s been left in place is something even better. I knew what I felt for Katy was strong, I knew that it was different, but now I genuinely think that she might be the real deal. She might be the one.

I don’t know if I’ve ever believed in fate before, if I’ve ever thought about the one, but with Katy it’s easy to slip into that mindset. She’s pretty much perfect for me. She’s everything that I didn’t even know I needed. She’s everything I want and so much more.

I shove the food into the oven and stand by it while I think. When I first got that phone call from Barry, my accountant, I thought that the world had ended, I thought that I was facing the worst crisis I’d ever seen… but now I can see it more as an opportunity to do things better. I can make the company smaller and better, I can delegate more, I can give myself more time with my son, and I can actually open myself up to love in a way that I haven’t before.

I feel bad that some of my staff might lose their jobs, despite my promise that they wouldn’t, but what I’ll do if that happens in the restructure is help them get new positions. And I don’t just mean writing them a kick ass reference, that’ll just be a part of it. No, I’ll use all my contacts in the industry to get them great jobs with equal or more pay. I’ll do what I can for everyone. It might not be the best I can do, but at least I’ll give it my all. At least I’ll be doing this as a nice person. As nice as I can be. I don’t want everyone to leave thinking of me as an asshole who just tried to save his own skin, this isn’t that at all. This is me just trying…

Finally, I fall from my thoughts as I hear a thundering down the stairs which means Liam and probably Katy are back. I turn to see them both with superhero dolls in their hands, flying them through the air and screaming and yelling as they play. It’s a sight that’s so wonderful it warms up my heart. It makes me wish that Katy could actually be here, and she could stay here forever. She fits in these four walls, she brightens the whole place up, she makes it look amazing.

I could quite happily fall in love with this woman, I think to myself happily. And I think Liam could too… I just hope I get the chance to find out what this could really be.