by Holly Rayner
The elevator doors whirred with electrical activity and bumped her outstretched foot rhythmically as they attempted to close. Maia kept her foot firmly planted until she got off the call. Then she pulled her foot inside and let the doors close.
“L?” Joy asked, as she looked up to her mother. Her little finger hovered over the “L” button that would direct the elevator down to the lobby. Since learning her letters and numbers, Joy had delighted in pressing the elevator buttons.
Maia shook her head. “Five,” she said.
“Five?” Joy moved her finger but didn’t press it. “Five, Mommy?” she repeated.
Maia nodded. “Yes, honey. We’re going to go see Caroline.”
Joy pressed the button. “But what about school?” she said, sounding dismayed.
“Turns out, school is canceled today.”
“Why?”
“Some kids aren’t feeling too good, and Miss Sherman is going to clean the school really nice so that you can go back tomorrow, okay?”
“That’s good!” Joy said, clapping her hands. She continued to clap and chat about school until they reached the front door of Caroline’s apartment.
After two minutes, the door opened. It wasn’t until Maia saw her tall, blond friend’s fuzzy bathrobe and blurry-eyed stare that Maia remembered just how early it really was.
“Oh, goodness!” she said apologetically. “Caroline, I’m sorry to wake you. I just got a call from daycare and they’re closing for the day. Any chance you could hang out with Joy today?”
Caroline finished her yawn and looked down at Joy.
“We can play!” Joy said. She stepped forward and wrapped her little arms around Caroline’s bathrobe-clad legs.
Caroline crouched down to return Joy’s hug. She smiled as she said, “You know I’d love to. We’ll play soon, I promise.” Then she stood back up to face Maia and said, “But today’s no good. I really wish I could help out, but I’m getting my wisdom teeth out today, remember?”
“That’s right.” Maia recalled the last conversation she’d had with Caroline, only two nights before. Caroline had been excited about the new temp job she’d landed and had been busy raiding Maia’s closet of office-appropriate attire while chatting about her upcoming dental appointment. “I should have offered to take you,” Maia lamented.
“No, no, it’s fine. Girl, you are way too busy to be carting me around to dental appointments. Besides, I asked Chad.” Caroline’s cheeks turned the exact shade of pink as her fuzzy bathrobe at the mention of her new boyfriend.
“Ooh la la,” Maia teased. “So Chad is worthy of bringing you to a surgical appointment?”
“It’s just dental surgery,” Caroline said. “But yeah… He’s responsible, reliable, caring… He even said he’s going to pick up soup from the deli for me, after he brings me back here.”
“Sounds serious,” Maia said, grinning. She was still stressed about what to do about her childcare situation for the day, but it was nice to distract herself for a minute. She chatted with Caroline about Chad, then realized that if she kept it up, she’d be late for work.
“I really have to run,” she said, as she glanced down at her watch.
“Has PubLive followed up on that daycare idea you had?” Caroline asked.
Maia shook her head. Though she’d brought up the idea for a company-sponsored daycare option in the PubLive headquarters many times to her boss, he’d never once taken her seriously. “You know how Ben is,” she said. “He’s not family-oriented. He doesn’t get what it’s like to have kids.”
Joy looked up. “Kids like me, Mommy? I’m a kid.”
“Yes, you are,” Maia said with a laugh. “Exactly. Kids like you.”
“What about me?” Joy asked, suddenly confused. “Am I going to be home alone?”
Maia shook her head. “No, honey. You know what? It looks like you’re going to come to the office with me.”
“To work?” Joy asked.
“That’s right,” Maia said, a nervous feeling fluttering in her stomach. She’d never brought her daughter to work before. She tried to keep her tone upbeat as she said to Joy, “To work, like a big girl.”
“You two have fun,” Caroline said, before bidding the two goodbye.
Joy scampered down the hallway toward the elevators once again. “I’m gonna press L,” she said happily, as she ran.
