Chapter Seven
Noah
There was no way I was going to be able to work this close to her every day without losing my mind or doing something drastic. With my logical mind, I knew I was headed for disaster. When I had said to Elena that we shouldn’t do it again, I had meant it. We had fucked, and it was exactly what I had wanted, but it had also been a colossal mistake. I didn’t regret it, but now that we had done it, I couldn’t stay away from her.
I tried to distance myself from Elena. Everything about her was a temptation, and if we continued to do this, we would get into trouble at some point. The best thing was to stop before it was too late. But it was harder than it looked. Not only was I attracted to Elena like a magnet, but she was also my secretary. I couldn’t stay away from her even if I wanted to. My hormones and my work wouldn’t allow it.
Still, I tried my best. I sent her out on errands, gave her a lot of paperwork to keep her busy, and invented phone calls to keep away from my office as much as I could. I let her work late alone and came in as late as I could in the morning. Two days later, my new habit was driving me insane. I wanted to spend time with her. I wanted to see her away from the hustle and bustle of the office. But if I did, I would risk losing control again.
The phone rang, and Charlie from marketing was on the other end of the line.
“We have feedback about the meeting on Monday,” he said.
I smiled. “That’s great news.” I had been waiting for feedback, and I was optimistic. The meeting had gone well.
“I’m afraid the news is not as great as you hope,” Charlie said. “We ran the ideas we came up with on Monday by the team, and it looks like it’s not plausible.”
I shook my head, trying to figure out what he was saying to me. “What do we need to change?”
“The whole thing, I’m afraid,” Charlie said. “The plan fell through. We’re going to have to start from scratch.”
My stomach turned to stone. We couldn’t afford to lose more time on the marketing. We had done our research and tested the market. The product was almost ready to be released. We had to start marketing in advance so that by the time the product was available to the public, they knew what they would be buying.
“What am I supposed to do now?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, I can’t answer that. That falls down to the timeline development team.”
I slammed the phone down into its cradle. It was better than saying all the ugly words that had come to mind to Charlie. A part of me wanted to say that it wasn’t his fault, but a bigger part was angry enough to accuse him. It wasn’t very professional of me, but to hang up was the best way out. I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. What the hell was I going to do now? It was so easy for Charlie to say that he was sorry, but it didn’t make a difference. He wasn’t the one that had to save the company He wasn’t the one that had developed the product that had become the center point of everything. He didn’t have to impress investors.
My chest tightened, and I struggled to breathe. Stress knotted like a fist in my stomach, and I felt like I was made of lead. I didn’t know what to do. All the other plans that the marketing department had come up with were old, used too many times. We had only come up with one idea that worked. I knew for a fact that they would have approved any of the others, it was what they were used to. But if we stuck with old ways, we would get an old response. But this product was new and breakthrough and needed something spectacular.
I picked up the phone again and dialed Elena’s extension. “Can you come into my office?” I asked and put down the receiver before she could answer. A few moments later, Elena opened the door and closed it behind her.
“Is everything alright?” She asked.
I shook my head. “Marketing just dropped the plan. We’re fucked.”
Elena walked toward the chair opposite me and sat down. “What are you going to do?”
I pushed my hand into my hair and took a deep breath, letting it out with a shudder. “I don’t know. I was hoping you and your brilliant MBA skills could help me out.”
Elena nodded slowly, her eyes sliding across the room as she was thinking.
“Actually, I do have an idea.”
The phone rang, interrupting her. “Hold that thought,” I said, picking up.
“Noah, it’s Diane,” the nanny’s voice sounded over the speaker, and she sounded stressed. She didn’t phone me at work unless it was an emergency.
“What’s wrong?” I asked immediately worried. I had asked Diane to come for the day because I had kept Lilly home. She had been sicker than I’d liked the past couple of days, so I’d kept her home from school.
“It’s Lilly. She has a fever, and I can’t get it down.”
The room felt like it was shrinking around me, closing in on me. “What’s her temperature?” I asked.
“One-oh-four,” Diane said.
“Shit,” I said, already standing up. “I’ll be right there.” I put the phone down and looked at Elena. “Lillian has a fever. I need to go. We’ll talk about this, later.”
