Page 29 of Eternal Pieces

“If you end up not liking the job, it doesn’t matter anyway. You have all that money from the trial.”

Yes. The money that I received for being run over. I definitely want to use that to support my family.

Luckily, Violet comes in, saving me from starting an argument.

She’s wearing the cutest blue, chequered dress today that swishes around her knees. Her hair is up in a ponytail like usual, and she’s put on blue eyeshadow to match her dress.

“Morning, baby. You look beautiful.” Mad effortlessly swings her around and kisses her. He sets her on her feet and crouches down, pressing his lips to her bump. She’s seventeen weeks now and starting to show. It’s true what they say about the whole glow thing. She’s fucking radiant.

We decided not to find out if we’re having girls or boys. As long as Violet and the babies are okay, that’s all that matters.

“How are my babies this morning?” Mad coos, he loves baby talking to them already. We’ve been taking it in turns to read to them most evenings. It helps Violet to fall asleep as well, especially when the nausea is keeping her up.

“Olive had me up at four am raiding the fridge.”

“Olive?” I exclaim, choking on my coffee.

Violet giggles. “Do you like the sound of it? I’m thinking the one that has me eating olives all night long is a girl.”

It’s kind of old-fashioned sounding, and I’m not too sure on it, but there’s plenty of time to think of something else, so I keep my mouth shut and nod.

“What about the one who has you craving tomatoes? Tom?” Mad asks.

“We’re not naming all our children after food,” I cut in.

“We should get to name one each since there are three of them and three of us.”

“It’s up to Violet.”

She taps her chin as she thinks. “I quite like that idea. But yeah, maybe we should steer away from food-related names.”

After checking the time, I pour my coffee into a to-go cup. “Do you have everything you need today?” I ask Violet as she finishes packing her backpack. I’m more on edge than usual since both Mad and I will be busy all day.

“No, I’m missing one thing!” She gasps.

“What is it?” I go to search her bag, knowing full well I already triple checked she has her water bottle, protein bars, andvitamins packed. I’m certain she has her smart watch on. I make sure she wears it every day so I can always keep track.

She grabs my tie and pulls me close. “A kiss.”

My first day is going way too slow. So slow in fact that I’m wondering if the clock on the computer has frozen. When it changes to the next minute, I groan and hit my head on the keyboard. Nope, not broken.

Thankfully, no one can see me. There are about thirty people working on this floor, and we all have our own cubicles. It’s weirdly isolating, but preferable to making small talk all day, so I don’t totally hate it.

My job is to approve any new customer designs that come in from the website. The software tells me everything I need, so I didn’t even need much training to do this. As long as the designs fit within the parameters of the print size and it’s not too pixelated, I get to approve it. And that’s it. Not going to be mind or ass-numbing sitting here all day at all.

I’m sure there’s someone out there who would enjoy this job, but it’s not for me. As much as I resented the baseball dreams that were forced on me, I do remember the good memories of playing it. How freeing it felt to be out in the sun all day. I’d never go back to that life even if I could. But this isn’t exactly what I want either.

It’s not time for my afternoon break yet, but my hip is aching from sitting in this chair for so long. I’m not going to be able to see the computer screen once the pain sets in, let alone get any work done. I go to find my boss, Stuart, to ask to take my twenty minutes early.

He’s on the phone when I knock on the glass door to his office, and he holds his finger up to make me wait. By the time he’s done, my muscles have stretched out enough to not need the break so desperately, but I might as well take it now anyway.

“Max.” He smiles, motioning for me to sit in front of his desk. All of his family photos are facing outward, so I have to put up with multiples of his overly happy face staring at me.

“Is there a problem? You not finding everything alright?”

“The work’s fine. I just need to take my break now.”

He puts on his glasses and checks something on his computer. “Two hours early? That’s not something we do here, Max. Everyone sticks to their schedules, so it’s fair.”

---