Jayme Lockwood
~Earlier That Morning~
Jayme awoke with a start from yet another nightmare. As he slowed his breathing and came to, he glanced down at Rowan still fast asleep, curled perfectly into his side. He swallowed hard and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his free arm. He kept having nightmares about his daughter, Hailey. He longed to tell Rowan about how these had been troubling him, but she didn't even know he had a daughter. God, I need a cigarette. Jayme thought to himself as he gingerly moved Rowan off of him and got up. He slipped into his suit pants Rowan had laid out for him to wear today and grabbed his cigarettes and lighter off of the large cherrywood desk against the wall across from their bed. He turned to quietly open the patio door near their closet and slipped outside into the cool, crisp morning air. He could see the sun just beginning to rise as he lit his cigarette and knew it was at least an hour or two before he normally awoke. Jayme also knew he wasn't likely to be going back to sleep anytime soon after that dream.
He kept having these nightmares about his daughter being in trouble and him finding out either too late to be able to do anything or after the fact. Normally he only had these when he was under heavy stress or really missing her and thinking back, things have definitely been stressful lately. He often works harder and more efficiently than needed in hopes to spend more time with Rowan, but usually much of that time ends up being spent by fighting. He took a long pull of his cigarette and thought about how much he longed to have Rowan be in the know about these nightmares. After all, they're a big reason why he's been so on edge lately. He has no means of contacting his daughter because Hannah made a point to change her number and contact information when she left with her four years ago. Besides with all the fighting lately, it would likely just make things worse. Having a seven year old child your significant other knows nothing about isn't exactly something you can just slip into conversation.
Jayme finished his second cigarette and sighed. No, he definitely would not be able to get more sleep now. He finished getting dressed in what Rowan had set out and smiled slightly at the fact that she still did this every night for me despite their rocky relationship as of late. Once he was looking sharp as ever, he paused next to her sleeping form on the bed. She looked so beautiful and happy laying there, thinking he was still next to her. If only he could still make her that happy to be next to him. They used to be so in love and happy and now the business has become priority over that. It was never Jayme's intention and in fact, Rowan still means far more to him than the company, but he has trouble showing that to her. That's why he works so hard, so that maybe eventually the work will be done and they'll have more time together.
"And maybe not," Jayme murmured out loud as he stroked her cheek. Mending their relationship would take far more than a lack of work. He wanted to do whatever it took, the problem was showing that to her. He'd think of something, he had to. Now is not the time, though. He might as well get some work done and e-mails responded to before his morning meetings. He leaned down to gently kiss her goodbye and was on his way.
The day passed at its usual pace, but Jayme was happy for the extra work he was able to put in this morning. It was already after lunch and he was on his way to the third floor conference room where he and Rowan usually met to talk about how the morning went and what she had on her plate for the afternoon and into the evening. When he arrived, he was still twenty minutes early, so he opened his laptop and got to work responding to e-mails and focusing on his answers more than usual so his thoughts wouldn't wander to his nightmares he'd been having. He was focusing so hard, in fact, that he didn't even hear her come into the conference room.
Outfit
