Page 9 of The Complication
My frown returned. He didn’t look fine at all, and I didn’t want to be thanked for allowing him to take his PTO. It was wrong that he’d needed to take sick time to attend to this person’s funerary needs in the first place, but as a contract worker, he didn’t have the same flexibility as our regular employees.
“What can I do for you?” It seemed better to move away from that bit completely and head to safer territory.
“Here are the projections you requested for the leisure line. I’ve begun working on the report regarding raw materials and supply costs for the same division. It should be ready by the end of the week, unless you need it sooner.”
I shook my head, still feeling like I was in some weird nightmare. Any second now, an ax-wielding madman or a ghost was going to fly into the room. “Friday should be fine.”
Parker stepped forward and laid the thick document on my desk. I was grateful for the physical copy. My employees had long gotten used to my preference for reviewing reports on paper, giving me the chance to make notes right on thedocument as I read it. “The file is also in the usual folder on the network if you need to access the digital copy.”
Without another word, he turned and walked out of my office. My mouth hung open, a knot of words lodged in my throat, but I didn’t know what to say. I felt like I should ask about this person he’d lost or check to see if he needed more time off. But how could I offer him more time? Under his contract, he had only five days of PTO. After that, any time he took was unpaid. Not to mention, this was his last week with Courtland under contract.
Should I have asked him about the dead person? Would he find that comforting or too invasive? Would I be tearing open wounds that had just begun to heal? My goal wasn’t to cause him more pain.
But I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing to his retreating form with the slightly slumped shoulders and lowered head. Parker Cain was a complicated creature. In our private moments, he was a reckless, mischievous gremlin who loved to drive me crazy. In the office, he was friendly to all the employees, even if his gremlin side peeked out during the times we were alone.
This was the best example of why Sebastian Courtland was the most important thing to ever happen to me. Sebastian showed me how to interact with people, reassured me when I was trapped and didn’t know what to say. Part of me still wished he could stand beside me every day and act as my interpreter, smoothing every awkward incident and picking up on every social cue that I missed.
Maybe it was best to leave Parker alone. Let him deal with this loss in his own time. He wouldn’t want his boss butting into his private business. Besides, he was finally acting appropriately in the office. Why should I go messing that up by acting any differently than I usually did?
Except his “appropriate” behavior didn’t sit well with me. It wasn’t him. After three months of his silliness and flirting,he seemed beaten down and hurting. How could that ever be better?
A sigh slipped past my lips and my eyes dropped to the report he’d left on the edge of my desk. I snatched it up and set it off to my right to examine later. There were emails to answer first. Maybe I would try to catch Sebastian for lunch and get his opinion on the matter. He could help me find that line that allowed me to be his supervisor and a human being.
I rubbed my eyes and fell into work, losing myself for a couple of hours. I didn’t even notice when I grabbed Parker’s report, intending to skim some of the highlights. Except entire sections of the report were missing. There was one page where he’d left himself a note to pull the data from another report. It was incomplete.
What was he thinking, giving this to me? He’d never handed in shoddy work in the past. He was clearly not ready to be back in the office.
I shoved out of my chair and left my office in search of his. As I walked, I ignored all the employees who glanced up and quickly ducked their heads again, pretending to not see me. They were probably all praying that I wasn’t coming to see them. It didn’t matter. I was already running through ways to confront him about the report. I couldn’t just blurt out that this work was subpar and riddled with errors. My approach needed to be gentle and considerate.
The words were forming in my mind, only to have them fly out as I stepped into his tiny office. A baby was crying softly in one of those chair things with the handle, and there was no Parker. Why was there a baby in the office? Why did Parker have a baby?
Had…the person who’d died been his ex-wife?
No, Parker had said she was his best friend.
But didn’t a lot of people consider their wife to be their best friend?
No, that made no sense. I’d been over to Parker’s apartment dozens of times and there was zero hint that he’d everbeen married or dating someone. Besides, he’d stated that he was gay. Not bi.Gay. So, where had the baby come from?
My head was spinning as I stood there staring at the small child, whose round chubby face was becoming more scrunched up and red with each passing second. Her cries weren’t ear-splitting wails yet, but they promised to reach that point if someone didn’t comply with her wishes soon.
What was I supposed to do? I knew nothing about babies. I was pretty sure that I’d never held one in my life, and I had no plans to start with this strange one.
Where the devil was Parker? Or anyone? I needed to find someone to help this baby.
“Shh, little baby,” I said in a soft voice. “This is an office. You shouldn’t be crying.”
The child quieted and blinked at me. She pursed lips and watched me, possibly trying to figure out who I was. That worked?
No, it didn’t. I must have confused her because she began crying in earnest.
“Please, tiny baby. I will find your…daddy? Uncle? I’ll be right back.”
I edged toward the door and poked my head out into the hallway, searching for any sign of Parker. Maybe she thought I was leaving, because her cries grew louder the moment my head popped out of the office.
“Hey, hey! I’m still here,” I coaxed as I darted into the office. The sound of my voice seemed to calm her, and the edge of panic left her cries. “I’m going to find someone to go look for Mr. Cain. You just relax.”
She did not relax. She began crying even louder.