Once on the subway, Maia tried to calm her nerves by visualizing her day. Joy was a very well-behaved girl, and Maia realized that if she planned out several activities for Joy to engage with, the day could go smoothly.
Ben can’t complain, as long as Joy is good and I do my work as usual, she told herself.
A tug on her sleeve interrupted her thoughts. “Mommy, look!” Joy said, pointing up at a colorful poster plastered just beneath a map of the subway system.
In the middle of the poster, a larger-than-life penguin wearing a purple bowtie waved at a crowd of children. Balloons and confetti filled the stage behind him. “Give your child an unforgettable gift!” the poster read. “Pete the Penguin’s live performance will be held at the Macy Theater!”
“Can we go meet Pete?” Joy asked hopefully.
Maia wished that she could say yes, but her single-mom budget left no wiggle room for extras like theater tickets. “Maybe one day,” she said, instead of giving her daughter an outright “no.”
Maia wrapped her arm around her daughter’s little shoulders. “Guess what? We can read that Pete the Penguin book that Nana sent from Iowa, when we get home tonight. Okay?”
“Yeah!” Joy clapped her hands again.
For the rest of the train ride, she talked with excitement about their last visit to Iowa, where Maia had grown up. The small farming community was still the place Maia’s parents called home, and Joy loved their yearly visits, when she got to take in the sights of the nearby farm animals, like pigs, goats, and cows.
Joy was still babbling happily about the big cows when Maia guided her into the PubLive headquarters. The building once housed a shoe factory but had since been upgraded to house the booming online publishing company. The entire front facade was now composed of glass and steel, and letters spelling “PubLive’’ stretched across the second- and third-story windows.
Maia remembered how impressed she’d been when she first visited the building two years prior. She’d just left a job as an assistant to a high-level executive at Air America Travel, which was one of the nation’s most successful online reservations agencies. The job had paid well, but the company’s headquarters had been incredibly cramped and stuffy. In contrast, the airy, modern feel of the PubLive headquarters seemed heavenly.
She led Joy into the expansive lobby and heard the familiar clicking sound of her heels against the polished white marble. Ben Briars had spared no expense when designing the space. Vibrant plants filled the lobby, and every surface area gleamed and sparkled.
Maia laughed as Joy broke away and raced toward the bank of elevators. A small knot of waiting workers chuckled as Joy pardoned herself on her way to the buttons. “Excuse me, please!” she said in her angelic voice. “Excuse me, I have an important job.”
A woman who worked in one of the offices just down from Maia’s gestured to Joy. “Yes, honey, you sure do.” She looked at Maia, who had raced to catch up. “What’s this little peanut’s important job?”
Joy interjected. “I have to press the right button. Then, I get to read Nana’s book tonight!” She beamed with pleasure.
As the elevator arrived and everyone stepped inside, Joy continued to take center stage. “Sometimes, stories are sad. Sometimes, stories are happy. The book Nana gave is really happy because Pete the Penguin gets ice cream!” She clapped her hands.
One of Maia’s male coworkers spoke up. “I can’t remember the last time I was that excited about getting in an elevator.”
“Or reading a book,” another man said with a laugh.
Maia recognized the second man as one of the lead ma
nagers, who headed up the company’s division of lifestyle magazines, both online and off. Usually, he wore a grimace as he stressed about one urgent problem or another, but he smiled as he took in the sight of Joy. Maia was used to her daughter having that effect on people.
“Must be a really good book,” another woman said.
“And some good ice cream,” the usually grumpy manager said.
“Oh yes,” Maia agreed.
The elevator slowly let folks off onto their respective floors and soon opened up to the building’s top floor, where Maia’s office was.
Maia held Joy’s hand and waited for the two other passengers to get out, and then she ushered Joy out into the bustling workspace.
