Cancelled (29 page)

Anna drove the car just under the speed limit and mostly in the right-lane on the way home. Any other day, Johnathan would have demanded she pull over and let him drive, but today wasn't one of those days.

“Are you sure I'm not putting you out? I'm sorry to have to ask to move in with you, but she left me no choice.” Johnathan refused to say Alex's name.

Anna playfully smacked his thigh but didn't take her eyes off the road. “That's the last I want to hear anything about it from you. I am ecstatic you and Charlotte are moving in, for as long as you want.”

“It's only going to be a few weeks before I find something.”

Anna nodded, with a small enigmatic smile on her face. “Mmm-hmmm.” She glanced in the rear view mirror to make eye contact with Kellie. “And you dear, I have four bedrooms. You are welcome to stay any time, even keep some of your things there. I want Charlotte to have both of her parents as much as possible.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Michaels.”

“Please, Anna.”

Kellie grinned and nodded. Johnathan sunk slightly in his seat, unsure that was a great move by Anna to invite Kellie to sleep over whenever.

As they pulled up to the townhouse, Johnathan helped Kellie out of the car while Anna placed her granddaughter safely in her stroller. The little girl still didn't make a peep. Johnathan wondered how he was going to get all of the baby stuff out of Alex's house without losing his cool, but he had to do it today because right now, Charlie had nothing.

“Oh my goodness.” He could hear Kellie gasp in the living room as he lowered her duffel bag down in the foyer.

Walking into his stepmother's normally ornate and perfectly decorated living room, his jaw dropped. Gone were all of her antiques and in their place was a perfect room to entertain a baby. White shelves lined the back wall full of diaper changing supplies, baby books, small plushy toys, and clothing. The blue oriental runner was gone and in it's place a shaggy, brightly colored ABC carpet filled the room.

“When did you? Why did you do all of this?” Johnathan felt ill at the amount of inconvenience he was thrusting on Anna.

“This morning. The baby has to have some space down here to live in, it's very hard work to take care of a newborn. I figured this way, neither one of you would be thundering up and down the stairs for every little thing, and as she gets older we can change out the toys. Besides, I had some help.” She motioned behind Johnathan.

Eric pushed a large bassinet from where it had been hiding behind the breakfast nook to the living room.

“I have a gift for the baby,” he said softly.

“She doesn't need anything from you.”

Eric blanched. “Come on, man. I'm her Uncle Eric. Besides this isn't an ordinary bassinet. It has a few modifications to it that—”

“My daughter doesn't have an Uncle Eric. I don't keep back-stabbers in my family.”

Kellie noticed Charlotte stirring in her carrier and moved to pick her up. Seeing her physically strain at lifting the baby up, Johnathan stepped in to help her. After she settled into the glider Anna had placed in the corner, Johnathan handed the baby to her.

“Do you need to go somewhere private to nurse her?” he asked.

“No, just hand me that blanket and I think I can manage.” She pointed to the pink receiving blanket. Anna reached it first and helped Kellie become comfortable.

Johnathan turned away and stared at Eric who hadn't moved from the place he stood between the kitchen and living room. “Why are you still here? You aren't welcome here.”

“Johnathan!” Anna placed a comforting hand on her stepson's shoulder. “I think you at least owe Eric a chance to speak.”

“I didn't want to sign the papers, but I didn't see any other way out. You and her can't work together anymore, but to be honest, I think she's doing you a favor.” Eric said.

Johnathan didn't chime in to tell his old college room mate that he agreed with the assessment. Instead, he folded his arms across his chest, waiting for where this was going.

Eric rolled the bassinet gently, back and forth. “At first, I told her I wouldn't sign. And she laughed. Her plan all along was to marry you, get you to vote me out, and if you wouldn't, invoke the competency clause.”

“The competency clause? We don't have that in our charter.”

“No, it's not in there. It's in the HR Hiring Practices and Employee Conduct Book or something like that our charter says we will abide by as a non-discriminating equal opportunity employer.”

Johnathan closed his eyes and tried to recall his knowledge of the charter. He remembered a flag on the paperwork around there, but she had told him it was just standard language. “So what does that have to do with you signing the papers to kick me out?”

