Tessa's Wishes (Whispered Wishes Book 3)

by Karen Pokras

  A week or so? I’ll be unemployed in a week or so!

  “Are you okay, Miss Haines?” he asked, looking at her. “You look a little pale.”

  Taking a deep breath, she tried to control her breathing. Now is not the time to have a panic attack, Tessa. You have to think about Sophie.

  “I’m fine,” she said, in a final long breath as she felt her heart beginning to self-regulate. She’d been in worse situations than this and survived. She was Tessa Haines. The fighter. The one who didn’t take crap from anyone. The one who was unbreakable. She took the prescription from the doctor and was thankful she made it home before the tears began.

  Chapter 6

  Tessa nervously tapped her fingers on her kitchen table as she listened to the phone ringing through her receiver … one, two. She knew he would be in the office early as he would have had to pick up the reports for his meeting with Nicholas Schilling. Maybe he hadn’t seen the note and left? Three, four …

  “Steven Abbott,” the brusque voice finally answered.

  She let out the breath she’d apparently been holding.

  “Good morning,” she said, trying her best to sound like a confident professional despite the fact that her heart was beating so loud she could barely hear her own words. “It’s Tessa. Did you see my note about Mr. Schilling? And my reports?”

  “Yes,” he replied.

  She waited. No, “Thank you, Tessa. I so appreciate you working your ass off late into the night even though the client cancelled.” Or even a gruff, yet simple, “Thanks.” Did she really expect one?

  “Well, um, my daughter’s sick. We were at the hospital until early this morning. I don’t think I’m going to—”

  “I’ve already spoken to Nicholas,” he interrupted. “We’re meeting next quarter. The reports will have to be completely revised to reflect new projections. There’s a lot of work to be done. Find someone to watch your kid. I expect you here in thirty minutes.” He hung up the phone before she could respond.

  Closing her eyes, she sighed. What did she expect? “I’m so sorry, Tessa. Of course you should take the day off to be with your daughter. In fact, you worked so hard, let me pay you for the day. You deserve it. The important thing is that your daughter gets better.” No, that’s what Bruce would have said. Not Mr. Abbott. He said exactly what she would have expected. Except, there really wasn’t any work to do today for this client. Three months out was too early to make any new projections. She needed to wait at least a month or two to see the trends in the market, plus she would have to gather all new broker and bank statements to get an accurate picture of his portfolio. Those wouldn’t even be available yet. The truth was, Tessa normally waited until the week before these meetings to drop her numbers into her formulas and then tweaked them a few days before. Who could really predict the market? If it were that easy, she’d be a rich woman. All she really had to do today was catch up on work for the other clients she’d neglected while working on the Schilling reports. And those could wait another day or so. There was nothing pressing, and he knew that. Regardless, she knew trying to explain that to her boss would be a useless effort. He was just being spiteful.

  Twenty-five minutes. That’s all she had to get in there before she was most likely fired. She flipped through her checkbook. At most, she had two weeks’ worth of income saved. Would that give her enough time to find a job and cover her bills if she walked today? She knew the answer before she asked herself the question. To make matters worse, that savings would most likely go to pay for last night’s emergency room visit, since Mr. Abbott’s cheap medical plan wouldn’t cover much of it. She peeked in at Sophie, still fast asleep in her bed. At least her fever had dropped. It was still above a hundred, but one hundred and one was much better than one hundred and five point five.

  Ava would probably agree to watch her. She always said yes, but Tessa didn’t want to ask her again or risk getting Jenna and Logan sick. Holly was at work. Plus, she doubted she could get Sophie up and over to either of her sisters’ homes and still make it to work on time. With no other options, she walked quietly over to her daughter’s bed and ran her fingers through her soft curls.

  “Sophie, sweetheart, it’s time to get up. Mama needs to go into work.”

  “Mmmm,” she moaned as she rolled over, hugging her doll and blanket even tighter.

  Grabbing Sophie’s daycare bag, Tessa filled it with toys and activity books, and went back over to her daughter.

