I sighed dejectedly, having spent yet another long day in the office - and at 11:21PM, the long day still was not finished. Yes, I made a lot of money, especially for someone with my background who had never been in any way involved with professional sports, but over the past few months of eighteen-hour days on top of a fifty-minute commute, I was really struggling with whether the money was worth the massive workload and heavy travel, especially since it meant that I had very little time with the family or with friends, even on weekends. As I stared with bleary eyes at the screen, I tried to remember when I was last able to take a full day off with no work-related activities whatsoever... and realized that Christmas Day 2007 was the last true day off I had enjoyed.
I needed at least one more coffee to be able to finish what I needed to do for the massive contract which was almost within our grasp, then I could send the final proposal to the CEO for her final review when she arrived in the morning, and once she approved, it could be sent to the prospective client. The commission on this deal alone would pay for my entire staff for three months, so I just had to dig down deep inside myself and find that final surge of effort.
...but first I needed the coffee.
Standing, my knees protested - as did my spine and my arms. I had definitely been sitting for far too long. Stretching out the pains, I yawned loudly, unable to help myself but infinitely thankful that none of my colleagues were able to hear such a sound. Kiri had mentioned earlier that day that I had seemed quite exhausted and that I should take some time off, so she would not have been surprised to hear my yawn.
Time off was coming, in the form of Thanksgiving. I had already announced to the executives that for those four days, the Blackberry would be off, and that I was leaving the laptop in the office so that for once I could truly spend time with the family.
Before Thanksgiving, "time off" would be in the form of sleeping on airplanes en route to and from three trade shows in Europe and two others in Asia.
Turning to look out the window, my eyes drank in the view of the city at night, the foreground and midground filled with homes. That was exactly where I should have been: home. The twin girls had been without their father for too long - I was essentially nonexistent to them during the week, and really just a mysterious presence behind a closed door on the weekend. At that time of night, they should be asleep, but I did not have the luxury of even cracking their bedroom doors open to peek in on them and assure myself that all was indeed well with them.
With a sigh, I trudged to the break room, thankful that the Keurig could make a single cup of much-needed coffee in roughly twenty seconds. The choice of coffee was a no-brainer given my immediate need: Dark Magic.
As I slowly made my way back to my office while sipping the hot brew, I heard the chime of the elevator in the corridor. That was not unusual, as Security would typically do a sweep about this time each night. When I heard the door to the suite open, I glanced in that direction, and was surprised to see someone other than a member of the Security team entering the suite.
"Angel!" I exclaimed wearily. My wife was absolutely the last person I had expected to see here so late at night.
"That coffee looks and smells good," she noted. She seemed a little tired herself, which was not surprising since the girls could easily wear out anyone above the age of thirty. "Mind if I get one?"
"Sure." She approached and reached for my hand, giving my cheek a quick kiss before I guided her to the break room. She had been in the office a few times before, so she knew where to find the break room, but she still seemed more like a visitor here than a wife.