“If I didn't sign, she was going to have me leave the company under violation of the handbook.”

“And what makes you think she won't now that I'm out? If anything, you had more protection if I was still in.”

Eric shook his head. “No, she was going to sue you over the money lost on the cables and make sure the entire Hedis account fell through. Trust me, I argued with her. And she's ruthless.”

Johnathan cracked a smile over one of the traits he admired in his former fiancée before returning to a stony expression.

Gripping the bassinet tighter, Eric stopped the gentle rolling motion. “You gotta believe me, man, I've been clean for two months now. I don't need to go crazy, but I used to think I did. Working on this made me realize I'm calmest when I tinker.”

Johnathan nodded and uncrossed his arms. He knew the itch to build that Eric was talking about. Freedom to build his own projects was one of the few silver linings he could find from the buyout.

“Anyway, I need a few more months to be liquid financially. Turns out my old lifestyle was pretty damn expensive.” Eric laughed, keeping an eye on Johnathan for approval. Johnathan smiled and eventually shared a small laugh with his best friend over his inability to manage money.

Anna walked around Johnathan to stand in between the two friends. She gave Johnathan an encouraging look and tilted her head towards Eric. Johnathan nodded and walked over to his oldest friend, with his hand out to shake.

“Alright, you can be Uncle Eric, again. I can't really blame you for making the best out of a really shitty situation.”

As Johnathan and Eric continued to commiserate over Alex's manipulations, a squawk came out of Charlotte as her mother pulled her off from feeding. Kellie adjusted her shirt, and Anna swooped in to help.

“Here, can you take her for a second?” Kellie asked with a glance up. The skin under her eyes sagged slightly from the physical fatigue of caring for an infant and recovering from birth.

“Can I take her for second?” Anna over enunciated the words and lifted her granddaughter, making funny faces at the little girl. Instantly, she stopped crying, intrigued by the older woman's antics. “Say of course Nana can take me for a second. Yes. Say of course Nana can take me for second.”

Johnathan looked at Eric and mouthed “Nana” with a puzzled look. Eric just shrugged and cleared his throat.

“I think Kellie is probably a little tired. And you should get some sleep too. I heard these things don't sleep very well,” Eric said, motioning towards the baby cradled in Anna's arms being danced around the room.

Johnathan looked at Kellie and shared his concern.

“Yes, tell Mommy and Daddy they have to go take a nap. And on the way, they should peek into your room.” Anna continued her one-sided conversation with the baby. Finally, she made eye contact with Johnathan. “Go. Get some rest. I will change this little one and let her sleep in my arms, or Uncle Eric's bassinet. But you both need to sleep when she does. You have a long night ahead of you.”

Anna's eyes twinkled. Johnathan had no doubt Charlotte would have three adults tending to her every need tonight. Although one of them, only Kellie could provide. Heading up the stairs, he wasn't sure how this was going to work with the custody and breast feeding. But all he could do is take it one day at a time.

“I know it's none of my business, but why are you living here, again? I thought you were getting married.”

Johnathan's thoughts interrupted by Kellie, he actually laughed at his predicament. Alexis really did clean him out; he had no apartment, no job, and no fiancée.

“Funny story. I left my engagement dinner to come to the hospital and she dumped me. Oh wait, it gets better. She;s also buying me out of my own company. Take $100,000 now and $60,000 for the next five years.”

“Wow, that's really good.”

“Excuse me?”

“The timing. You'll make more than enough to live on, and you'll be home with Charlie.” Kellie's voice tightened at the end of the sentence.

Johnathan paused before opening the door to the nursery. He hadn't thought about staying home with his daughter, but it was true, the pay out did give him time to regroup and not miss her early years.

Opening the nursery door, both parents could see every baby item from Alex's townhouse was now arranged in a lavender room accented with butterflies. If Johnathan hadn't seen the living room, he would have been surprised, but now he understood why Anna stopped coming to the hospital.

“This is beautiful. Is she always this nice?”

“Who?”

“Your stepmother. Anna?”

Johnathan laughed and nodded. Kellie had no idea.