PubLive had many divisions, including print and online magazines, various websites, and a social media department. The top floor was where the head of each department worked. It was also where the company’s CEO, Benjamin Briars, had his office. As Ben’s assistant, Maia was lucky to have a prime office space, in close proximity to her boss. The views from the bank of windows by her desk were breathtaking, and she often recharged by looking out at the city’s skyline.
Maia pushed open a fogged-glass office door that had “CEO Benjamin Briars” carved into it. Her desk was straight ahead. Beyond it, Ben’s office was located, separated from hers by glass partitions.
“Wow, Mommy,” Joy said. It was clear that she was just as impressed by the views as Maia had been on her very first day at work, two years before. “We’re in the clouds!”
“Sometimes, yes,” Maia said happily, thinking back on various times when fog blanketed the city and turned the view through the windows into a fuzzy wall of soft white.
“So pretty,” Joy said. She spun in a circle, taking in the beautiful surroundings.
In addition to colorful modern artwork on the walls, there was also a fountain and several vibrant plants. Twin sleek, silver computer monitors occupied Maia’s desk, along with a phone and a digitized photo frame that Ben had given each of his employees the prior Christmas.
Maia plucked the photo frame from her desk. The display screen was black until she pushed a button on the bottom, turning it on. Suddenly, to Joy’s great delight, photographs started to display on the screen. The image changed every five seconds.
“Nana!” Joy said happily. She plopped down onto the floor right where she was, without a moment’s hesitation. “Cows!” she said, five seconds later.
Maia chuckled to herself as she set down her purse and then peeled off her fleece jacket. Given that it was spring in New York, the mornings were still chilly enough to warrant the need for extra layers, but not hat and gloves.
She switched on her computer and then checked the time. It was five to seven, and she was relieved to see that Ben’s office, just behind hers, was still dark. She’d fretted that he would beat her to work, given the disruption to her morning routine, but it seemed that the time she’d lost by talking to Caroline had been gained back during her commute to the office. It helped that she’d not had to stop at Joy’s daycare and had instead been able to travel straight to work.
Thank goodness I’m not late, she thought. Her boss didn’t like it when employees were tardy.
Maia had never once been late, and she prided herself on that.
She knew, too, that it was one of the things that Ben appreciated about her.
He also appreciates that I never let my personal life interfere with work, she thought then. She glanced down at Joy. What is he going to think when he sees that I brought my child to work? Is he going to be okay with this?
A sound at the door interrupted her train of thought. She looked up and saw her boss step through the door.
Maia always did her best to keep her thoughts about her boss strictly professional, but on some days that was harder than others. She had to admit that his good looks were a perk of her employment as his assistant. He was just so gorgeous.
Today was one of the days in which it was hard to deny the way her eyes were drawn to him. His wavy, dark blond hair complemented his blue-gray eyes. A natural tan seemed to grace his glowing skin all year round, and today this was set off by his button-up shirt, which was such a pale lavender that it was almost white. He wore a crisp black suit jacket, black tie, and black slacks. The perfectly fitted suit did nothing to hide the fact that beneath it, Ben was an incredibly healthy specimen.
Maia had to blink twice to clear away the image of a photo she’d caught sight of once, of Ben running on a beach in Hawaii. He’d been shirtless, and for many nights after seeing it she’d laid awake, just fantasizing about his six-pack.
Not now, she told herself, in an effort to quickly regroup.
He had earbuds in, as usual. Ben didn’t like to let one moment go to waste, and that included his drive to work. Maia knew that he usually caught up on industry news whenever he had an idle moment, whether that was driving, walking, or waiting in a line.
As he walked swiftly through the office, he nodded a curt greeting in her direction. It was his habit not to speak, seeing as he didn’t usually pull his earbuds out until he reached his desk.
Maia noticed as he approached that his hair was slightly damp, and his jawline had just the faintest trace of bristling blond hairs on it. He didn’t shave this morning, she realized. Something’s off with him. He always shaves.
She noted, too, as he got closer, that his blue-gray eyes had a stormy quality about them. He also walked at a quicker pace than usual.
