One of Those Days Read online

  Table of Contents

  One of Those Days

  One of Those Days

  Copyright

  Hey all you cool cats and kittens…

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Can I slide into your box?

  About the Author

  One of Those Days

  By Dakota Rebel

  Supernova Indie Publishing Services, LLC

  One of Those Days

  by

  Dakota Rebel

  Have you ever had one of those days? You know, the kind where nothing is going right?

  I seem to be having a string of them lately.

  The kids are driving me crazy, my job is overwhelming, and my husband and I have become ships that pass in the night.

  If something doesn’t give soon I think I’m going to lose my mind.

  Copyright

  © 2020, Dakota Rebel

  One of Those Days

  Published by: Supernova Indie Publishing Services, LLC

  Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places or occurrences, is purely coincidental.

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  Chapter One

  I opened my eyes to find Liam staring back at me, a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

  “What’s up?” I asked through a yawn. “Why are you awake already?”

  “You were snoring,” he answered.

  “Ugh.” I threw my pillow over my face and groaned.

  He pulled it away and leaned down to kiss me softly.

  “Just a little,” he assured me. “It was cute.”

  “Cute?” I narrowed my gaze at him. “It was loud enough to wake you up.”

  “Well, yeah. It was loud enough to wake the dead. But, still cute.” He shifted closer and pulled me into his arms. “Izzy, everything you do is cute.”

  I rolled my eyes but snuggled closer into him. Today’s to-do list was trying to push its way to the forefront of my mind, but I fought back.

  Liam and I get so little time to just be together, alone, without one of us rushing off to get something done, or falling dead asleep, that I wanted to savor the moment.

  “You wanna fool around?” he whispered as he slid his hand down my thigh under the covers.

  “Yeah,” I affirmed. “I totally do.”

  His hand curved between my legs, spreading my thighs apart as he captured my lips in a toe-curling kiss. I moaned softly into his mouth as his fingers moved under my panties and—

  The door slammed open, the sound startling Liam and I apart as two tiny bodies flung themselves onto the bed.

  “I’m hungry!” Ollie demanded as his sister Jess started jumping up and down on the mattress.

  Liam and I sighed in unison. He threw a pillow over his waist as I rolled out of bed.

  “Come on,” I told the little hellions, ushering them back out into the hallway. “Go brush your teeth and I’ll meet you downstairs in five minutes.”

  Both kids ran down the hall and I shut the door behind them, turning to give Liam a wry smile.

  “Five minutes is plenty of time,” he offered.

  “As tempting as that offer is,” I said, rolling my eyes at him. “I need to get ready.”

  “You should call off work today,” he suggested. He sat up and leaned against the headboard watching me get dressed.

  “I can’t. I have meetings all day.”

  “Reschedule.”

  “I can’t,” I insisted. “You don’t reschedule on the Prime Minister of New Zealand.”

  I’m the management officer for the US Ambassador to New Zealand. It’s an insanely hectic, chaotic and incredible job that I absolutely love. I worked hard to get where I am, but it’s definitely taken a toll on our family, and our relationship.

  “Okay,” Liam agreed. “Fine. Blow me off for some Hobbit. I see how things are.”

  I turned to glare at him, but saw he was smiling. He held his hands up in mock surrender, then slid across the bed and snagged me around the waist with his arm, pulling me into him again.

  “I love you,” he said.

  “I love you more,” I promised. I leaned down to kiss him then pulled away and headed into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

  Liam has always been totally supportive of my career. We’ve been married for ten years, and when we got pregnant with the twins, he didn’t think twice about quitting his job as Head of Diagnostics for Mercy Hospital to stay home so I could keep working my way up the political ladder.

  While he still did some freelance work on the side to keep connected to the hospital, and make a partial income, for the most part, he was just present with the kids.

  He cooked, he cleaned, he changed diapers and read stories and I was so jealous sometimes I could just cry. There were days I looked at my babies and all I could see was the time I was missing with them as I went off to work to help negotiate visa rights for students who wanted to study surrounded by Lord of the Rings scenery.

  I blew out a heavy sigh as I reached for the toothpaste. I loved my job. I really did but some days it was all I could do to walk out of the house and leave my family again.

  I squeezed the tube onto my brush and swore loudly as blue gel sprayed onto my shirt.

  “Mommy swore!” I heard a small voice exclaim on the other side of the door.

  I bit my lip to keep from laughing as I dropped the toothpaste back to the counter. When I opened the door, I found both kids sitting on the floor, staring up at me.

  “Where’s daddy?” I asked them.

  “Making waffles!” Jessica exclaimed happily.

  “Why aren’t you downstairs?”

  “We wanted you,” Ollie said seriously.

