‘Arsehole did this with you?’
‘Yes, on a regular basis, often in my lunch break.’
‘Then I’ll learn fast,’ he volunteered with a shrug. ‘I won’t be outdone. How’s my boy?’
‘He’s perfect and currently sleeping like a proverbial baby.’
‘Can I see him?’
‘I don’t want to wake him or it will throw him out of a very carefully crafted routine,’ I advised.
‘You don’t have to wake him, I’d just like to see him.’
‘No talking then,’ I warned, as I threw the duvet back and got up, touched that he really seemed invested. I padded over to his cot and held my iPad over him, letting Dan see him flat on his tummy, his hands up either side of his head and his cheek turned to the side. His tiny lips were parted and he let out a mild snore every few breaths and I heard Dan chuckle and pulled the iPad back up to look at him.
‘Does he always snore like that?’ he grinned.
‘Sometimes,’ I smiled.
‘It’s adorable. He’s adorable.’
‘He is, pretty damn perfect if you ask me. So how was your day?’
‘Back to normal,’ he sighed. ‘Emails, phone calls.’
‘Did you … did you go and see her?’ I asked hesitantly.
‘Yes.’
‘How did it go?’ I slapped myself on the forehead as soon as I asked the question, forgetting he could see me. How did I expect it to have gone when it was always a one sided conversation.
‘I knew what you meant,’ he chuckled. ‘I told them that I was a father and asked how they’d feel if you came to live with me.’
‘And?’ I whispered, dreading the response.
‘They’re fine about it. Really excited for me, for us. They also want to meet him if that’s not too weird for you? They’re like family to me after this long.’
‘That’s fine,’ I smiled. I was glad that they were accepting. Maybe this whole scenario was really going to help him deal with his dilemma once and for all. I mean, I was prepared to be patient but what woman wants to live with a guy long term under those conditions?
‘So you’re moving in?’
‘No, I told you we’d give it a trial.’
‘What’s to trial?’ he sighed. ‘Sex is off the charts fantastic, we love each other, we have a son together and I love your cooking. What else do we need to work out?’
‘You love my cooking,’ I laughed and he winked. ‘I think the decision to live together should be considered a bit more seriously than basing it on sex and cooking.’
‘And love and our child,’ he added.
‘Yes, well our track record at spending time together wasn’t exactly spotless, so I’m coming for two weeks and then we’ll talk about it.’
‘Two weeks?’ The look of distaste on his face spoke volumes.
‘I agreed to only take four months maternity leave, Dan. I finished two weeks before Oliver was born, so I’m due back two weeks on Monday.’
‘I told you that you don’t need to work. Name your salary for being my live in girlfriend and I’ll pay it.’
‘You’re lucky we’re on facetime or I’d slap you,’ I uttered, as I climbed back into bed and he frowned with a look of bewilderment on his face.
‘What’s wrong with that?’
‘Don’t even get me started,’ I sighed as I snuggled down in bed.
‘What are you wearing?’ he purred, as his eyes roved over the screen.
‘Too much for phone sex,’ I yawned, recognising the tone in his voice. ‘I have this new boyfriend who fucked me thoroughly all night, on top of cooking and looking after Oliver and entertaining a pissed Brooke all afternoon and evening and I’m absolutely shattered. So if you ever want sex again, you’d better let me sleep right now.’
‘I heard when you get serious with someone the sex dries up,’ he sighed.
‘It’s not sex if we’re not in the same room, trust me, Friday night you’d better be feeling vigorous as I’ll be expecting you to make up for the next few days.’
‘Don’t wish for things you can’t handle,’ he chuckled. ‘Speaking of Brooke, what can I get her to say thank you for being persistent enough to have us meet again?’
‘She’d love a Mazda,’ I yawned.
‘An MX-5 like yours? What colour?’
‘Very funny, I was joking.’
‘I wasn’t. Doesn’t she have a car?’
‘I was joking, Dan. She loves champagne and luxury chocolate.’
