Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Harper was silent. Then, I heard her take a deep breath.
“Have a nice day, sir,” she said finally.
And then, just like that, she hung up.
8
Harper – Wednesday
“Honey, it’s time to go!” I called into the hallway. When Ada didn’t appear, I sighed. “Ada!” I called. “Honey, please, you don’t want Mommy to be late for work!”
Ada finally showed herself. She was half-dressed and missing one sneaker with her hair still unbrushed.
“Mommy, I don’t want you to go today,” she said, and I felt my heart break.
“Miss Stephanie told me that you guys are crafting at Dawning City today,” I said. “You don’t want to miss that, do you?”
Ada pouted.
“I bet she would let you make a bunny,” I said, praying that it was true. “Wouldn’t you like that?”
Thankfully, that seemed to work – Ada visibly brightened. She didn’t even fuss when I bent down to fix her sneakers and run a brush through the tangles of her brown hair. By the time we were finally ready to go, I was already composing my apology to Nell in my head. It’s my daughter, she has the worst anxiety when it comes to leaving in the mornings, I’m so sorry, I promise it won’t happen again.
Then, when we were nearly at Dawning City, Ada realized that she’d forgotten her favorite bunny and we had to go back to the apartment for him. I knew it was my fault – if I wasn’t so distracted with Nico and everything else, I wouldn’t have forgotten, but as it was, I was feeling about as frazzled as I had in years.
In Boston, I’d worked as an admin for a non-profit. The work had been low-paying and the hours had been grueling, but it had been fulfilling. I’d done a good job and I knew the whole team had genuinely liked me – my boss had even cried when I’d announced that I was leaving Boston for New York, and offered me a bonus plus a raise if I volunteered to stay.
Now, that Ada was about as far away as the moon. I felt the opposite of good at my new job – I felt like everything I did was a disappointment to Nell, and the burden of it was almost soul-crushing. I wanted to impress her. I’d thought the phone interview (heavily edited, of course) with Nico would make her happy, but all she had done was nod, like she could have done better herself if given the chance. Clearly, she hadn’t forgotten how I’d hesitated when she’d first brought him up.
So, I’d gotten it in mind to do the very best job I could do when it came to the photoshoot and the interview. I was even worried about the dumb event at Rhouge – it was so late at night that even my dad wouldn’t have been able to watch Ada, and I was having trouble finding a sitter. I’d told Nell – and Nico – that I’d had a “commitment” and now I was terrified, perhaps irrationally, of Nico learning that said commitment was in fact, his daughter.
All in all, my life hadn’t felt so messy since I’d first learned that I was pregnant with Ada.
It wasn’t just Ada’s favorite stuffed companion that I’d forgotten at home. I’d also forgotten the toothbrush and paste that I’d bought for my desk, a few boxes of tea, my new coffee mug, and even my lunch.
By the time noon rolled around, I was working so hard drafting a concept for the photoshoot that I didn’t even notice my stomach growling. When Nell knocked on the wall of my cubicle, my head snapped up in surprise.
“Harper, have you forgotten that Nico is coming in today for his interview? You do have a list of questions prepared, yes?”
“Yes,” I said quickly, thanking god that I’d remembered to put them together the night before while Ada had been watching Caillou. I’d totally spaced on the fact that Nico would be coming in today, but at least I had the questions.
To my immense relief, Nell smiled.
“Good,” she said. “He’ll be here at two – please make sure that you’re here to greet him, and that there’s coffee and snacks arranged in the break room.”
“But he doesn’t eat junk fo—” I clamped my lips together and stopped myself from finishing the sentence, as Nell was giving me a strange look.
“I know that HAUTESCENE is new, but we need to make a big impact, and that means impressing people,” Nell said, almost disapprovingly. “So, please don’t forget.”
I nodded. “Of course,” I said. “I’m sure everything will go very smoothly.”
I worked my ass off for the next hour and a half, then got up and checked the conference room to make sure that it was up to Nell’s standards. I arranged the chilled bottles of Perrier so that all of their labels were evenly aligned, and then set out a tray of what Nell had called “fancy snacks” – vegan granola bars and Asian pears nestled in tissue paper and artisanal venison jerky.