Collection of One-Shots and Short Stories

Errors of Judgment: Lachlan

I'm covered in sweat as I reach over to hit the button on my phone.
I'd barely slept all night, lying in a half doze when some random noise woke me with a jump. Is it the noise that has my heart pounding this way? Or was it the dream?
As I glance at the screen, pressing the 'home' button with my thumb and squint to see the time, I groan.
Five a.m.
No wonder it's still so dark.

Since yesterday, I've been haunted by what happened in my office. I tried going to bed early, but all I did was toss and turn. I think I fell asleep around one, perhaps, but not for long. I'm exhausted, yet my mind simply will not stop whirling.

How could she have done that?
Sure, Amanda is an attractive woman. My eyes perhaps have lingered on her form once or twice. But how could she have been so blatant in her flirtation?
It's my fault. For the last few months it's been getting increasingly obvious, yet I have done nothing.
Secretly I have enjoyed the attention. I was shocked at just how forward she was becoming, and I'd been attracted to her. That wasn't unusual. It didn't mean I wanted something to happen.
And surely a bit of flirtation was harmless enough, right? I was content to simply indulge in the occasional daydream while
Well, harmless enough until yesterday. She had leaned over me while giving me the sandwich she had ordered, and then had lingered, allowing her lips to hover over mine. And for a second, a brief fraction of time, I had wondered.
As soon as awareness came back to me, luckily my wits had returned before Amanda's mouth actually touched me. I felt overcome with guilt and pushed her out of the office. I yelled at her. I don't even remember what I said. Perhaps that if she touched me again she would be in trouble. I've never yelled at anyone as loudly as I did at her, and she hid in the toilets until I left.
And now I can't sleep.

Suddenly I hear a frantic, high-pitched cry coming from the room immediately beside mine.
Why is Lara crying so early? Was it my daughter's cries which woke me in the first place?
Then I hear a mumble.
"Right on time. Alright baby. I'm coming."

Right on time?
I check the time on the phone screen again.
5:10?
"You've got to be kidding," I can't help but groan to myself. Lara and Billie are usually still in bed when I wake at seven in the morning. How can a five a.m. wake-up call be classed as the norm?
"Baby... Shhh... Are you going to go back to sleep and give me another hour this time?"

The crying stops, but a minute later it starts up again. Another sigh.
"Ok, breakfast it is. Come on gorgeous."
A second later the crying eases again, this time to a whine and I hear footsteps tread along the carpet, past my door and into the open living area.

Billie and I haven't slept in the same bed together since before Lara was born.

An hour later, I'm still in my room, though sitting upright, my back against the headboard as I listen to the sounds through the wall. The sounds of my daughter babbling away, slightly muffled and accompanied by the soft clang of a metal spoon against a porcelain bowl. Belinda, my wife must be having her own breakfast.
Why am I still hiding in the room? I'm wide awake, virtually zero chance of falling asleep again. The sensible thing would be to get up and get ready, have a morning conversation with my wife, something I usually only do on weekends. Perhaps a short play with my daughter. I never get to do that in the morning on a weekday.
But this insight into their routine is unexpected. Even on weekends, I rise at seven, and as usual I can hear them babbling away in the bedroom. I always assume they're just waking, that perhaps Billie is still asleep while Lara happily talks to herself. I had no idea that would usually mean they had already been up and about for two hours, or that they had already had breakfast before returning to their room.
This one day, after a restless nights sleep which meant I didn't sleep with earplugs in as I usually would, I am realising just how detached I am from the routine of this family.
If I'm honest with myself, it has been like that from day one.