2. Work it
2205 Words
Wendy POV
Caleb is nervous when I drop him off at school, but as soon as he sees Thomas rush to him with a big smile, he relaxes. They dash away together to play, and a faint smile of my own exposes itself. I know that Thomas didn't mean what he said to Caleb yesterday, it was Frederic who projected his own hurt ego onto his son, which isn't correct one bit.
That's also why I can't be mad at Thomas because he's simply a child who listened to his most significant role model, in this case, his dad. In my opinion, it's not okay to be mad at a child below the age of fourteen about something like this, because they haven't learned about consequences yet.
Anxious-free, I drive away from the school towards my office. It's going to be one hell of a day! Thursdays are always hectic because we all try to do as much work as possible to be able to go home early to our families. Since Darby, Noah, and Fiona will return to me tomorrow, I need to work much now.
I park the car in our underground garage, lock it with the remote, and head to the elevator. I'm not even at my floor yet, and I can already hear the chaos inside the building. One step is how far I got before Paula came rushing with her notepad with people to call and a big pile of paperwork.
"Seriously, Paula? Something must have happened to make my workload this big! It's not even nine o'clock yet," I exclaim in surprise.
Like I've mentioned before, Thursdays are hectic, but this is ridiculous! It's going to take forever until I'm done with this, and I have two other piles on my desk who needs to be signed and sent today. What the hell is going on?
"The system crashed earlier, and our stockholders are going nuts about the latest curve of the stock market! We're dropping, and we're dropping fast!"
"Call the board members and schedule a meeting in half an hour. Make sure the IT department is present," I answer calmly and walk inside my office.
Paula nods her head, put my coffee on the desk and leaves in a hurry. I sit down with a big sigh and rub my temples; the headache is already saying 'hello.' With coffee in my hand, I begin to look through the paperwork and make the calls listed.
I'm thankful that I have Paula; without her, I would always be late to my meetings. As usual, she knocks on the door, reminding me of the place I need to be at. If she hadn't done that, I would have forgotten about it, even if I had booked the meeting.
I pick up the papers I need to have with me and walk towards the meeting room. All of the people are present, and that pleases me. They were talking when I entered, but stopped abruptly when they saw me approach. Talk about respect!
"Good morning everyone! I guess that all of you know why you're here?" I begin and watch them nod. "Great! Then we will begin with the rapport. Why did the system crash, Julius?"
The man from the IT department looks nervous, and that's never a good thing. Julius may be young, but he's a damn genius when it comes to computers and software. Something massive must be wrong if he's this rattled about it.
"Someone hacked into our systems last night and we just got it back on track again," he answers.
"What's the damage?"
"Except stockholders freaking out and try to sell, we lost three million dollars," he answers, and murmurs spread in the room. "In addition to an already shitty situation, about two months of work has disappeared."
"How do we fix this?!" one of the board members exclaim in a terrified tone.
"Julius, call Carmichael and ask them for assistance regarding the hacker. They might be able to detect a malicious link and track them," I say, and he nods his head before disappearing out of the room. "Paula, please have someone fetch me the box with our paper copies of all the work we've been doing for the past three months from the basement."
"And what about the money?" one of the lawyers ask.
"Call the bank, make them do a sweep of our transaction history, all transactions leave a trace behind. Meeting dismissed!"
The once worried board members are all smiling and relaxing now when they see that I have the situation under control. No one disturbs me during the rest of the day, which means that we're back on track again. Paula walks up to me when I'm on my way to the elevator, done for the day.
"Everything you asked for is on full force! Now I understand why you ordered us to copy all of our work," she says in awe.
Since I know that many other companies see us as enemies, it was only a matter of time until something like this would happen. Thankfully, I was prepared and ordered all the staff to make paper copies of their work every day to save for a rainy day, and that day was apparently today.
"Thank you for the rapport, Paula. I'll see you tomorrow!" I say and wave to her.
I drive to Caleb's school and wait in the parking lot for him to appear. He smiles radiantly when he sees me and runs to the car before climbing inside. I hug him tightly and kiss his forehead. He buries his head in my chest and giggles.
"Hi, baby! How was your day?" I ask and help him put on the seatbelt.
"I had so much fun, mommy!" he answers excitedly.
"Oh, yeah? What did you do?" I ask and drive away from the school.
"Me and Thomas made one of the biggest sandcastles!"
"Wow! Tell me more."
He tells me all about his day in a delightful way, and I'm content with knowing that no further problems arose between the boys. I guess that Frederic took my threat to heart, which he should. It doesn't take long before we're at our house and we climb out of the car together.
"What's for dinner, mommy?"
