“Now, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I ran my hands down my face as I tried to think of a way to get myself out of the trouble my dad had put me in but all I could do was just laugh.
“I told her you don’t do that, don’t worry,” he assured me and I let out a sigh of relief. “I just wanted to tell you that you have done me well. I’m very proud of you.”
“Thank you, dad.”
“I’m serious o. Plenty people will say they want one son but you, Emiade, you are better than one thousand sons.”
Tears pricked the back of my eyes and I tried to fan them away, “You’re going to make me cry.”
“Your other show is next week right?” he asked and I nodded. “Come, let me and your mother pray for you.”
CHAPTER 27: 15 DAYS AFTER…. WELL, HIM
After spending the day with my parents I felt like I was on top of the world. It felt like every single thing was going perfectly. Nathan and I were good, we went out once twice after that but my busy schedule prevented us from seeing as much as I would have liked. We hadn’t clarified or specified anything and I kind of liked it that way because there was no pressure to confirm or deny anything.
People had seen us out a few times and begun to speculate but neither of us said anything. He had officially taken his men and left the office and it felt quieter without him. The absence was felt but he still made sure to send me random things every day with the description of the smells. I am not ashamed to say that I now have a drawer filled with all those little notes that he gave me.
Everything was going fine and perfect until this morning when I got a call from Marissa. She was panicked and on the verge of tears and she begged me to come into the office. I had zero plans of going in today because the show is tomorrow and we are supposed to fly out this afternoon. I procrastinated packing and I had to rush to do it this morning.
I had just finished when her call came in and I wasted no time in speeding over to the office. I was worried about her and what she potentially wanted to tell me. There could be a million different things that have gone wrong. The clothes could have burned down or someone could have gotten hurt. I tried not to think but my mind kept conjuring up the worst case scenarios.
When I got to the office, she was standing by the door and pacing. She saw me and opened her mouth but closed it immediately. Her shoulders were tense and there was a light sheen of sweat on her brow. I could see that she had chewed her nails down to the skin and I tried to brace myself for what she was going to say. I gestured for her to sit in the car and she did so quietly and hesitantly.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, “Just tell me at once because I am thinking of the worst case scenarios right now.”
She opened her mouth to speak then closed it and took a deep breath. “I accidentally fixed the flight for the wrong day.”
My first thought was thank goodness no one died. My second thought was thank goodness the clothes are okay and after that my brain went blank. I tried to process her words but they wouldn’t register in my brain because I remember asking her to cross check the flight at least two times and she assured me that they were perfect. All of a sudden, she’s telling me that she booked them on the wrong day.
I turned to her and she caught my eye for a second before looking away quickly. She was embarrassed as she should be because we are supposed to leave today. Getting a last minute flight is not the problem, the problem is that this is going to disrupt my entire day’s schedule. I was supposed to meet with Nathan but now I might have to cancel that to fix her mistake.
“I am so sorry,” she began. “I have no idea how I fixed it for tomorrow instead of today and I will fix it I promise but I-,”
“Stop!” my voice came out harsher than intended and she went quiet immediately. “How the hell did you manage to mess that up? I told you to cross check it and you told me that you did. How did you not notice this sooner?”
“I don’t know, I’m sorry, it was an accident.”
“You have been working with me for years Marissa. How the hell do you even make these kinds of accidents?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose between my pointer finger and thumb as I tried to take deep breaths to stop myself from saying something I would regret. The frustration was climbing and I heard Marissa sniffle next to me which made me feel guilty for even getting upset.
Marissa wouldn’t just make this kind of mistake, I know that. She is one of the most thorough people I have ever met and that is why she has stayed with me for so long. It was hard to push my anger out of the way so I could see the full picture but I counted backwards from ten and exhaled deeply.
“What is going on with you lately?” I asked in a considerably calmer tone than before. “You have been off at work and you’re making careless mistakes that you normally wouldn’t. Is this atemporary thing or is there something I should actually be worried about?”
“I’m just,” she began and she let out a sigh. “I’m just having a really hard time right now and I know I shouldn’t bring it to work and I am sorry that I did. I promise you it won’t happen again.”
“Do you need time off?”
“No,” the word was out of her mouth before I even finished my sentence and she sighed. “No, I just- I will be fine. I’ll look for a last minute flight and-,”
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle that. What about the rental cars and the hotel? Is everything else in place?”
“They are all booked for today. It was just the flight that I somehow messed up.”
“Just focus on cross checking every other thing and try not to mess anything up.”
