Yours Truly ❁ n.k.h

• chapter seventeen •

Guilt wrapped itself like a noose around my neck when I stepped into Gary's office that same week. I tried to rehearse what I was going to say over and over but it all seemed to fall flat. There was no way I could make a lie great enough to warrant me leaving the state. The best I could do instead was be vague about it.

I was on thin ice already. Gary wasn't fond of my encounter with a client, as he calls it, and sniped at me to leave the drama at home and out of his shop. At that point, there was no better time than the present to rip the bandaid off. I'd made my way into his office with some really cryptic shit about needing to talk. Gary looked both over my shit and ready to take my head off when I proposed it.

Well, here goes nothing.

"I have a kid," I blurted out. My hands were behind my back and holding each other tightly. I felt like I was going to break my fingers from how hard I was gripping them.

The silver haired man looked up from his tablet with an eyebrow cocked. I could see them beginning to crease and decrease as he attempted to formulate a response. I continued anyway.

"That woman that you saw at the shop a few days ago was here for me. Because that's my wife. And also the mother of my child. Who just got into a really bad car accident and has a really traumatic brain injury." I gulped. "The child, not the wife. Brain injury wise."

He removed his hands from his screen and folded them atop it. I could feel the piercing gaze coming off of him even if I wasn't looking directly.

"This is either a really thorough extent you're going to to lie, or we have a bigger conversation on our hands of what you're still doing in my shop and not god knows where with your kid."

I could feel the sweat building up between my knuckles. I wished my chest would stop serving as an ample batting cage for my heart right about now.

"I'm not lying. My daughter had a brain bleed because a beam collided with her skull in the car. She's only seven." Okay, now lie. "I don't really know the extent of her condition because I haven't been able to be there, and her mother wanted me to come back with her but I told her I had to work. Hence, the... Arguing."

I think that was a pretty nice save. Well, it wasn't really a save but he didn't need to know all the details. The more I can steer him away from questions regarding him and his shop, the better. I didn't need yet another person questioning the existentialism of my decisions.

Fenway's head hung a bit at my news, shaking almost as if he couldn't believe it himself. His arms that were full of tattoos and typically regarded with such poise seemed to relax. The choking air in the room lessened, but not enough to dissipate my anxiety completely.

"Seven. Wow. God bless her." He paused to take a deep breath. "I'm sorry, uh, H, that that's happening. I wish you would've told me sooner, a family emergency is a family emergency. I don't excuse much but I take that very seriously. How many days do you need, have you arranged a flight yet?"

I looked to my right, a little wide eyed. Okay, that went a lot smoother than I thought. "Tomorrow. Uh, tomorrow night. 9 PM. I'll need... Three days maybe?"

He clicked his tablet back open, pressing a few buttons before reaching up to scratch his head. "Sounds doable, I'll move some artists around to cover your time slot. If you need more time, call the shop. If I'm not here, Sawyer is."