"Hm, I don't know. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Can you please make your chicken casserole?" he asks with pleading eyes.
"I'm sorry baby, no," I answer and look at him with a sad smile.
I simply can't make that casserole anymore. It was something me and Damien used to do together, that knowledge hurts me still after all this time. Thankfully, I have a mature and kind son who understands much more than he should.
"Can we make lasagna then? I can help you!"
"Of course, how can I say no to such a big boy helping me?" I chuckle.
I take the ingredients and put them on the kitchen counter. Caleb knows the drill and begin to make some salad. He's the only one of the kids who's allowed to use the sharp knives, since he understands the danger a knife can be. As always, he's precise and careful when he's cutting the newly washed vegetables.
Caleb has gotten his love of cooking and peace of being in the kitchen from me. He likes to experiment with different herbs and ingredients to create something new. Most of the time, he successfully creates dishes that taste amazing.
We work as a dream team, and the dinner is finished in no time. Caleb loves to lit candles when we're alone, and it always feels like a 'date' when we do. I don't mind one bit though, these moments when there's only the two of us are dear to me.
He claims that the candles reflect our accomplishments of making tasty dinners better. I'm not entirely sure what he means by that, but I won't destroy his little poetic mind with silly questions that may destroy his vision of beauty in this world.
We eat in silence, enjoying the other's company in peace. I look at my little boy who's not that small anymore; he begins to look like a man. Caleb's growing up, and I'm not sure that I'm ready to let him do that yet. Even though I know that I someday will have to let all of my babies wander out into the big world alone.
I have many years left with them until they're ready to move out, but to me, it is precious every day. During my years on this planet, I've learned to be thankful for what I have, because all of it can be taken away from you in the blink of an eye.
We take out the dishes together, and I scrub while wipes. Afterward, we're cuddling on the couch together, watching Cartoon Network. Spongebob Squarepants is on, but Caleb seems unfocused and is watching his hands in sadness instead.
"Caleb? Honey, what is it?" I ask in worry.
I wait patiently for him to begin speaking, giving him all the time he needs to turn his thoughts into words. He looks at me with unshed tears in his eyes, and my heart clenches at the sight. I hug him and caress his hair slowly.
"Why did daddy not love me?" he whispers.
"What are you talking about? Of course, daddy loves you very much!" I answer lovingly.
"Then why did he lie and said that he wasn't my daddy when he was?"
Yes, why did he do that? I can't answer a question, not even I know the answer to. This whole ordeal continues to be a mystery as much to me as it apparently is to him. I've said it before, and I'll do it again; Caleb is too mature for his own good.
"I don't know, baby. Maybe he was scared to tell us the truth. Like that time, Darby accidentally knocked down that vase at grandpa's house?" I wait for him to remember, and when he nods, I continue. "Do you remember how afraid he was to tell the truth? He didn't tell us immediately because he was scared that we would be angry with him, and it might be the same thing with daddy."
"But it's wrong to lie..."
"Yes, it's an awful thing. But all humans make mistakes sometimes, even mommies and daddies. I think that daddy is very sad that he doesn't get to see you, and I know that he loves you dearly," I answer in an attempt to make him give Damien a chance.
My pain shouldn't stop Caleb from forming a bond with his father. I've given Damien chances, and he screwed me over, but he might do a better job to win his son back than he did with me. Caleb hugs me and smiles.
"Can I borrow your phone?"
"That depends, what are you going to do with it?"
"I want to call daddy," he says with a determined look.
A smile breaks out over my features, and I walk into the kitchen to grab the phone. I pick up my purse and take out my phone to give it to him. He scrolls through my contacts until he finds Damien's number. His hand is squeezing mine, and I press back in support. I hear when Damien answer.
"Hello?"
"Hi, daddy," Caleb answers hesitantly and looks at me. I nod to him to encourage him to continue. "Are you busy?"
"Caleb, is that you?" Damien's voice says like he can't understand that his son is calling him out of the blue.
"Yes, it's me."
"I'm not busy at all! Was there some special reason to why you're calling?"
"No, I just wanted to talk..."
"Of course, we can talk! How was your day?"
"I had fun! Me and Thomas was playing and then..."
I leave the room to give him some privacy. I'm happy that my son decided to reconnect with his father, I truly am. So, why does it hurt so goddamn much?
A/N:
Hello everyone!
Please tell me what you thought about this chapter! I wanted to give you some insight in what Wendy is working with, and how her relationship is with Caleb since they're spending every day together while the other children are at Damien's place two weeks a month.
Did Wendy do the right thing or should she have kept quiet?
Please let me know!
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