Just a One Night Stand

Chapter 19

(A/N: Hang on to your hats, there are three parts coming up as promised!)

Chapter 19

It was a Saturday morning and the first morning in about a month that Madeleine could fully relax as she sipped her tea. For the past month, Mr Nicholson had tasked her to help in the preparations for the company's annual charity gala. Though the bulk of the preparations were left to the mysterious Javier Pérez, so no one but him would know what the cause was until the night, there were still things to book, people to call etc. She found herself coming home at ridiculous o'clock and the weekends she so looked forward to spending with Brandon ended up being her waking up, having wonderful breakfast time with Brandon then having to drop him off with her mother when she got a call about some unnecessary complication.

This morning was different – the gala was set to start at 6PM and Mr Nicholson had assured her by a promise (which Tee told her he never broke) that Javier and his team would deal with any last minute complications.

"You've done an incredible job. Go, be home with Brandon, I know how hard it must be for you to not have seen him much this month." Mr Nicholson had told her yesterday with a sympathetic smile on his usually stoic face. Madeleine had thrown her arms around him for a few moments before realising how unprofessional the action was. As she left the office in a hurry, she didn't notice the small, fatherly smile on his face.

This weekend was to be a weekend of relaxation. She was to have a morning with James and the girls (as soon as they arrived at hers), when her mother dropped Brandon off, she'd have an afternoon with Brandon and her friends and they would leave for her to have an evening with Brandon, put him to bed at 8 (an hour later than usual) then have a night to herself. Then all of Sunday would be spent with Brandon.

The doorbell rang – time to start the day!

She gulped down the last two mouthfuls of her tea, placed it in the sink and walked to the front door. She opened it to immediately be rugby tackled into a hug by James.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" James exclaimed over-dramatically as he squeezed the breath out of Madeleine. She patted his back, waiting for him to release her so she could get some oxygen back into her lungs.

"James... we have a group chat and you hear from me once a day because you said you wanted to make sure I wasn't dead." James rolled his eyes as he pushed his way past her – he'd been here often enough that he now treated her home as his.

Within minutes, all of the members of their little group were nursing a mug of tea between their hands as they caught up with each other's lives and did what Christie's cousin liked to refer to as 'spilling some tea' (well they spilt the tea and Madeleine listened since nothing new had happened in her life).

"Wait, what time is my favourite Dubois being dropped off?" James asked as he placed his now empty mug onto the spot on the floor beside him.

Madeleine looked down at her phone for the time – it was now 2PM and her mother had been due to drop Brandon off at 1PM. It wasn't like her mother to be late for anything at all.

"Just a moment please, I will call my mother." She pasted on a smile on her face, so as to not worry the group, as she quickly scrolled down to her mother's number and called.

After six, very tense, seconds of waiting, her mother picked up, "Bonjour ma fille!" She could hear from her mother's voice how tired she was – but she was also happy.

"Bonjour maman," she greeted back, trying to keep the slight worry she still felt and in French she continued, "When are you dropping Brandon off?"