15. Sean
15
SEAN
I finally reached the damn lobby, panting and hoping my assistant had had the sense to stop Lucas.
I didn’t see the security guard anywhere, so I raced around the lobby, calling loudly for Lucas for a good three minutes.
I even searched under the receptionist’s desk and behind the extremely large potted plants before I finally heard someone chuckling.
Chloe and Lucas were sitting on the lobby’s beige leather couch.
How had I missed that?
I strode over, trying to not seem desperate as I saw my son sitting calmly next to Chloe.
“Well, there you are, Lucas,” I said.
“And you, Chloe, are clearly incompetent at your job,” I said, striding toward them.
I’d almost lost Lucas, and I was furious at this woman.
She had sat there for a full five minutes while I ran around the lobby, searching desperately for my son.
There was something missing in her brain, and I knew for sure I didn’t want her working for me.
Forget the alternate job I’d found for her.
She wasn’t fit to work at Tassater Inc.
I took hold of Lucas, my hands on either side of his arms, as I tried to help him up, but he shook me off and sat back down.
“Are you okay?” I demanded of him.
He turned away, his mouth in a stubborn line.
“He’s fine,” Chloe said, but I shifted my anger on her.
“He’s not fine,” I snapped.
“You don’t know the first thing about my son. He hates being told what to do.”
I leaned into her, enunciating each word with precision.
“Do you mean to tell me you’ve been sitting here and sniggering while I’ve been looking for my son under the receptionist’s desk?”
She couldn’t resist a smile at that.
Her eyes slid sideways to the pots behind me.
“And even while you looked under the potted plants too,” she muttered, barely concealing a grin.
She must have noticed my anger because she forced herself to focus.
“Your son needs more than what you’re giving him.”
“He has his toys,” I said, pointing to the bag that Anne had brought with her.
She had hung back, looking mortified, while I lost my temper with Chloe.
“He doesn’t need more toys! Toys are a miserable substitute for something Lucas needs more desperately. A parent’s time and attention. Your time and attention. Your love.”
“Lucas doesn’t want my company. He’s told me so himself.”
“Well, he’s obviously not comfortable enough to tell you the truth. You’re always working.”
“Let me remind you that you’ve only been working with me for a day.”
“But I’ve seen your schedule. You work too much!”
“I will not discuss this anymore with you.”
“Well, I’ve only just begun, and I’m not going to stop.”
I froze.
I wasn’t used to hearing anyone speak to me this way.
I took a single menacing step toward Chloe.
“Chloe, listen to me, and listen to me carefully,” I said, my voice low but savage.
“Your job ends now. You will not work for me for one minute longer.”
I broke off when I noticed something odd.
Chloe didn’t seem to care about what I was saying, but even more strangely, Lucas had a grin on his face.
I stepped back and surveyed that grin.
He was laughing at seeing how worried I was, no doubt.
It made me feel even more irrationally angry with Chloe.
It was completely irresponsible on her part to go along with this charade.
But that grin … it was something I hadn’t seen on him in a long time.
As I frowned at the two insolent people on the couch, Chloe nudged him, and Lucas nodded back, whispering something.
“What was that?” I asked, my voice echoing in the large and silent lobby.
Lucas frowned at me.
“It’s a secret,” he said, getting up and noticing Anne in the distance.
“All right, let’s go home,” he said with an air of someone wanting to get things over with.
He turned to wave at Chloe.
“Thanks for the idea,” he said and strangely leaned in for a hug, which Chloe gave him willingly.
Wrapping her arms around his small body, she hugged him tight.
How did she get him to hug her willingly?
When he stepped back, she waved at him as he walked out the front doors with Anne.
When Anne extended her hand to him on their way out, Lucas took it readily.
In a similar situation, Lucas would have refused mine.
I gestured to Anne to go ahead and that I’d follow them in my own car in a few minutes before turning back to Chloe.
“What idea was Lucas talking about?” I asked.
Chloe looked at me for a long moment before standing up.
She was so close that I could see her lips trembling with emotion.
Unlike most people, Lucas’s meltdown had affected her.
“He told me that he felt like everyone was hiding from him. His mom, you … no one was around.” She hesitated.
“So, I told him, sometimes, things can be in plain sight before we finally see them. And to test that theory, we decided to wait in plain sight while you?—”
“Made a fool of myself, searching for my son under the receptionist’s desk?” I growled.
She paused, a coy smile on her lips.
God, she was beautiful.
“He chuckled when you did that,” she said, her voice low and her face tilted up to me.
“So, now, he thinks his mom must be in plain sight, too, even if he can’t see her.”
I groaned, putting my hands on my hips.
Chloe’s response steadied me, even if it didn’t help.
I looked at the doors through which Lucas had disappeared with Anne, my heart heavy.
“His mom is far,” I said, glancing at her.
“If you count multiple continents as far.”
Chloe’s eyes widened, and she winced.
“Oops. Sorry.”
It wasn’t her fault really.
She couldn’t have known.
“I think a video call with her might be overdue.” I sighed.
I wasn’t someone who talked about their personal life.
But with Chloe, my guard dropped.
I should have resented her for it, but to my surprise, I found that I quite liked it.
I turned to her.
“You calmed him down,” I observed.
When would I be able to calm my son down from a meltdown?
I had been pushing people away all my life, even the ones who wanted to be around me.
And in return, the only person I wanted—my son—didn’t want me.
It stung, and this incident painfully reminded me of how I’d been ignoring my stepsister’s messages to connect.
Perhaps it was time I accepted her invitation to talk.
My gaze went to Chloe’s hair, shimmering under the lights.
She had thick blonde hair, like the warmth of a sunny day, and her side braid from earlier in the morning had come undone.
I frowned.
“What were you doing tonight when I asked you to run this errand?” I asked, taking a step closer to her.