The Unexpected Nanny

8- Reality hits

Sadie came home in the middle of the night, thinking that everyone would be sleeping at that time, she tried coming in the house as quietly as she could. She was taking her shoes off in the entry way, and jumped when she heard a noise from across the room, she didn't realize Antonio was in the kitchen drinking a glass of water.

"What is it with you scaring me all the time?" she whispered loudly, not pleased.

"Me? I was just drinking a glass of water, I assumed you were home already." he says quietly, as he walked towards her.

When he got closer to her, her heart started to beat faster when she realized he was only in boxers, and tried not looking at him.

"I should get to bed." she says quietly, wanting to avoid him. She started to walk past him so she could go to bed, he rested his hand on her shoulder as she walked by, making her stop.

His touch sent goosebumps throughout her body, when she stopped to look at him, the look in his eyes made her melt. "Antonio I'm tired." she whispered.

"I just wanted to ask you something about earlier, wondering if you could ever forgive me. It's been eating at me all night." he asked, looking at her desperately.

"I forgive you" she said quickly, wanting to get away from him.

"Can we talk about this another time, it's late." she asked, looking away from him.

"Thank you." he said quietly, taking a step back away from her.

He stood there watching her walk away, he felt like a heel when he realized he was starting to develop feelings for Sadie. He loved Harlow very much, and knew that he had to stop having these feelings for Sadie, every time he looked at her, or interacted with her, all he wanted to do was to hold her in his arms. He wasn't sure if they were exactly romantic feelings, or if they were just feelings of someone to help comfort him. He wasn't understanding where his mind was at, and it was killing him to be feeling the way he was.

The next day he left for work earlier than normal, wanting to avoid seeing Sadie. When he got to his office, he logged online quick to find the story he read the night before, and to get the phone number that he had seen at the bottom of her success story.

He called the number once he found it, and talked with the lady for about an hour explaining Harlow's situation. Although her situation was extremely similar to Harlow's, hers wasn't as aggressive, and rare as Harlow's was. She also was never told that she had so much time to live. The hope he had, suddenly turned to fear, and disappointment, thanking her for her time before he hung up.

He sat in his chair spinning it around slowly with his feet, and then stopped to face the window so he could look into the sky. He knew that he had to face reality, and to finally accept the fact that she will not be with them much longer. The more he thought about it, he broke down, and began praying for a miracle to happen.

His secretary knocked on the door, and walked into his office when he didn't respond to her. Knowing that he was in there, she figured that she better let him know that he was running late for court, and needed to hurry up.

"Thank you, I'll be leaving in a couple of minutes, please call and let them know I'm running behind." he tells her, with a crackle in his voice. After she left, he stood up and walked over to the small sink in his office, staring at himself in the mirror. He then splashed some water in his face, and cleaned up, getting himself presentable for court.

He walked over to the door, and stood there with his hand on the door knob. He couldn't get Harlow off his mind, and rested his forehead against the door, trying to get himself together, before walking out the door. He took in a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and cool off. He felt he was about to break down, and didn't want anyone in the office to see him that way.