  “Soph?” she tried again. “Mama’s going to go get dressed, and then we need to go, sweetie, okay?”

  “Mmmm hmmm,” she mumbled, still not opening her eyes.

  Taking the bag into the kitchen, Tessa added juice boxes, snacks, and the medicine the doctor from the hospital had prescribed. She’d forgotten about him until that moment. The hospital had given Sophie her first dose of meds right there in the emergency room, and when they were finally released, they stopped at the pharmacy window on the way out to fill the prescription. She turned the bottle around to study the label. So Dr. Swoon-worthy apparently had a real name ... Dr. Brandon Hall. Placing the bottle in the bag with everything else, she checked the time. Twenty minutes.

  She quickly downed a cup of coffee, got dressed, grabbed Sophie, Biddy, Daisy, a small quilt off Sophie’s bed, a pillow, and the bag. Loading them all into her car, she headed into her office.

  Mr. Abbott scowled as Tessa walked in with Sophie in tow, the two of them carrying what looked to be half of their apartment in their arms. All he said was get here in thirty minutes. He didn’t say anything about what she could or couldn’t bring with her. Judging by the time on her watch, she had three minutes to spare.

  “Tessa!” he hollered as predicted. “My office—now!”

  She spread out the quilt and pillow on the floor of her own office and gently placed Sophie down with her toys. “I’ll be right back,” she whispered, giving her a kiss.

  “Yes, sir?” Tessa asked innocently, walking through his doorway and taking a seat in one of his leather chairs.

  “Do you mind telling me what’s going on here?”

  Be strong. Don’t let him bully you. Smile. “I told you,” she said sweetly, trying to calm him down, “my daughter is sick today. I’m afraid she can’t go to daycare. I tried to explain earlier that—”

  “And I told you to find someone to watch her.”

  Okay, maybe the nice approach isn’t going to work.

  “Well, I don’t have anyone, so it was either bring her in or stay home, and you made it clear that staying home wasn’t an option.”

  “Mama! Mama!” Sophie cried from the next office. “Mama! Mama!” She came running into Mr. Abbott’s office holding Biddy. “My tummy doesn’t feel good.”

  Tessa watched as her daughter’s face turned a shade of green she was all too familiar with. Jumping up, she grabbed the trashcan from under the desk just as Sophie vomited into it.

  “Ugh. Vile!” her boss moaned, turning his head. “Go on. Get out of here. Take the laptop and your files, and work from home until she’s better. However, I want you to check in every day with progress reports. No sitting around watching those soap operas or whatever daytime talk shows you ladies watch all day long. And get rid of … that.” He pointed to the wastebasket looking a bit green himself. “I have no use for it. Go!” He stood up with his hand covering his nose and mouth. From a drawer in his desk, he grabbed a can of Lysol and proceeded to spray every surface in his office as Tessa and Sophie left with the trashcan.

  Chapter 7

  Tessa tucked Sophie back into bed and set herself up at her tiny kitchen table—laptop to her left, Shilling binder, adding machine, mechanical pencils, and all important Post-it notes to her right. Of course, her already filled, oversized coffee mug was front and center. Just as she was about to start working, the phone began to ring.

  “Really?” she mumbled to herself. “He’s probably just calling to check if he can hear a soap opera or whatever daytime talk sh
ow us ladies watch all day long in the background. Dumbass.” She thought about turning the TV on just to mess with him, but then decided that would be a bad idea and quickly answered the phone instead. “Hello?”

  “Um … hello,” the male voice said.

  Tessa pulled her phone back to look at the caller ID. It definitely wasn’t Mr. Abbott. The man on the other end of the line sounded vaguely familiar, but the phone number wasn’t at all recognizable.

  “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “Is this Tessa Haines?”

  “Yes,” she replied, still trying to place the voice.

  “Oh, good, I do have the right number. The handwriting was a little messy, so I couldn’t tell if this was a three or a five. But apparently it was a three after all.”