‘Fine don’t tell me, but you know I have ways of finding things out.’
‘Hmmm,’ I agreed as I felt my eyes closing. His voice was so husky, if I wasn’t so tired I’d be tuned into the horny feelings it usually gave me, tonight though it was like a lullaby. I’d have to try him talking to Oliver when he was having trouble settling down.
‘Ellie?’
‘Hmmm?’ I moaned, even going that step further in a groan was an effort. My limbs had gone so heavy.
‘Nothing, baby. Sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.’
‘O … k.’
‘I love you, Ellie Baxter,’ he whispered as I zoned out with a happy internal smile.
Day Seventeen
Tuesday 7th July ~ Year Two
Dan
‘Stuart. I need architect plans drawn up by Friday morning. Who can you sort for me?’
‘By Friday?’
‘Yes.’
‘Friday?’ he queried again.
‘Do I need to repeat myself or have you suddenly developed a mild case of Tourette’s?’
‘No, no Tourette’s Sir, but it’s hard to get a good architect at such short notice let alone to have him draw up plans as well.’
‘Well if it was easy I’d have booked someone myself. That’s what I pay you so well for, all your connections and your amazing ability to achieve the impossible.’
‘Amazing ability?’
‘Are you intent on making me repeat everything? You know how much I value you. What’s the name of the guy that drew up the plans for my house in San Francisco?’
‘David Cummings,’ Stuart replied. How the hell did he do that? I chuckled at my stupid self-questioning. Ok course it had something to do with his photographic memory, one of the reasons I poached him from his previous employer all those years ago.
‘Get him. I don’t care what you have to offer him, but I need extension plans for the house drawn up by Friday afternoon at the latest.’
‘For the house? Sorry Sir, I didn’t mean to repeat again, but can I ask why you need an extension? Does the server need an upgrade?’
‘No, no upgrade required. This is in strictest confidence until I say otherwise, understood?’
‘Of course,’ he replied instantaneously. I needn’t have asked, I trusted Stuart implicitly. He’d worked for me for eight years now.
‘You remember the emerald and diamond bracelet I asked you to acquire last year and the card that went with it, that had you trip over your feet?’
‘Of course,’ he chuckled.
‘Well, I’m planning on asking that lady, Miss Baxter, to move in with me and I’m told that the current configuration of my house isn’t suitable for my three month old son.’ I laughed as I heard Stuart spit coffee or water out and start to choke.
‘Forgive me,’ he spluttered. ‘But I had no idea you were still seeing her, I was under the impression that you’d refused to take things further and you’re telling me that you have a … son?’
‘She discovered she was pregnant after we parted ways and chose not to burden me with the fact.’
‘Forgive me for being impertinent, but are you sure … the child is yours? That this isn’t some elaborate scheme to obtain access to your considerable wealth?’
‘Given that it’s you I won’t take offence, but no, I trust her implicitly and she was struggling to reach a decision as to whether to even tell me that he existed. Anyway, they’re coming to stay on Friday evening and I’d like to reassure her
that I’m serious about making our relationship work.’
‘May I ask the little chap’s name?’
‘Oliver.’
‘Oliver Davenport, like you?’ he exclaimed.
‘Sadly not yet. Oliver Baxter is on his birth certificate, but I intend to work on that issue as well,’ I replied. No way was my son not having my name. Both of my names.
‘Then let me get right on it. And, Sir?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m very pleased for you, you sound …’
‘Happy? Yes, I certainly am,’ I confirmed, as I interrupted him. ‘I’d also like you to acquire another piece of jewellery for me too.’
‘Emeralds again?’
‘Yes, some earrings.’
‘Any limit?’
‘No, just make sure they’re an exact match to the bracelet.’
‘I’m looking forward to meeting this Miss Baxter, she seems to have thawed you out considerably.’
‘I can still make you write your own P45 you know, Stuart,’ I laughed.
‘Anything else I can do for you this morning?’
‘Actually yes, my spare guestroom is just that, I need it turning into a nursery.’
