over getting fired.
Once Vince got tired of Eddie, he’d throw it back at me.
The other two companies were interesting.
One was a tech company. Which sounded like every other tech company in the world. They were going to be innovators of something.
The other was a miniconglomerate of inventions. Dumb little products that had some use. Their goal was to sell in volume. Their days of infomercials had come to an end thanks to online advertising. They wanted to hook up with an investment firm for an influx of cash to tighten up their distribution. They had proof of concept with their products and their marketing. Where they failed was their shipping. They couldn’t keep up with the current give it to me tomorrow attitude of the world.
I studied the numbers until they started to dance on the screen.
Of course, that could have been the scotch too.
I finally put my head back and decided to call it quits for the night.
At the very least I would take a meeting with the company and vet them a little more in person.
I shut everything down and walked to the window.
There was an old, metal fire-escape platform and ladder still attached to the building, even though it was never used. The ladders didn’t move. And even if they did, some floors didn’t have the platforms.
They were just for show.
I opened the window and leaned forward to breathe in the city air.
If I shut my eyes and listened carefully, I could hear the city breathing.
The engines of cars and trucks. Horns. Music in the distance.
A quieter hustle than the day, but the city never stopped hustling.
The only time I ever saw the city shutdown was during a few really bad snowstorms. Blizzard conditions where it was mandatory to stay home.
My mind started to walk back to the companies I had been researching when I heard another noise.
This one was much closer.
It sounded like someone sucking in a breath.
I turned my head and looked to see Callie’s window open.
It was her bedroom window.
Then I heard the sound of her letting out a cry.
That choppy, breathless kind of sound.
Followed by a sniffle.
The sound repeating itself over and over.
I saw movement for a second.
Her head started to poke out of the window and I moved back into my apartment.
I could still hear her.
She was actually crying.
I stood there, wondering what my next move was.
I felt something inside me pushing. Pulsing. A sense of protection and care for her.
She shouldn’t have been home alone, crying like that.
Even if she was crying because of me.
I looked down at my left hand, at the wedding ring.
I moved back to the window and stuck my head out again.
Callie was back inside.
I still heard her though.
She was full on crying.
Weeping…
“Fuck,” I whispered.
I pushed from the window and ran to the door.
I paused for a second.
I had to really think about what I was going to do next.
This was definitely going to cross a big line.
But I was her husband… I was supposed to be there for her… right?
The door was locked.
So I skipped the kind gesture of knocking and went right for pounding on the door.
It took Callie a few seconds to get from her room to the door.
I didn’t want to give her a chance to ask who it was so she could take a second to clean herself up.
I wanted to see her crying.
I wanted to see the rawness of her emotion.
Why? I wasn’t completely sure.
When the door opened I stepped right into the apartment.
Callie jumped back and gasped.
She hurried to wipe under her eyes.
I grabbed her wrists and shook my head. “No, sweetie. Don’t hide it.”
“What?”
“You’re crying. I heard you.”
“Heard me?”
“Your window is open, Callie,” I said. “I heard you. Why are you crying?”
She wrestled my grip away from her wrists. “No, Jackson. This isn’t happening. We’re not doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“Playing the emotional game here too. We can fake a marriage and mess around, go after each other. That’s fine. This is real.”
I’d never seen Callie so vulnerable before.
“Just tell me one thing,” I said.
“What?”
“Is everyone okay?” I asked. “Nobody hurt or worse?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Okay. So you’re just having a shit moment. Everything hitting you at once. Or it’s been building all day. Or previous days. Okay. I can understand that, Callie. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Bullshit,” she said.
“I’m not lying,” I said. “I just wanted to check on you.”
I showed my hands.
Callie stared at me.
I watched as another tear escaped her right eye.
Slowly inching