“Ty,” I nudge his shoulder for what feels like the hundredth time that morning. “Come on. You’ve got to get up. It’s almost time to leave for work.”
He doesn’t respond. Again.
“Tyson,” I say louder, but nothing. “Tyson Aaron Jacobs,” I say loudly against his ear with a note of hysteria.
“What, Sadie?” he mumbles.
“It’s time to get up for work,” I demand, shaking his shoulder.
“Just a few more minutes,” he says before turning the other way.
“No, not a few more minutes.” I move to the other side of the bed, so I can see his face. Even after almost ten hours of sleep he still looks tired. “You’ve been telling me that for the past hour.”
One eye opens to peek at me. “I have?” he asks as if he doesn’t remember the ten other times, I’ve tried to get him out of bed this morning.
Letting out a deep breath, I sit down on the edge of the bed and pull his hand to my lips. “I’m worried about you.” I kiss the palm of his hand. “You’ve been so tired lately.”
He yawns around his words. “It’s nothing to worry about.”
“Too late because I’m already worried,” I state and bite my bottom lip. Hesitantly I ask, “Is this you not wanting to be worried because of what it could mean, or are you really not worried?”
“For fucks sake, Sadie, I’m just tired.” He jumps out of bed all the while growling his ugly words at me. “It happens to everyone. I wake up at the crack of dawn to work out before heading to the office where I then proceed to work nine to ten hours, only to come home and fuck you until all hours of the night. It’s a wonder I’ve lasted this long.”
“Is this really how you want the day after you move in to go?” I can’t hide the shaking in my voice or the tears that well up in my eyes.
“I didn’t think you’d turn all controlling on me the moment I moved in.”
He walks to the dresser and pulls out a pair of boxer briefs and for the first time since I saw him naked in that hotel room, I don’t ogle him. His perfect body does nothing to me.
“I only wanted a few more minutes of sleep,” he spits before slamming the bathroom door.
What the hell just happened?
Had I made a mistake asking him to move in or thinking that he was possibly ‘the one’?
I don’t wait for him to get out of the bathroom. Instead I pour myself another cup of coffee into a travel mug and head out the door to make it to work a few minutes before everyone else on the floor arrives.
It isn’t until hours later, after staring at my computer screen the entire day and seeing nothing, that Amanda knocks on my door.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to let you know that I had to cancel your one o’clock meeting with the Johnson team. Mr. Jacobs called in sick, and Ms. Andrews said she was going on a bathroom break and never returned.
He did?
Was it possible that he called in so he could move out and I wouldn’t know?
Where the hell did Amy run off to?
“Thank you for letting me know Amanda. If I don’t have anything else for the day, I think I’m going to work from home.”
She blinks at me in astonishment because I never work at home, but today I’m going to, or at least that’s my excuse to see if Tyson’s there.
“You have an important email from upstairs.”
“Oh, how important?” I ask with a raised brow.
“I couldn’t read it. The document is password protected,” she answers back, chewing on her bottom lip.
“Thanks for letting me know. I’ll check it out and then be on my way. Anything else?”
“Nothing else that you can’t do from home,” she answers. “Is there anything you need from me?”
“No, thank you. Why don’t you call it a day too? You deserve it.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Frost. That would be… nice. Thank you.”
I wave my hand dismissing her gratitude. “Get out of here before I change my mind.”
She hasn’t moved from the door since she stepped inside and now eyes the door as if she’s locked inside and won’t be able to leave.
Turning back to my computer, I log in to my email and immediately see the email Amanda was referring to.
To: Sadie Frost <sfrost@mathers.com>
From: Brad Sargent <bsargent@mathers.com>
Subject: Amy Andrews Termination
Dear Mrs. Frost,
I wanted to let you know that after reviewing the security footage of further incidents of theft, we have found the culprit. Amy Andrews was seen stealing laptops on two different occasions, and was fired earlier this morning. You will need to find replacements on any jobs she was working on by the end of the week.
Brad Sargent
Head of HR
Mathers Inc.
For the first time that day, I smile. I can’t believe that she was stupid enough to be stealing laptops from the company.
I gather my laptop, files, and purse. My mind is a whirlwind of questions and beginning to form a headache.
Why did Tyson go off on me this morning?
Was seeing and dealing with my mother too much for him?
Did he skip work to move out?
Why had he been so tired lately?
Had his cancer come back?
Unsure of when Amanda left my office, I lock up. When I step outside my door, she’s gone from her desk with her computer shut down. It was wise for her to get out before something happened, and I asked her to stay late.
I’m on autopilot as I make my way home. I think about trying to call Ty but decide against it. I don’t want him to leave if he finds out I’m coming home early.
God, what if he’s done with me?