After dinner, Johnathan finally pulled out the buyout papers to go over them in detail. Kellie's earlier assertion concreted his decision to accept the deal, but now hearing about Eric's problems, he wanted to rethink accepting the graduated pay out. Playing around with some figures on his legal pad, he didn't hear Anna come in. She placed a fresh cup of coffee on the table.

“Are you going to fight it?” She looked down at his notes with a confused expression on her face.

“No.” Johnathan set the pad on the table and tossed his pen on top. He picked up the cup of coffee from Anna and pointed to the chair next to him for her sit down before taking a drink. “I'm trying to think of a way to help out Eric. If I counter with a lump sum, smaller than the total buyout, I think she'll take it. And that would put her in a bind until the Neimer account pays off, and for that she needs Eric.”

Anna reached behind her to grasp her reading glasses on the breakfast bar. The gold-trimmed readers were one of three pairs floating around the house, as she never kept them on. Flipping the top sheet over the legal pad, she ran her manicured fingernail down the lines. “That's pretty smart. I don't think she'll see what you're trying to do. So what's the problem?”

“The figure I keep coming up with is $267,000. That'll leave about $100,000 in the slush fund, which is the lowest she'll let it go.”

“And what's the problem?”

Johnathan forcibly exhaled and bent his elbows to place his hands behind his head. He leaned back and inhaled deeply. “It means I'll lose Dad's money. I won't get the $100,000 back.”

Anna smiled. “You mean my money.”

His face twitched and his eyes opened wider. He had thought about his company as his legacy from his father for so long, he kept forgetting Anna was the real benefactor.

“I suppose so. Your money.”

Anna waved her arms in front of her as if she were swatting a mosquito. “Don't be ridiculous! You know how much I'm worth.” She lowered her eyes at him, to peer over her reading glasses. She engulfed his fist with both of her hands and squeezed. “Johnathan, I want nothing more in this life than to see you succeed, at whatever you choose to do. You built a profitable, successful robotics firm once. What makes you think you can't do it again?”

Johnathan smiled. He didn't want to admit that his confidence was shaky, that he had screwed up so many things in the last few months. But if Anna believed in him, he knew she wouldn't let him rest until he found his next challenge.

Crying from the next room broke the moment, and Johnathan stood up from his chair first. Anna moved to rise, but he motioned for her to stop. “It's my shift,” he said with a smile.

As he neared the bassinet from Eric, Charlotte's wails became even louder. He checked his watch. She shouldn't be hungry as she just ate about twenty minutes ago. Suddenly, he inhaled a sickeningly sweet smell, like someone left out rotting fruit. He knew what the problem was, but it wasn't until inspecting his daughter he saw how big the problem was.

“Oh Charlie, you made Daddy a blow out.”

The baby continued to howl as Johnathan grabbed the wipes and a fresh diaper from below the bassinet. He was going to have to strip the sheets, too. Carefully, he removed her outfit, trying to minimize the spreading of poop. He folded the small pajamas to place the soiled leg area on the inside, and set it on the changing table. Finally, he opened the diaper and leaned back to get some fresh air. Holding his breath, he carefully held onto her struggling feet and cleaned her off. He lifted his naked daughter off the nasty sheet, and wrapped her in a receiving blanket to place her on the changing table.

He was almost finished taking the sheets off the bassinet, when he noticed the pale pink receiving blanket turning a darker color.

“Charlotte Grace, you peed on the blanket?” Johnathan began to get flustered. He quickly put the new diaper on and lifted his daughter into his left arm. He tossed the soiled diaper into the diaper pail, and picked up the dirty laundry with his right hand. He had just turned around to walk to the laundry room when he nearly ran into Anna.

“What are you doing to that baby? Where are her clothes?” Anna took the wailing infant from her father, and grabbed a pale pink gown to put on her.

“She pooped her clothes. Then she peed the blanket I wrapped her in. I was just taking the clothes to the washer.”

“You can't leave her with just a diaper on, she can't regulate her temperature well yet. Remember, she should always have on one more layer than us.” Anna swaddled Charlotte in a blanket for good measure and sat in the rocking chair.

Kellie thundered down the stairs. “I heard her crying for so long. What's wrong, why didn't anyone get her?” She stopped when she saw her daughter in Anna's arms.