“Yes. She needed a trauma one center and that’s the closest one. If they hadn’t, she probably would have died from blood loss.” Instead of taking a seat at the table, I left the kitchen and flopped on the couch, turning the laptop towards me. I hadn’t logged into the day job at all and when I opened my business email account, I exhaled at the flurry of activity.
The last piece of the shell game needed to be addressed and I sent a note to my boss, telling him I needed some personal time in order to relocate. He must have been online because my phone buzzed and I glanced at Naomi.
“What do you mean, you need more time off?” Kevin bellowed in my ear when I answered.
“It’s either that or I’ll have to give notice,” I said and pinched the bridge of my nose to dull the forming headache.
“You’re the best damn programmer I have and we need you,” he pushed. “The project will not get done in time if you leave.”
“Kevin, I’m not in a position to give you a whole hell of a lot of time right now. If you can live with what I can give, when I can give it, then we’re good. Otherwise...” I trailed off, trying not to get aggravated with him. I knew I was putting him in a difficult spot, but I just couldn’t see a way around it. Juggling everything I had in the air right now needed my concentration, otherwise I’d screw up.
As trite as it sounded, lives were at stake and failing was not an option.
A project timeline put in jeopardy just seemed so ridiculously unimportant in comparison, but I didn’t want to burn any bridges.
A huff came over the line and I could just imagine him chewing on his lip while overlooking some concrete landscape out the window. He exhaled. “What can you give me?”
I closed my eyes and dropped my chin to my chest. Whatever I promised, I’d have to follow through on, no matter what, and right now that was a nearly impossible commitment. Instead of saying I couldn’t give him anything, I said, “I can commit to five hours a week for the next month.”
“An hour a day? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“It’s what I can commit to. If I find I can give you more, I will.”
“Does this have anything to do with the accident?”
My eyes opened and I met Naomi’s gaze. That was the excuse she gave when I was in a coma. A car accident. I wish it had been that instead of Lucifer playing tic-tac-toe on my chest with a razor, or beating me to a pulp with his fist. An accident would have been cleaner and easier to deal with. Instead, I had nightmares every night and now I had to face that bastard again.
“Damian?”
“Yes, there have been some complications that need to be addressed,” I answered and just left it at that.
“Are you... okay?” he asked in a voice softened with concern.
“I’m not dying if that’s what you’re worried about,” I said.
“Oh, okay, that’s good,” Kevin said, stumbling before he recovered his authoritative boom. “I guess we can work around your schedule,” he added.
“Thank you.”
“Can you take a look at the issue the testers found?”
“Yeah, I’ll take a look now and shoot over my findings in a few,” I said and disconnected the call. “Shit.” The last thing I wanted to do was work.
Naomi stretched out on the couch next to me, using my thigh as a pillow. She flipped on the television while I shuffled through the email chain.
After a few minutes, the irony of the situation hit me and I started to chuckle.
Naomi glanced up at me with her brow scrunched in her what-the-fuck look.
“For someone who’s supposed to save the world, being stuck troubleshooting code is completely fucked up.”
Dimples appeared even before her giggle and she rolled her eyes, settling back down on my lap to catch the rest of the show.
I had the problem figured out and fixed before the half-hour sitcom ended and sent a note to my boss. I folded the laptop, set it on the table, and stretched.
“Are we all set with that condo?” I asked and Naomi rolled onto her back, looking straight up at me.
“They weren’t there when I called and they haven’t called back yet.”
“If it doesn’t pan out, we can always stay at a hotel until we find something.” I cupped her cheek and ran my thumb over her lips, enjoying the silkiness of her skin.
“When are we leaving?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” I shifted and brushed her hair away from her face, tucking the stray hairs behind her ear. “It won’t be until after all the cars are on their way to Michigan and we may have to stay downstairs for a few days. Just until I think it’s clear to go.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Besides, I have to reprogram the access to the rooms downstairs. I need to make a failsafe that will freeze the lock if someone attempts to override the commands I put in place. I don’t want anyone getting in, or out of there after we go. I want to make it so they’d have to blast the door off with dynamite to gain access.”
“Why?”