It's cool, even if it's messy." Ethan felt something tighten in his chest. "Thanks, kiddo." "Don't screw it up." "I'll try." The crib arrived two hours later. Ethan spent the next hour assembling it while Mia watched and offered unhelpful commentary. By the time he finished, it was almost midnight and Elena was crying again.
"Your turn," Mia said, handing her over. "I I thought you were bonding." "I bonded. Now she's hungry." Ethan fed Elena while Mia got ready for bed. When she came back out, she paused in the doorway.
"You know this is going to be weird, right? Having her here sometimes and not other times?" "Yeah, I know." "But you're still doing it." "Yeah." Mia nodded. "Okay. Night, Dad." "Night." She disappeared into her room.
Ethan sat there with Elena, listening to the sound of her breathing. He thought about Lena alone in her apartment. He thought about Victoria's words. He thought about everything that could go wrong.
But mostly, he thought about the tiny person in his arms. The one who didn't care about schedules or plans or who was right or wrong. The one who just needed him to show up. And so he did.
The next few weeks settled into a pattern. Ethan had Elena Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights. Lena had her the rest of the time. They texted constantly.
Updates, questions, pictures. Sometimes Lena called in the middle of the night, panicking because Elena wouldn't stop crying. Sometimes Ethan showed up at her apartment unscheduled because Mia had a school event and he needed Lena to watch Elena for a few hours. It wasn't perfect.
It wasn't clean. But it was working. Until the board meeting. Ethan didn't know about the meeting until Lena called him at 11:00 on a Thursday night, her voice tight.
"I need you to take Elena tomorrow." "I thought it was your day." "It is, but I have a board meeting and I can't bring her and Rose is sick and I don't have anyone else." "Lena, I've got the Hartman follow-up meeting at 9:00. I can't miss it." "Please, Ethan. I'm desperate." He closed his eyes. "What time do you need me there?" "7:00." "In the morning?" "Yes." "Lena, I know.
I'm sorry. I know this isn't fair, but I don't have another option." Ethan looked at the ceiling. He thought about Jenkins' warning. He thought about the client he couldn't afford to lose.
He thought about the promise he'd made to Lena to be there, no matter what. "Okay," he said. "I'll be there." "Thank you. I owe you." "Yeah, you do." He hung up and sat there for a minute, trying to figure out how he was going to make this work.
Then he called Marcus. "Dude, it's 11:00 at night," Marcus said when he answered. "I know. I need a favor." "What kind of favor?" "I need you to cover the Hartman meeting tomorrow." There was a long pause.
"Are you kidding me?" "I'm not." "Something came up with my daughter and I can't be there." "Ethan, that's your account. You can't just bail." "I'm not bailing. I'm asking you to cover for me." "And I'm telling you I can't. I've got my own meetings tomorrow.
You need to figure this out." "Marcus, no." "Ethan, I've been covering for you for weeks. I can't keep doing this." "I know. I'm sorry, but I don't have another choice." Marcus sighed. "You always have a choice.
You're just making the wrong one." He hung up. Ethan stared at his phone. Then he called Jenkins. "This better be important," Jenkins said.
"I need to reschedule the Hartman meeting." "No." "I have a family emergency." "I don't care. That meeting is happening tomorrow at 9:00 with or without you." "Jenkins, figure it out, Ethan, or don't bother coming back." The line went dead. Ethan sat there in the dark, his heart pounding. He could feel the walls closing in.
He could feel everything he'd built starting to crumble. And he had to choose. At 7:00 the next morning, Ethan showed up at Lena's apartment. She opened the door looking frazzled, Elena crying in her arms.
"Thank you," she said, handing the baby over. "I'll be back by 3:00." "Lena, wait." She paused, her hand on the doorknob. "I might have just lost my job," Ethan said. Her face went pale.
"What?" "I had a meeting this morning, a big one. I had to cancel it to be here." "Ethan, it's fine. It was my choice." "It's not fine. I shouldn't have asked you to You didn't have anyone else.
I get it." Lena stared at him, guilt and something else, something like fear, flickering across her face. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "Don't be. This is what we do, right?
We show up." She nodded, but she looked like she might cry. Then she grabbed her bag and left. Ethan spent the day with Elena, feeding her, changing her, walking her around the apartment when she wouldn't settle. He checked his phone every 10 minutes, waiting for the call from Jenkins that would make it official.
It came at 2:00. "You're fired." "Jenkins, I gave you chances, Ethan. You chose not to take them. We're done." The line went dead before Ethan could respond.
He stood there with Elena in his arms, staring at nothing. He'd just lost his job. The job that paid for his apartment, for Mia's school, for everything. And he'd lost it because he'd chosen to show up for a woman and a baby who weren't even his family.
Except they were. Somehow, without him realizing it, they'd become his family. And he didn't regret it. Not even a little.
When Lena walked back into her apartment at 3:15, Ethan was sitting on the couch with Elena asleep on his chest. He looked up when she came in, and she could tell immediately that something was wrong. "What happened?" she asked, setting her bag down. I got fired.
Lena froze. What? Jenkins called around, too. Said I'd had enough chances.
I'm done. Ethan, it's fine. It's not fine. You lost your job because of me.
I lost my job because I made a choice. He looked down at Elena. And I'd make it again. Lena sat down beside him, her hands shaking slightly.