Baby on Board

The Fire of a Thousand Suns

I'm avoiding Lottie like the plague. Ever since I sent her to the Spa so that Mick and I could have a Boy's Day of watching action movies, she's been acting really weird, flashing her hands in my face at every opportunity just so I could tell her that her nails look lovely. After the fifteenth time, I decided that if I had to hear how photographic her hands were, I'd gladly stick pins in my eyes. That's why I'm now hiding at Mick's office on the only day-off I'll get this week. 

"Tell me again why you're here," Mick instructed as he pulled off his glasses and turned in his seat to look at me. He's been going through plans for a building he's been commissioned to design, taking his time to get some archway perfect and ignoring my presence. Now that his work is complete, he can finally sit back. "I get that Charlotte's had her nails painted but I don't see why that has you running out the door. You could have at least brought Sera with you."

"What a pal you are," I grunted, folding my arms over my chest petulantly. "You have your best mate here and then you basically tell me that you'd prefer to have my infant daughter here instead."

Mick grins and points his dark ink pen towards me. "Not 'instead' but more 'as well.' And to be frank, I'd take either of your daughters, not just your infant one. Martha's fun, too."

Flipping him off, I sulk in the seat that I've been sat in for the past hour and start to look around Mick's office space. It's typical Michael Taylor in style, very masculine with dark colours and fancy wooden desk but with a dash of bright colour here and there. His walls are covered with framed photos of past projects and a large sketch of a building that I wasn't familiar with; whenever I asked Mick in the past about his sketch, he would tell me that it was the blueprint for world domination. I may not be an architect but even I know that he was talking through his hat on that front. 

His words, however, played on my mind- why hadn't I brought Sera with me? Until Sunday, today is the only full day off I get this week and I was wasting it, sitting in Mick's office, hiding from my girlfriend. I could go home and put up with telling her how magnificent her manicure is but I'd really rather not. Part of me entertained the idea of going home, slipping through the door undetected, grabbing Sera and then taking her to the park; I ixnayed that plan as soon as it formulated, not least because Lottie would think Sera's been kidnapped. That kid has a lot of stuff and getting her and all her things out the door without Lottie noticing would be next to impossible. I could get an elephant out and it'd be less conspicuous. 

Between a rock and a hard place would sum up my predicament perfectly. 

"You know your office is right opposite Lyanna's, right?" I say just as soon as I notice that quirk in the office infrastructure. In all my visits here, I hadn't noticed that before which is odd seeing as it would be something I'd take great pleasure in teasing Mick about. "Has her office always been there? I feel like this is a new development."

Mick sighed and moved from sitting near his drafting table to hiding behind his real desk. "She moved in last week and no one is willing to tell me why she's now there," Mick reveals. When he doesn't say anything else, I let my gaze fall on him, only to see that he's staring at the office opposite with an annoyed frown between his ears. "I think she's doing it so that she's closer to me and she can spy on what I'm up to. I swear that she's tittle-tattling back to her father that I'm not pulling my weight here. Has Lottie given more thought to that new venture of hers? Does Clark Reiss need a new architect?"

I shrug. As far as I know, Lottie is still going ahead with her plans but I'm not sure if Clark Reiss continues to be involved. Since their little spat not that long ago, Lottie has been on a mission to prove to Clark Reiss that her business plan wasn't as horrific as he thought it was. In fact, she's determined to make it a huge success so that Clark Reiss would want to buy her out. She may let him but knowing Lottie, she'll probably keep the venture for herself out of spite that he ever doubted her abilities to find a gap in the market. I think she has an appointment with a letting agent next week, something about finding the perfect premises, but what'll come from that is anyone's guess.