Even with everything that’s been swirling in my head on the drive home, I’m shocked to see Tyson’s SUV where we left it yesterday. Parking inside the garage, I know that Tyson will know I’m home. No matter where you are in the house you can always hear it when the garage opens. It’s not loud, but it’s no sneak attack either.
Once inside, I quietly look around the first floor, but there’s no sign of Tyson, or that he’s been downstairs. Usually he leaves a coffee cup on the counter or a bowl from his granola in the sink, but there’s nothing. Taking off my heels, I silently make my way upstairs. My office is the first room I come to, but as I peer in its empty except for a few boxes of Tyson’s things he has yet to unpack.
My jaw drops open when I find Tyson asleep on top of the bed in only his underwear. It’s now a little past two o’clock, meaning I’ve been gone for seven hours. Had he been in bed this whole time? Obviously, he was up when I left and at some point called in to work.
I’m not sure what to do. Do I wake him up and try to talk to him? After this morning I’m less inclined to try, afraid of what might come out of his mouth.
“Sadie?” Ty questions quietly, bringing me out of my musings. “Is it…” he trails off, turning to look out the windows to see its still daylight and early in the afternoon. “What are you doing home?”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I stay standing in the doorway. “I could ask you the same question.”
He yawns and rolls onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. He’s quiet for so long that I start to think he’s not going to answer me.
“Sadie, I’m sorry about this morning and hurting you. I… you’re right that I’m afraid of what this could mean. If its… I might…” He takes a deep breath all the while still not meeting my eye.
“Oh, Ty,” I make my way across my plush carpet needing to be by his side, fighting back tears.
It’s not until I curl up against his side and wrap my arms around him that Ty turns toward me, burying his face in my hair.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you. Even though it’s no excuse, I was so exhausted. When I saw the hurt in your eyes, I hated myself which only further escalated matters,” he murmurs into the side of my head.
“Are you feeling better now?” I tighten my hold on him.
His only response is to shrug his big body.
“Did you sleep the whole day?”
“No, after I came out of the bathroom and realized that you’d left, I knew what I needed to do,” he answers, his voice sad and quiet.
“What did you need to do?”
“I called my doctor and made an appointment. After that I went back to bed to hope and pray… and mope,” he admits.
“No matter what the result, I’ll always be here for you.”
Pulling out of my arms, Ty looks down at me with furrowed brows. “I can’t ask you to do that. If I… if I’m sick. You don’t know what you’re promising until you’re in the thick of things. If you think I’ve been tired this week, you haven’t seen anything yet. For you to see me like that…” he trails off staring down at the bed.
“Hey,” I place a hand on his firm chest. “We don’t know anything yet. When’s your appointment? I want to be there when you go.”
“That’s okay,” he shakes his head. “You’d have to miss work.”
“You’re more important to me than work, Ty.”
“Why are you home early?” he ignores my statement, and I let it slide. For now.
“Amanda informed me that you called in sick, and it wasn’t like I was getting any work done after this morning. I literally stared at my computer screen all day,” I shrug acting as if it was no big deal. “Plus, I wasn’t sure if you called in so you could move out while I was at work.”
His face softens even as his brows furrow. “You really thought I’d move out while you were at work?” he questions, not hiding the hurt in his tone.
Shaking my head, I shrug. “After this morning, I didn’t know what to think. I thought that if you were going to call in sick, I’d be the first to know about it and not the last.”
Hanging his head, Tyson takes my hand in his, rubbing his thumb over my pulse point. “Fuck, I… I fucked up. You most definitely should have been the first person I told I wasn’t coming in. Sadie,” he looks at me with hopeless, light green eyes and chokes on his words. “What if I’m sick?”
“Then we’ll get through it, one day at a time. Our company has great insurance and you won’t go into debt paying for treatments.”
“I wish I had your optimism, but all I can think about is how hard it was the first time around.”
“Hey,” my hands cup both of his cheeks and my thumbs stroke along his cheeks. “We don’t know anything yet. Let’s stay positive until we know for sure. Deal?”
“Deal,” he answers back with zero conviction.
Somehow, I need to get his mind off the fact that he very well could have cancer again. Mine too. Even though I’ve been worried, I’m not ready to contemplate what it could mean if Ty’s cancer has come back.
“How about a change of scenery? Are you hungry? I could order whatever you like, make a fire, and we could snuggle up under a blanket and watch a movie or something.”
“That sounds nice,” he answers, glumly.
Getting up I head to go downstairs but stop, looking over my shoulder when Ty calls my name. “I really am sorry for this morning and making you think there was a possibility I might move out without talking to you first. I’ll try my best to make sure it never happens again. Promise.”
Tears prick the backs of my eyes. “Thanks.”
I walk out before I tell him I love him. When I tell him for the first time, I don’t want him thinking it is out of pity.