  “Who is this?” she asked. Game time was over.

  “I’m sorry, I should have said right away. Forgive me. I’m coming off of a fifteen-hour shift. This is Brandon Hall … Dr. Hall. I treated your daughter in the emergency room last night.”

  So that’s why his voice sounded familiar. “Yes, of course,” she replied, trying to sound professional and not caught completely off guard. She paused for a minute, gathering herself. Just why was he calling her? Maybe one of Sophie’s tests came back with bad news or something. Panic began to well in her chest.

  “I was just calling to follow up.”

  “Follow up?” Tessa asked. So did that mean there was no bad news on test results? Was this normal hospital protocol? She didn’t recall receiving follow up calls in the past. There better not be a bill for this.

  “Yes, how is Sophie feeling today?”

  Feeling a bit more relaxed, she took a sip of her coffee and leaned back in her chair. Maybe he could settle her nerves about Sophie’s condition after the rough morning they had. “Well, her fever is lower, but she’s not able to hold any food or liquid down, and she’s coughing a lot. She’s been sleeping off and on all morning. She just seems really uncomfortable and miserable.”

  “Poor thing,” Dr. Hall replied. “If you’d like, I can take a look at her later.”

  “No rest for the weary, huh? They have you back at the hospital so soon after fifteen-hours there?”

  “No, the hospital gives us a break now and again. I’ve got the coming two days off to rest up before my next marathon shift. I was thinking I could stop by … if you were worried about Sophie, I mean. I imagine it’s hard having to take care of her on your own when she’s so sick.”

  Tessa didn’t know if she should be thankful for the offer or insulted. She prided herself on her ability to single parent Sophie, and while yes, she did ask her sisters for help more than she wanted, for the most part, she did okay on her own. Plus, did she really want to be with this guy alone in her apartment? Tessa had only been alone with a few men since Scott. After that debacle, she put up a wall—a fortress was more like it—and decided to devote her life to raising her daughter. None of the men since had been able to break through to her heart. Serious anxiety set in as she fanned herself with the papers sitting on her table.

  “Miss Haines?” Dr. Hall asked. “Are you still there?”

  “Yes, sorry,” she replied. “I appreciate the offer, Dr. Hall, but I think it’s probably best if I just let Sophie sleep it out today and see how she does. Like you said last night, we just have to let the virus work its way through her system.”

  “Most doctors don’t do this, so I understand your hesitation. Let me give you my number in case you change your mind or if Sophie’s condition worsens. Like I said, I don’t have to go back to the hospital for forty-eight hours.” He laughed. “I guess I’m not good at taking time off. Of course, if Sophie’s condition does change, and you feel more comfortable going to the E.R., then by all means take her there, or call her pediatrician. The important thing is that she gets better.”

  Tessa took down his phone number. Maybe he really was just interested in Sophie. Was it possible he did this for all of his patients?

