as painful for him as it is for me. I can’t help but wonder if he now considers that night a mistake as well. If it were possible, would he want to erase it from his memory? I continue my first aide on each of the subsequent scratches, his shoulders tense again, and he’s barely breathing, his body wound tightly until I get to the final one. When I’m finished he turns, his eyes softer, his lips slightly parted as he takes the tube from my hand.
“Thanks.” Then he’s gone, and I’m left outside, unease creeping all over my skin.
Work sucks. I can’t concentrate, I have a slight headache, and I’m checking my phone constantly for any text from Damian. I am hoping for an apology for the distant behavior this morning, an invite to the track or a run this afternoon. Anything to let me know we are going to be okay. But my phone stays deafeningly silent. The only incoming messages I’m receiving are from Paige wanting to know exactly what went down with the sexy neighbor.
Paige: You can’t ignore me forever. I want details.
Me: I’m not ready to talk.
Paige: Mia started talking multiples.
Me: Don’t remind me.
I should have expected this. Damian couldn’t have been clearer that he wasn’t looking for anything easy. He knew I wasn’t ready, told me hours before I begged him that I’d better be prepared for a lot more than just one night. This is entirely my fault.
“Hey, Addison.” I look up to see Veronica Allen in my doorway. She’s the only other female associate in this office and while we’re not exactly friends, we do have each other’s backs. “How was your weekend?” she asks.
“Good, busy. Yours?” I say too quickly hoping she’ll move on from this topic. My weekend is the last thing I want to discuss.
“Fine.” She looks over her shoulder, her red hair falling into her face. “Wanted to warn you Thomas is on a war path this morning and your name was mentioned.”
My shoulders fall forward. I really don’t want to deal with him today.
“Sorry to deliver the bad news.” Her nose scrunches up in genuine sympathy. “I think he wants you to start working on that pro bono case.”
“Ugh, Thanks for the warning.”
“Addison!” Thomas begins shouting through my intercom and I jump.
“Here we go,” I say to Veronica as she nods and takes off.
“I need you in my office.”
Gathering a notepad and pen I make my way down the hall. It’s a small office. Five attorneys in total and two of them are partners. For the most part, I keep to myself, do my job, then go home and have my other life. The one that was pretty pathetic and boring until recently.
I walk in to find Thomas sitting behind his desk, reading some sort of legal brief.
“I need you to go to Children’s hospital today and check on a little girl named Emily Jones. Get a firsthand account on how she’s doing.”
“Sure. Why is she there? Anything I should be aware of before I go?”
He looks back down at his paperwork. “She has cancer and as if her life isn’t shitty enough, she’s also an orphan.”
I gasp, “That’s awful. Is she the case everyone has been working on around here?”
“Yes Addison, of course she’s the case. Now get going, time is money and you’re wasting mine.”
Sometimes I really hate that man.
Pushing Thomas to the back of my mind, I get in my car, knowing this assignment is going to break my heart. Seeing my dad suffer from a terrible disease was crushing, having to visit a child fighting something similar is going to be the end of me.
Starting up my Jeep and hating every second of the drive to Children’s Hospital, I’m sick to my stomach. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to have to see a child in so much pain. I’m not strong enough to deal with it.
Finding the nurse’s station and asking about a little girl named Emily, I’m ushered down a corridor by Susie Springer, a bright-eyed nurse with curly blonde hair who looks like she’s been working here a long time.
She’s leading me to a room at the end of the hall, and the entire two-minute walk down the white corridor feels like it takes an hour.
I hear giggling and my dark mood lifts slightly. “Her room is in the far corner. She has a visitor right now, but he’s set to leave in five minutes. You can