the various chances

chapter thirty two

Jeremy

Ian getting fired was spontaneous and true because if he was to expect me to solve a problem so small then why the fuck was he even working in my company in first place. This also keeps him away from Lizzie; fucking shithead needed the reminder of his place. I already had shit ton of work lined up and yet those shitpieces were piling up work for me and Lizzie.

Oh, Lizzie got me that bag full of muffins. I had a fuck ton of sweetness running through my vessels as of the current notion but I had saved the chocolate and blueberry ones and was standing in front of Hannah's door.

Julie brought Hannah today morning and as promised on the video call last night I was supposed to pick her up with Julie from airport but legit forgot and had sent Lorenzo. Conclusion, Hannah was mad at me. No shit, I was legit standing in front of her door after leaving office an hour earlier.

I knock twice and wait. Julie opens the door, "ayy look, it's our big J", she sings to Hannah. The 6 year old child had everyone on their toes in our house. My parents had spent all the day with her and she'd already declared my mom as her favourite person. Dad was out getting things for her room though I had made sure it was as full as it could be still dad thought that somethings were missing.

I walk inside and whistle, "Hey, Julie" -I sing- "Would you like some chocolate and blueberry muffins?" Hannah was sitting on the edge of the bed with a pout on her face. Since the day Julie had announced and showed us who Hannah is and she was adopting her, we only saw her on the screens but she here she was such a small, beautiful innocent child with a pout on her face, mad at her big J because he didn't kept his promise.

Julie gasps, "Oh my God, chocolate? Ayy, Hannah, big J got us muffins." She goes to sit beside her, wraps an arm across her shoulders and says, "see" -she takes the containers from my hand and opens them as fast as she could and places one of them in Hannah's lap who had her chin on her hands and a cute little pout on her face.

"C'mon now, let's forgive our big J", Julie tells her. I kneel in front of her, "hey, Hannah, your big J went to get you muffins so he was not able to come and get you" -I say and pull at my ears with both my hands- "I am sorry."

"OMG, you look so cute apologizing to a kid. Does this work on Lily as well?" Julie snickers making me sigh. "Who is Lily?" Hannah asks, looking up to Julie. I get back on my feet and sit beside Hannah.

"There is a flower, a little flower named Lily."

"Don't lie to a kid, Jar Jar" -Julie says and turns to Hannah who was eagerly waiting for answer. "Just like your small J there is another lady whose name happens to be Lily. Our big J likes her."

Julie needed a filter for a mouth. Who tells shit like this to kids?

"Is that true?" Hannah turns to me, her doe eyes looking at me for the answer.

"Yes." Julie answers. I look at her and raise an eyebrow to which she gave a careless shrug, "Where is the lie though!" I sigh. Hannah was still looking at me so I reply to her as well, "Yes, I do."

"Would you like to see her?" Julie asks. "JULIANNA LANGFORD" -I press my lips but unfazed by the change in my voice she plucks her phone out from the pocket of her hoodie and starts scrolling. A few taps later she pulled up a picture of Lily and I at the business gala. I wasn't even aware about the fact that the picture was floating around just like that and Julie so easily pulled it up on the screen.

It was a picture where Lily was smiling at the camera but my eyes were on her. Now that I saw the picture it reminds me of the moment where they asked us for the photo and I had whispered in her ear to act natural. My vision was either faulty or the fact that the picture turned out to be so natural that it was difficult to not focus on Lizzie when there she was looking so fucking stunning that makes me want to just grab her and dissolve in her skin, drown in those silver grey eyes of her.