‘You’d like me to find a decorator?’
‘No, I’m going to do that myself, but I’d like you to source some solid wood furniture, painted white, if you can get some with carved teddy bears on it even better, and I need it all here by Friday the latest as well. Use the plans on file to work out what will go where, but the kid has lots of bears, so plenty of storage. Liaise with Pete to have it all delivered there and he can bring it down from the village in his boat.’
‘You’re going to … decorate?’ he asked, the amazement apparent in his voice.
‘I can do other things than write programs, code and boss people around you know. And while you’re at it, cancel any teleconferences I have this week, I don’t care who they’re with. My son’s room takes priority. Update me when you have news.’
‘Certainly, Sir. And many congratulations, I’m very happy for you.’
‘Thanks,’ I responded and switched off my ear piece as the smile spread across my face, threatening to split my cheeks. I’d hardly slept all night, trying to think of every possible excuse Ellie would have, not to agree to live with me, then coming up with the solution to each of those objections. I wasn’t going to give her one damn excuse. I walked barefoot into the guest room and put my hands on my hips as I looked around, wondering where to start, while thankful I wasn’t into clutter. I took a deep breath then stripped off my t-shirt and set to work, moving out the bedside tables, chest of drawers and the bed. The built in wardrobe that straddled each side of the entrance to the en-suite was more tailored to adults, so I’d need to install extra rails for his smaller baby items on the one side and maybe fitted shelves for whatever other stuff babies needed. I rang Pete and asked if he could come and help move the old furniture up to the storeroom attached to my gym, and to do the shelving and rails if I purchased the materials and he agreed to come tomorrow morning. I managed to dismantle the bed and move everything down next to the pool table out of my way and wiped the perspiration on my forehead away with my arm, before making a list of the paint I’d need and looking up the closest baby store on the internet. I took a shower and dressed in my jeans and a fresh t-shirt and rang Mrs. McAdams.
‘Morning Daniel, would you like some lunch preparing?’
‘Actually I’m good thanks, I can do a mean omelette now thanks to your tuition.’ I’d given up trying to get her to call me Dan. I was actually amazed I didn’t have multiple personality disorder, the amount of names I was known by. ‘I’m actually after another favour. Do you have plans this afternoon?’
‘Other than preparing your evening meal, no.’
‘Then could I ask if you’d accompany me to town, I need some assistance from a woman who knows all about babies, given you’ve had six I can’t think of anyone better.’
‘Babies?’ she uttered.
‘Long story, which I’ll explain on the way. Tell Mr. McAdams to meet us at the pub at six p.m. and dinner’s on me.’
‘That’s very kind of you. How soon do you want me to be ready?’
‘Is half an hour too short notice?’
‘Not at all. I’ll be down in twenty minutes in case you set the kitchen on fire again,’ she said with an edge of humour in her voice.
‘Once,’ I retorted, ‘and I had it perfectly under control.’
‘Aye, I’m sure,’ she chuckled and put the phone down. I smiled, I was really fond of the couple, they’d never once pressed me as to what had happened to make me so bad tempered over the last eleven months, but simply checked in on me on a regular basis trying to lift my spirits, Mrs. McAdams in particular not taking any prisoners when it came to putting me in my place. I made myself a Spanish omelette with some bread and butter and grabbed my wallet and a jacket just as she arrived at the door.
‘The baby store?’ she raised her eyebrows.
‘Yes. My girlfriend’s coming to stay on Friday for two weeks,’ I advised and noticed her eyebrows raise even higher in shock. She’d been nagging me for the last two years to start dating again and had been far too excited when she’d discovered Ellie had been back to visit last year.
‘Girlfriend,’ she nodded with a big smile on her face that just accentuated her wrinkles, but suited her.
‘Yes,’ I replied with a roll of my eyes. She looked over at the furniture I’d deposited by the pool table and crossed her arms as she studied me. ‘I needed to change the room, as she’s bringing my three month old son with her.
