Today. Tomorrow. Always (Free Falling, #3.5)(7)

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”

I glanced down at the paperwork on my desk, aimlessly scanning the header while I thought. “There has to be someone.”

“Someone qualified?” he asked, not believing we’d find a replacement of Carla’s caliber quickly enough. “I don’t know about that.”

“Don’t sweat it. I’ll have Reese deal with it while you’re gone. She can start the interview process as early as Tuesday. Might even have someone for you before you get back.”

As he stood to return to his office, the look on his face made it clear that he had little faith it’d work out so smoothly. He glanced back over his shoulder before exiting, still seeming heavily troubled when he spoke. “I’m heading out around two tomorrow afternoon. I’ll check in as soon as I touch down.”

He parted after that and I was left with the mountain of paperwork I had to tackle within the next two hours, but Kai’s problem was now a priority, too. Seeing as how I wanted him to continue to feel like coming onboard here was the right move, the sooner this issue was resolved, the better. I sat back and laced my fingers behind my head.

There had to be someone.

*****

Sam

“That’s it; you have to move in now,” I said to Terrell as he placed my son on top of my comforter. I placed the freshly folded towels in the laundry basket and then set it on the floor. Anthony was near the top of the bed, knocked out with his pacifier hanging on his lip as he snored. “He never goes down for his nap that easily for me.”

Terrell laughed quietly, his weight causing the foot of my bed to sink as he sat. “What can I say? Kids love me,” he said back, prompting me to roll my eyes at him.

“Speaking of,” I whispered, pausing to listen for the shower down the hall where Maisha was. I had to make sure she wouldn’t overhear what I was about to ask. “When are y’all gonna start trying?”

A broad smile crossed my face when Terrell waved me off.

“Cut it out. That’s all I need is for your girl to get baby fever.”

His comment made me chuckle, but I knew he was dead serious. We’d had this talk before, and every time Terrell gave me the same response about not quite being ready.

“Maybe we’ll start thinking like that in a year or two,” he added, which was a new development. “What about y’all?”

I frowned at him, doing a double take when the question flew from his mouth. I promptly pointed at the little one he’d just put down. “That’s my contribution to society right there. Isn’t he enough?”

He waved me off again. “Nah, y’all ain’t done,” he insisted.

I smiled again, lost in thought for a moment. “How do you figure that? You psychic or something?”

He shrugged. “No, but my boy wants at least one more, and I know it’s just a matter of time until—”

“He told you that?” I asked, cutting Terrell off midsentence. This was the first I’d heard of AJ making mention of adding to our family.

Terrell shot me a look, finding it strange that I didn’t already know. “Yeah… it came up once or twice.”

I sat on the edge of the bed. “Recently?”

He shrugged. “Hell, I don’t remember, but it was recent enough that I hadn’t forgotten. So… yeah, we’ll say it was recent.”

I sat there in silence, thinking. Our family was in transition in more ways than one. AJ was just getting to the point where his job didn’t require him to be out of the country at least once every other month. Plus, we’d also recently decided that now was a good time for me to leave my job. I’d dreamed of starting my own interior design business, and during a talk one weekend, AJ told me to just go for it, resign, and that’s what I did. With money not being an issue, we could afford for me to not bring anything in for a while as I built up my clientele. But a baby… I had no idea he felt that way right now. Honestly, I thought that was the last thing he wanted to think about.

The shower cut off in the bathroom down the hall and Terrell was on his feet right away. “That’s my cue. Gotta go,” he announced.

“You’re cue?” I asked, still a bit distracted.

A slick smile spread across his face and he clarified. “There’s about to be a beautiful, naked woman in my bedroom in a few seconds. I’ll let you figure the rest out.”

I frowned and laughed a bit. “Ew! You’re disgusting. Just… ugh… get out.”

He disappeared out into the hallway while I sat there thinking about what he’d revealed. I never would’ve guessed…

Ten minutes passed and the sound of the garage door opening let me know AJ had finally made it home. I’d just taken our son to his own room to finish his nap when I heard some shuffling downstairs. The commotion was followed by what sounded like AJ taking another trip to the garage, more rustling, and then finally quiet footsteps on the stairs. He appeared in the doorway, dressed in the gray suit I’d seen him in that morning, but somehow he looked better in it this afternoon.

“Hey,” I smiled.

He looked me up and down before repeating the same phrase back to me.

“Sounded like you were moving furniture down there,” I joked.

He smiled back. “Nah, just bringing in some old junk of mine that my dad found.”