  “Okay, thank you,” she said, wondering if she was making the right decision to turn down an opportunity to have her daughter looked at again because of her own insecurities. “I appreciate your concern,” she replied, saying good-bye and hanging up before she could change her mind.

  ~~~

  For the third time in three hours, Tessa’s phone rang.

  “Again?” she muttered. She’d just gotten off the phone with her boss ten minutes ago. How did he expect her to work if he didn’t leave her alone? She looked at the caller ID before answering and sighed in relief. Holly. Her sister must be on a lunch break.

  “Hey, Hol.” Standing up with the phone propped between her ear and her shoulder, Tessa walked over to examine the contents of her fridge. She might as well eat. It wasn’t often she had the luxury of having a real meal for lunch.

  “Hi. I haven’t talked to you in days. Do you have a minute to gab, or will your boss skin your hide if he catches you not working every spare second of the day?”

  “Actually, I’m working from home today,” she responded, examining the date on the package of pre-chopped lettuce she’d bought last week. It expired two days ago. Tossing it in the trash bin, she sighed. The last thing she needed right now was food poisoning. Not that there was ever a good time for such a thing. She grabbed a container of yogurt instead. “Sophie’s sick.”

  “He let you work from home? Was he drunk or something?”

  Chuckling, she pulled a spoon out of the drawer. “No, disgusted.” She told Holly the entire story, including the trip to the hospital and the ensuing phone call a few hours ago with Dr. Swoon-worthy.

  “Wait a second,” Holly said. “Let me get this straight. A gorgeous, eligible, rich doctor wanted to come over to sweep you off your feet, and you said no thanks?”

  “First of all,” she corrected, “we don’t know that he’s rich. I mean, he works at Crestmont Memorial. Isn’t that where Jared worked? He didn’t make a ton of money if I remember correctly.”

  Holly sighed. “Jared was on the maintenance crew. This guy’s a doctor. I’m pretty sure they’re not on the same pay scale.”

  “Second,” Tessa continued, ignoring her sister’s comment, “I didn’t say he was gorgeous, I said he was swoon-worthy. There’s a difference.”

  “Enlighten me.”

  “And third,” she added, still ignoring her, “he offered to come check on Sophie, not sweep me off my feet. Isn’t that all part of the Hippocratic Oath they take when they become doctors or something?”

  “Newsflash, Tessa. I’ve never had a doctor call me after a visit, wanting to follow up with me at my house. I can bet Ava will say the same for her two kids. Sophie is three. Have you ever had a doctor offer to stop by for a check-up before?”

  “No,” she replied quietly. She knew Holly was right. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have hesitated the way she had.

  “Listen, I know you’ve been hurt—really hurt—but at some point you’ve got to let someone in. Don’t you want to share your life with a partner? Don’t you want Sophie to grow up with a father figure? I’m not saying this doctor is the one, but you’ll never know if you don’t give him a chance.”

  The tear rolled down her cheek faster than she could blink it away. Of course she wanted to share her life with someone special. She wanted to find the same magic her two older sisters had with their spouses. Ever since Scott left, she’d been so cautious. Was it possible to let someone in?

  “You’re right,” she replied. “I’m … scared, and I have Sophie to think about.”

  “That’s okay, sweetie. You have every right to be scared, and you should of course take things slow with anyone you meet. I just think you shouldn’t be so quick to judge everyone, that’s all. I’m saying this out of love, okay? Lord knows I made some crappy decisions along the way. I’m so grateful I didn’t marry Jared. If I had, I’d either be miserable or divorced by now. However, if I had let that bad experience close myself up to every future relationship, I wou
ld have never taken a chance on Ben. You’re not that same spunky girl I used to know. Don’t let someone from your past steal your spirit.”

  Nodding, even though Holly couldn’t see her through the telephone, Tessa knew her sister was right. She wasn’t the same girl. That girl would have yelled, “Screw you, Scott” from the rooftop and marched on with her head held high. Where was that girl?

  Chapter 8

  “Yes, Mr. Abbott, I’ve emailed all of the reports as well as a detailed time sheet listing out which client items I’ve worked on since we last spoke.” Tessa stretched her weary back as she looked at the clock on her microwave. It was nearly eight in the evening, and she’d finally managed to get Sophie down to sleep for the night, after a day of intermittent naps and Disney movies. Her boss had called five times during the day to check on her. Each time, she’d emailed him updates and time sheets as requested. Apparently, working from home meant she‘d be available to work 24/7. It was time for her to be off the clock. “So, I’ll check in with you in the morning then?” Holding her breath, she waited for her boss’ reply. Her not so subtle announcement that the workday was potentially over was a bold move.

  “Um … well … yes, yes, these reports seem to be in order. Call me first thing in the morning so we can go over your day’s agenda.” He abruptly hung up the telephone.

  Pulling the receiver away from her ear, Tessa rolled her eyes. Have a good evening, and thanks again for putting in a hard day of work that went way beyond your required eight hours. Shaking her head, she logged off her computer and went to check on Sophie.