From across the hallway

Part 18

The weekend disappeared in a flash as it always did and before Wade knew it, Monday had once again reared its ugly head.

He had had a restless night's sleep and had awoken early this morning (by his standards at least!) to the sounds of a door slamming in the hallway. Missy's obviously. She and Emily must have been on their way to work and pre-school.

That was often the time that Wade would 'accidentally' bump into them in the hallway and walk them most of the way to their office block, just 'by chance' heading in that exact same direction. But this morning Wade had barely been able to drag himself out of bed, yawning and stretching before heading into the bathroom.

Even now, by almost 2pm, the day was pretty much a write-off. Wade had got nothing done.

The merc was currently sat in jeans and a t-shirt, sprawled out across his couch, scrolling through his cell phone.

His swiftly-moving thumb landed suddenly on a selfie, that he, Missy and Emily had taken a few weeks ago at the park. Missy was stood at Wade's side, holding the tiny Emily up in her arms, all three of them beaming widely, Missy and Wade both mid-laugh.

His eyes lingered on the image for a long moment.

He knew that he was absolutely besotted with both of them.

Barely a second went by that Wade wouldn't think of the two of them. Every minute he was sat alone in his apartment, he fought the urge to get up, barge over to Missy's apartment and confess just how he felt about her.

But, he couldn't quite seem to forget what had happened on Christmas morning.

Wade had thought that he and Missy had had just the best night together. The way she had moaned his name breathlessly...kissed him...tossed her head back against the cool pillows begging him for release. He had presumed she had wanted him just as much as he had wanted her. But obviously he had been mistaken. She had pushed him away...and Wade was never going to argue that. That was her decision to make...

But that didn't stop his heart from craving her...

The merc gave a short sigh, tossing his phone down onto the sofa cushions by his feet.

But the second he did, his phone began to buzz loudly.

Wade gave a groan knowing it was probably work. Weasel had mentioned a big job coming up...

But plucking the device up once again, he sat up on his elbows at he saw the name plastered across the screen.

MISSY CALLING...

Wade answered almost instantly, pressing the phone to his ear.

"Hey," he uttered quickly, immediately wishing he had thought of a more charming opener.

There was a brief pause.

"Hey, Wade..." came Missy's hushed tones, it was obviously by the echo in her voice that she was speaking from a hallway or stairwell.

"Is...uh...is everything alright?" asked Wade after there came another long silence. "Or did you really miss me that much, you're just calling to hear my dulcet tones?"

But Missy didn't laugh.

"No...I.....errr..... I have a favour to ask," she said, her voice sounding slightly stressed, he could hear her high heels down the line and could tell that she was pacing. "We have this huge meeting at work and I've been asked to step in and take the minutes and, well....it's just gone 2 now and we're barely half way through....we won't be done until at least 5 by the looks of it....and well.....I really should be picking Emily up soon and..."

She trailed off, Wade hearing the worry in her voice.

"I wouldn't normally bother you...but it's just I don't really have anyone else I could ask..." she continued, her soft voice wavering slightly. Wade could picture her worrying at those pink lips of hers, like she normally did.

"Of course I can go fetch her. Three-fifteen right?" he replied in an easy tone.

He heard Missy hitch her breath in her throat.

"Are you sure?" she asked, her tone brightening slightly.

Wade couldn't help but grin.

"No problemo," he shrugged. "Wadey can bring Em-erino home, get her hopped up on sugar and pass her back over to you when you're done."

"...I...um....t-that's great," murmured Missy, sounding a little distracted. "I'll sign you in at reception. Look, I've got to go, were starting again...thanks you so much for this....I really do owe you."

"Wow...well there's no way I'm denying that....just promise me you don't make it up to me tooooooo much. A little brunch date at the Ritz and a couple of cases of Cuban cigars should do it..."

For the first time during their conversation, he heard Missy let out a quiet chuckle.

"Well on my salary, it might have to be more like some take-out and a movie one night, after Emily's gone to bed," she replied and Wade could hear that she was smiling.

"Well that sounds like pretty much my dream date," he said a little teasingly.

Missy paused for a slight second but didn't argue with him. Instead giving him a brief. "Bye Wade" and ending the call.

Wade merely smiled to himself as he dropped the phone down to his side once again.

Maybe today wasn't going to turn out as to be as much of a write-off as he first had thought....