Just as she was putting all of these little puzzle pieces together and coming to the conclusion that something big was on her boss’s mind, she realized that Ben had not yet seen Joy, who was still sitting in the middle of the office space.
Maia jumped up and hurried around her desk. Ben was walking so quickly, and his eyes were pinned on his office door. He had no reason to look down and notice the three-year-old in his path.
“Ben,” Maia said urgently, as he was just feet away from Joy.
A look of increased confusion crossed Ben’s face. Maia motioned to the floor.
Ben looked down, and his eyebrows shot up. “Oh.” He pulled out his wireless earbuds. “I didn’t see… Hello.”
He furrowed his brow, and Maia wondered for a moment if she was about to have her first experience of being reprimanded by her boss. In her two years of working for him, he’d been nothing but polite. Distant, but pleasant, nonetheless.
But now, was he going to reprimand her?
She waited nervously as Ben looked at Joy, then to Maia. “Is she yours?” He gestured to Maia.
Besides mentioning Joy a few times at the beginning of her employment, Maia had rarely discussed her with Ben. She realized now that perhaps he’d forgotten she even had a child. He had so many things to balance all at once, it was no wonder that he didn’t keep all of his employees’ family situations in mind.
Even though I’ve talked to him several times about how great daycare would be, Maia thought, slightly miffed.
She pushed this aside and gave a tentative smile. “Yes, this is my daughter, Joy. I hope it’s okay if she’s here with us today?” She was tempted to ramble on about the whole situation with her daycare, but she knew that was not Ben’s style. He liked it when she kept her communications with him short and to the point.
He looked down at Joy again, still with confusion.
Joy held up the digital photo frame. On it was a picture of Maia, holding Joy when Joy was just an infant. It was one of Maia’s favorite photographs. “See Mr. Bry? Mommy and me. That’s when I was a baby.”
She stood up and held the frame up toward Ben. She pointed at the baby in the photograph. “That’s me!” she said with disbelief, as if she could barely comprehend the fact. “Me, when I was just out of Mommy’s tummy. Were you a baby, too?”
Ben’s eyebrows shot up, and a grin flashed across his lips, creating deep dimples in his cheeks. “Yes, I suppose I was. That was a long time ago.”
He then looked over at Joy.
“It’s fine,” he said with a nod. His grin faded, and again a furrow lined his brow. He walked around Joy and disappeared into his office.
From the corner of her eye, Maia watched him settle behind his desk. He looked distracted by something—definitely not his usual self.
I wonder what’s going on with him? Maybe it has something to do with the text he sent earlier. She opened her messages and began sorting through.
There were two from the night before, with regards to the upcoming launch. It was her boss’s habit to send her notes whenever a thought occurred to him, and this often happened late into the evening, after Joy had gone home. She scrolled past these messages, mentally taking notes, but still searching for the source of her boss’s discontent.
When she reached the message that he’d sent that morning, she was confused. “Maia, could you please make an addition to my schedule for the day? I need to be at the Sunny Side Daycare at three p.m. Rearrange my meetings accordingly. Thank you.”
Why would Ben need to pick up a kid from daycare? she wondered.
She knew of the Sunny Side Daycare. In fact, when she’d searched the city for the right daycare for Joy, she’d interviewed there. They were extremely exclusive, and the tuition was astronomical. In the end, Maia had decided it wasn’t the right fit for Joy.
Maybe Ben has a child I don’t know about? Maia thought. She peered over her shoulder at her boss, who had swiveled his chair so that he was looking out of one of the expansive windows that lined his office.
As he began turning back to his desk, Maia quickly averted her gaze. She read over the text again. Is it possible? she thought. Does Ben have a child I don’t know about? She knew virtually nothing about her boss’s private life. He was very tight-lipped about everything besides work tasks.
She’d noticed, of course, that he didn’t wear a wedding band. But he could be divorced, she thought. Maybe he has partial custody of a kid.