  “Okay.” I reached down and scooped a four-year-old into each arm, carrying them across the bedroom before setting them both on their feet in the hallway. “Mommy needs to change again, and I’ll be right down, okay? Can you guys give me five minutes of alone time?”

  “Yes,” agreed Ollie.

  “No,” said Jess.

  Well, at least she was honest.

  “Go!” I insisted, pointing toward the stairs.

  I shut the door and for the hundredth time this week I wished we had a lock on our bedroom door.

  I snagged a clean shirt from the closet and went back into the bathroom. As soon as I did I heard the scuffle of feet on the other side of the bathroom door.

  Blowing out a sigh I locked that door and finished getting ready. It felt like it was going to be another long day.

  Chapter Two

  By time I got downstairs, Liam had corralled the munchkins and they were happily eating their waffles. He met me with a kiss and a cup of coffee.

  “You’re the best,” I told him as I accepted the mug and settled onto a stool at the kitchen island. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “Good think you’ll never have to find out,” he assured me. “Wha
t time is your meeting?”

  “The big one is at nine,” I said. “But I’ve got presentations after, lunch with Becky then a bunch of admin bull—” I stopped and glanced over to find both kids staring up at me with wide eyes. “Tasks this afternoon.”

  “Sounds busy.” He tossed a towel over his shoulder and leaned against the counter. “You want anything special for dinner tonight?”

  “Nope. Whatever you want is fine.” I got up, put my mug in the dishwasher and kissed him goodbye. “Have a good day.”

  “You, too,” he said.

  I dropped kisses on the heads of my babies then headed out to the garage. When I turned my key in the ignition…the car didn’t turn over. I tried again, but nothing. It was dead.

  I leaned my head on the steering wheel for a minute and counted to five, then ten, then twenty and tried again.

  Nothing.

  I got back out of the car and went inside.

  “Hey Izzy, that was fast,” Liam teased. “Did you forget something?”

  “No, my car won’t start. Can I take yours today?”

  “Of course,” he confirmed. “I’ll take a look at yours this afternoon.”

  “Thanks!” I snagged his keys from the hook and went back out to the garage and got into his car. Thankfully it turned right over, and I pulled out into the street and headed off to work.

  The whole drive in something was nagging at me, but I just couldn’t figure out what was wrong. It felt like I was forgetting something. I glanced at the passenger seat a few times, ensuring that I had my purse and my briefcase, which I did.

  Finally, I figured that I was just feeling off kilter because of the hectic start to the morning. Not to mention the sexual frustration from not actually getting to make love to my husband. In weeks, actually.

  Damn, I really needed to find a way to carve out some alone time with him. Not that anything could ever endanger our relationship, but I genuinely enjoyed having sex with Liam, and it would be nice if it didn’t turn into a once a month occasion.

  I pulled into the work lot, showed my badge to security and pulled through the gates to park. As I climbed out of the car a loud clap of thunder sounded, making me jump. I looked up and realized for the first time that there seemed to be a wicked storm rolling in.

  That seemed a little ominous. I hadn’t realized it was even supposed to rain.

  I exhaled sharply and shook my head. I needed to shake off these weird feelings and get centered. I had a huge day today and I really couldn’t afford to be distracted. Not by rain, or kids or sex with my husband.

  Squaring my shoulders, I lifted my chin and walked purposefully toward the building.

  Today was going to be a great day.

  Chapter Three

  “Mr. Prime Minister,” I said as I walked toward the stately gentleman. “I’m Izzy Crown. It’s such a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

  “Ms. Crown,” he replied as he grasped my hand in both of his and smiled brightly at me. “It certainly is a pleasure.”

  “Please, call me Izzy,” I insisted.

  “And you must call me Ian,” he agreed. “I apologize for arriving so early. My flight actually left on time yesterday.”

  “It’s no trouble at all,” I assured him. “Ambassador Jacobs is another meeting at the moment, but I’d be happy to show you to the conference room. We have refreshments available.”

  “I certainly wouldn’t say no to coffee,” he said with a smile.

  We walked down the hall together and I showed him to the room and fixed him a cup of coffee. Then we sat down across from each other.

  “Izzy Crown,” he said after a minute. “I must say, my office is quite enamored of you.”

  “Really?” I felt my eyebrows raise in surprise. “Why?”

  “Well, apart from the fact that you’ve risen ranks here at such a young age, helped to broker peace deals with some rather unruly nations, and, if I may say from one happily married person to another, you’re quite pretty.”

  I felt heat creep up my cheeks at the compliment. I’d spoken to Ian Granger, countless times over the years and knew he wasn’t being inappropriate with this comment. He was just a very open and honest person.

  “But,” he continued, ignoring my embarrassment. “I think that winning the Nobel Prize at twenty-five years old really put some of the ladies in my office into quite a state.”