‘Sweet baby Jesus,’ she uttered and reached out for the door frame. ‘You’ll be giving an old lady a heart attack if you spring any more surprises on me young Daniel. You have a son?’
‘Let’s talk on the drive. I have a lot to fill you in on, and need your help knowing what sort of things I need to buy for his wardrobe and for Ellie to feed and look after him while she’s here.’
‘For you both to feed and look after him,’ she corrected me. ‘It’s a whole new age now, you need to get with the program.’
‘I do indeed,’ I laughed, as I held the door open for her.
She’d made me laugh by bombarding me with questions on the drive down to town, but I was grateful for her advice when confronted with row after row of baby related items that left me stunned. I’d been so busy with setting up my company when Rebecca was pregnant, I’d just given her the cash and she’d done all the shopping. She’d also prepared the nursery in yellow, with trains running around the walls to please my father, who was a steam train fanatic. When I lost her, my parents had cleared out the room of all baby paraphernalia and told me that they’d redecorated, making sure there were no reminders for me. I never saw it though, I’d never returned back to the terraced house we’d shared. I’d disappeared to America to lick my wounds and had buried myself in work and sold the house with all the contents, wanting no reminders of my previous life, other than pictures which my parents had saved for me. I spent the next five years in Southern California, building up my business into a multi-million pound corporation and losing myself in strings of short term sexual encounters and the BDSM world I’d discovered in San Francisco. I purchased my home in Kensington when I returned, determined to straighten myself out and stop my emotional detachment issues, but I’d soon found my way back into the ease of sex parties, where everyone knew where they stood and there were no expectations of me. This lifestyle also satisfied my need for control, to avoid anymore unexpected changes in my life.
That’s where I’d met my best friend Logan. I’d had an eye on a blonde and he’d seen me watching her and had jumped in first, which had pissed me off. So I’d muscled into their conversation determined to outdo him. We bounced off each other so easily it took some time to realise that the blonde had given up and walked off, so instead of sex for the night, we got hammered and compared conquest stories and kept in touch f
rom there. It was ironic that at around the time I knocked up Moira, he lost his job and turned to his escort gig, causing both of our lives to change dramatically, but we’d kept in touch. He’d used his fake name at parties, as I’d used my middle name, so each of us knew the other by our current personas. I needed to ring him, I’d not had a moment to let him know about Ellie or Oliver. I couldn’t wait to see his reaction. I also wanted to know how he was doing with his inappropriate crush on the brunette he’d deflowered last year, Summer Beresford. Even I knew her name, he went on about her that much.
‘Ok, I think we have everything. You’ll have to tell her to pack light as you got all the fancy gadgets she may need and far too many clothes for him. He’ll have outgrown them in a month or so,’ Mrs. McAdams tutted.
‘I want to make the place feel like home to them both. What’s that?’ I questioned, as I pushed the overloaded trolley towards the till and pointed at a blue object that looked like a big Gummi bear. She picked it up and examined it for me.
‘It’s a light, made from moulded plastic.’
‘Put it in the trolley. He likes bears.’
‘He doesn’t know it’s a bear. It’s just a big blob to him, he doesn’t even know it’s blue for heaven’s sake.’
‘Are you seriously going to criticise me for wanting to buy something nice for him?’ I chastised.
‘Who knew you had a sentimental soft side?’ she replied, as she smirked at me. I narrowed my eyes and she quickly pulled a face. ‘Fine, one big blue bear going into the trolley.’
‘I want to paint the room blue too. With white clouds.’
‘Turned into Michelangelo now as well, have you?’
‘Why is it since my mood lightened everyone feels the need to take the piss out of me?’
‘It’s called friendly banter and a sense of humour, something you’d better learn fast if you want this lady of yours to stick around, as well as romance.’
‘I’ll ask for advice when I need it, thank you.’
‘Some big hot shot businessman you may be, but you’ll always need advice in your personal life, you just haven’t realised how badly you’re in need.’
31 Days of Summer (31 Days #2) Page 23