Elena jumped up and followed me out of the office. “I’ll make sure everything is covered, here.”
I muttered thanks before I left, riding the elevator down, cursing it for not going faster. Everything felt like it took too long. The traffic was heavier than it should have been, the traffic light too long, and the rules that I had to obey held me back. When I finally reached home, I was panicked. Diane opened the door before I reached it.
“How is she?” I asked.
“Still the same,” Diane said. “I’ve been putting wet cloths on her forehead, keeping the fan on, but it’s not going down.” I nodded, rushing past Diane into the house and to Lilly’s room.
“Daddy,” Lilly wailed when she saw me, her voice cracking at the end.
“It’s okay, baby. I’m here.”
She started crying. Nothing hurt except her head, she said, but she was listless, and I needed to get help.
“I’m taking her to the ER,” I said.
“I thought you might. I’ve already packed a bag.”
I picked Lilly up and carried her to the car with Diane in tow. I strapped Lilly to her booster seat, and Diane got into the car with me. She was as invested in Lilly as I was, and I was grateful to have her with me, two people connected through a common interest.
The trip to the hospital felt as long as the trip from the office. When I finally parked in front of the ER doors I grabbed Lilly and ran through the doors with her, leaving Diane to close the car doors and park the car for me. I would thank her later. Right now, my baby girl needed help.
Nurses flocked to us, taking Lilly from me and putting her into a bath. They put her on a drip for dehydration and worked until her temperature was down. I watched helplessly from the sidelines as they worked on my little girl, trying to save her. Kids got sick so easily, and they dehydrated fast. They ended up in the hospital with very little effort. It was times like this that I struggled to be a single dad. I never knew what to do. Cheryl had somehow known what to do when Lilly had been a baby, or at least she had known how to be strong and handle the pain when she hadn’t known what to do. Maybe it was something that came with being a mom that dads neverreceived.
Whatever it was, I wished someone would be by my side today that would have the knowledge and the strength to get through this, who I could trust to take the reins.
It was hard to be strong all the time. Alone.
They finally brought her fever down. It wasn’t completely gone, but she could take Tylenol now, and the nurses disappeared as less of them were needed. Eventually, it was only one nurse and me in the room. When she checked Lilly’s fever one more time, she smiled at me.
“You don’t have to look so worried. She’s recovering,” she said. But she didn’t understand what it felt like to stand on the precipice, looking over the edge where I stood to lose Lilly. She was the only thing I had in my life, the only thing worth my while.
“Mr. Fuller?” an older woman said, walking into the room. Judging by her white coat and the stethoscope around her neck, she was the pediatrician. “I’m Dr. Connelly. I’ll be taking care of Lillian while she’s here,” she said. I liked her. She hadn’t picked up a chart once. Usually, doctors had to read the charts before they knew what they wanted to say to the patients. “It’s very straightforward to diagnose. Lilly has the flu.”
“But her fever was one-oh-four,” I said.
Dr. Connelly nodded. “It’s not unusual for children to spike like that. Their immune systems are still developing and constantly put under strain when they’re around other children. Schools are a breeding ground for germs, and it’s not always easy for their little bodies to fend it off.”
I opened my mouth, but the doctor stopped me, somehow knowing what I was going to ask. “You shouldn’t keep her away from it all her life. It makes her strong. But you don’t have to worry that something serious will happen to her, either. You did the right thing, bringing her when you did.”
I nodded. “How long will she be here?”
“If she gets better by tonight, we’ll let her go tomorrow. We’ll watch her.’
I nodded again. Whatever it took to get her better. I had all the money in the world and all the time in the world. Nothing could rip me away from her now that Lilly needed me so much. The company suddenly didn’t matter anymore.
When I was sure Lilly was sleeping soundly, I walked out into the hallway, trying to breathe. This was okay, I told myself. We were going to be fine.
My phone rang, and I answered.
“Fuller.”
“Who is this new girl?” the husky voice sounded in my ear.
“What the fuck, Nicole,” I said and hung up.Seriously? A new girl? I wasn’t even sure how she could have known if no one else did. At least, that was what I’d hoped. I put my phone away and chose not to think about it. My daughter was in the hospital. The last thing I needed to worry about was how my ex-girlfriend knew about Elena and why she was stalking me.