  “Well,” I said, dismissing the compliment. “They give those things away like gum in Homeroom. I wouldn’t be that impressed by it.”

  It was true that I had won a Nobel Prize six years ago. But it was kind of like being the gaffer on a film that wins an Oscar. Yeah…you get one. But it’s more because you happened to be in the room at the time.

  I certainly hadn’t been overly involved in the extradition process between countries that had led to a peace deal and ultimately the prize. I mostly fetched coffee and filed documents. But the whole staff had been included in the win, and I still displayed it on my mantle.

  “So modest,” he chided. “After all of the high praise you’ve received from my staff, my wife has asked to accompany me on my next trip up and we would very much like to have dinner with you and your husband.”

  “That would be lovely,” I agreed. “We would both like that very much.”

  The door opened and my boss, Jasana Jacobs came in smiling.

  “Ms. Jacobs!” Ian said as he stood and walked over to shake her hand. “How lovely to see you again.”

  “Ian,” she replied, beaming back at the charming man. “It’s been too long. I’m so sorry I wasn’t available to greet you when you first arrived.”

  “Think nothing of it,” he assured her. “Ms. Crown is very pleasant company.”

  Everyone sat down again and Jasana went into her pitch for the student visa’s we were requesting.

  “How many kids are we talking about?” Ian asked.

  “Izzy, can you pull up the numbers?” Jasana asked as she walked up to the display board.

  I turned down the lights and hooked my phone to the computer, pulling up the graphs I’d created for the presentation.

  Jasana walked through the slides with practiced ease and I could tell from Ian’s posture that this was just a formality. He was going to give us anything we asked for.

  As the last slide popped up so did a text message from my husband, big and bold and bright for all of us to read.

  “Sorry about this morning. I can’t stop thinking about that ass.”

  I ripped the cord from my phone and fought the urge to bury my face in my hands in absolute mortification.

  Jasana didn’t react, but I could hear a low, rumbling chuckle coming from Ian on the other side of the table.

  “It does an old man’s heart good to know there is still so much love in this world,” he assured me.

  That was nice of him to say.

  Especially considering I was going to murder my husband when I got home.

  “I am so sorry,” I said, my voice a choked whisper.

  “It’s already forgotten,” Ian said firmly.

  I looked up to see he was staring pointedly at my boss, as if to tell her that he was fine with it and she wasn’t to say a word to me.

  Jasana shot me a cold look but nodded before returning to her seat.

  I turned the lights back up and stared resolutely at the laptop screen as they continued the meeting.

  Liam was seriously a dead man walking.

  Chapter Four

  “Becky, it is not funny!” I yelled at my best friend as she brayed like a jackass after I told her the story of the text message.

  “It’s bloody hilarious,” she argued, wiping tears from her face. “Oh my God, Izzy. Only you. Seriously. Don’t you put your phone on do not disturb?”

  “Usually,” I said with a sigh. Maybe that’s what I had forgotten that morning. I did usually set it before I even got to work on days that I knew I’d be presenting from my cell. “He never sends me texts
like that. What the hell was he thinking?”

  “That he loves you and he loves that ass,” she offered with a shrug.

  “Thank God it was a meeting with Ian,” I said finally. “If it had been someone else, or Jesus the president, I’d have been so fired.”

  “Would that have been so bad?” Becky asked. “You could have gone home and had a nooner with Liam.”

  “I hate you.”

  “You love me,” she said, waving a hand dismissively. “So, any big plans the rest of the day?”

  “No,” I said. “Just some admin stuff and a couple small meetings.”

  “You should beg off and go shag that man of yours,” Becky suggested.

  “Why is everyone trying to get me to blow off work today?” I asked.

  Honestly though, after the debacle this morning, I might have been better off taking the day.

  “So, did you get your deal?” she asked, returning the conversation to the morning meeting.

  “Of course,” I said with a shrug. “Ian never denies us anything reasonable. I think he just used this meeting as an excuse to come to America.”

  “Why would he want to come here?” she asked, wrinkling her nose. “I’d way rather be in New Zealand.”

  “That’s because you’re British and it’s in your DNA to be salty toward us,” I shot back. “Besides, he loves coney dogs.”

  I reached out to pick up my iced tea, but knocked it over and the dark, brown liquid spilled all over the table, dripping off the edge and into my lap before I could jump out of the way.

  “Ugh!” I yelled, wiping at my suit with a napkin. “Fuck this day.”

  “You’re a mess,” Becky said, biting back a laugh but unable to keep it out of her tone completely. “Seriously, go home.”

  “I can’t,” I insisted. I looked at my watch and sighed. “In fact, I have to get back.”

  “Go,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ll pick up the tab. Call me later, okay?”

  I leaned over and kissed her forehead in thanks, then walked toward the elevator, still rubbing at my pants with my napkin.