12. Lee Has To Go To Work

Chapter twelve

Lee Has To Go To Work

For the first time in my life, I was at a complete loss with no idea of what to do. Surely, Danny hadn’t totally left. Maybe he went out and was coming back. But I didn’t believe it. He’d left me, but maybe I could ignore it for a while. Right. In order to function.

I picked up the toys in the living room and took them to the playroom. Everything in the room was in its place except for one thing. Smokey. He’d taken his dragon stuffie. Of course. I opened his drawer. Sure enough, some of his clothes were missing too.

The feeling that swamped me was beyond sadness. It was all-consuming, filling me with despair right down to my soul. It was like I was on that couch again. Christmas morning and everything was dark. I was alone.

The house was entirely too quiet. Was that what life without Danny would be like? Empty. Silent.

No more picking up toys. No more playing dinos. No more anything. I picked up one of his binkies from on top of his dresser. He used them when he was feeling overly anxious. If he’d left this, he was probably pissed off. Maybe that meant he would come back when he cooled off.

I couldn’t let my life hang on a maybe. I couldn’t let this happen. Could I get him back?

My phone rang, and even though part of me didn’t want to answer, I found it in the living room and tapped the green circle. “Hello.”

“Lee, thank God. I need you to come to the office. I need help with this presentation for Monday. I can’t get these numbers to work out.” Dana, one of the managers on my team, sounded exasperated.

“Send me what you have, and I’ll look at it this afternoon.”

“Well, uh…Jarod said you needed to come in and get it done now so he can review it this afternoon.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if my boss was sitting next to her, telling her what to say. Anything to yank my chain. On top of everything with Danny, he had to be overly demanding of my time. In fact, his demands were probably the main cause of my issues with Danny. It had bled into my entire life. And I let it.

This was the problem.

“No. I’m tired of this. I have issues I’m dealing with at home. If you want me to look at it, send it over, but I can’t get to it until later.”

“But—”

Then Jarod’s voice came on as if he’d snatched the phone from Dana. Of course he had. “You aren’t going to get this promotion if you can’t deliver on this project. First you won’t travel, and now this.”

“Right now, Jarod, I don’t give a damn.” I was ready to punch the asshole in the face. Not that I’d ever take it that far, but that desire was a serious thing right now. “I can review it this afternoon. That’s all I have.”

“What is so important that you can’t do this now?”

“My personal life.”

“Like what?”

“It’s personal for a reason. I’m not discussing it with you. With all due respect, I don’t have time for this.” I clicked off before he could argue with me anymore. Work could come later. Work. That was the biggest problem in my life, and right now, I needed to put Danny first.