"You think I should change this to orange?" Bradlee asks me, pointing to part of the mural that we were currently working on. I take a step back, looking at how part of the painting was much darker than the rest since we had clustered all the dark colors together without even realizing it.

"Yeah, orange could work. Just something light would be good," I tell him. I pick up my paintbrush to continue working on the portion that I was in charge of. Today had just started and I was already super stressed since it seemed like so much has already happened. One of our newest kids had to be taken to the ER early this morning since he was cutting some fruit and cut his hand open. My receptionist found out that her uncle died so she had to fly back home, so we were down staff and one of the volunteers had to take over for her. There was a physical fight between two girls in one of our homes in Georgia and I had to Skype with them at seven this morning to help handle it.

Bailey had woken Julian and I up at three this morning because he had to go out and after that, I couldn't sleep. I was currently running on three hours of sleep and I wasn't happy about it. Obviously, Julian had also been in a bad mood this morning since he was also running on lack of sleep, so we got into a little argument this morning about coffee. Literally coffee, which is absolutely ridiculous. Apparently, he had asked me to pick up some Keurig pods yesterday and I forgot. And I had taken the last one this morning, so he didn't have any coffee and he was too pissed to calm down, so we argued.

Today just wasn't my day and I wanted to go home and curl up in bed with Bailey, even though I knew that I couldn't. These kids needed me here since they were all pretty scared since an ambulance had arrived at their house today. Of course, the other home in our city didn't have that problem, but the kids definitely heard about it.

"Hey, I gotta get going. Julian called me and he wants to have some meeting about Paradise Turn," Nina tells me as she puts her paintbrush in the cup of water before going over to the sink to wash her hands. I walk with her, wishing that she could just stay here since she was really the only one that was making me feel sane right now.

"You can't stay?" I ask, following her to the sink.

She shakes her head with a sad smile. "No, I'm sorry, Mila. He sounded pretty stressed so there must've been a complaint from a client or something. That's usually what gets him all worked up. I'll be back tomorrow though, you're having a meeting with all the volunteers, right?"

"Yeah, about the fundraiser. Um, could you do me a favor though?" I ask her, pulling out my wallet as I wait for her answer.

"Of course," she tells me as she grabs a napkin to dry her hands.

"Can you stop at a coffee place and get Julian something? We had an argument this morning and I just, I guess I should be the bigger person," I tell her, handing her a $10 bill.

"Yeah, he mentioned that. Iced coffee with milk?" She asks, walking over to the wall to pick up the bag that she brought with her. I nod my head at her as some of the kids run up to give her hugs since they could tell that she was going to leave. Once she's gone, I grab my paintbrush and continuing to work on the mural with Bradlee since I really wanted to get this done before support group on Thursday since it would make a really good topic of conversation once it's done. We just sit there, painting the mural for about 15 minutes before he breaks the silence.

"You and Julian had a fight?" Bradlee asks, glancing over at me with raised eyebrows. I've realized as soon as we started spending more time together that he was a pretty big eavesdropper, which was good, I guess. I mean, we had to be involved in the kid's lives to make sure they were okay, so I guess it was helpful at certain times.

"Just an argument. About fucking coffee. It was stupid, don't worry about it," I tell him.

"Hey, don't do that. I don't care if it was just an argument, it could've still affected you the same way a fight could've. Are you two okay? I mean, was it bad enough to do damage?" He asks me, continuing to paint to not gain anyone's attention since the last thing I needed today was for more people to know that my fiance and I had a problem.

"It wasn't anything too big, I think we'll both be over it by the time we get home. I-" I start, but I'm interrupted by a loud voice coming from the main room where we had our receptionist desk along with couches and TVs for the kids to sit down and just relax.

"I just want to speak with Julian, that's all!" I heard a female's voice say, their voice raised louder than necessary. When I get into the main room, I see a beautiful, young girl with long blonde hair standing in front of the desk. She wore black leggings with a white t-shirt, a jean jacket that had a fuzzy collar, a white beanie, and some black Vans. I could tell she was distressed along with Jessica, the volunteer that was filling in for my receptionist, so I rush over there to see if I could help in any way.

When the girl sees me, her eyes widen before she takes a step back. I realize that she started to panic a bit when she saw me, so I make sure to not get any closer. "Hi, I'm Miles Brigg. You're looking for Julian?"

"I- uh, I..." she starts before letting out a soft groan, picking up her bag from the ground before running out the front door. I watch as she leaves because I was used to this. Kids would come in for help or something and then get overwhelmed, usually because they were scared that their family would find out they were at an LGBTQ+ support center. They usually came back though, so I wasn't worried, but this girl... she specifically wanted to see Julian, which was weird.

I turn to Jessica, who also looked confused before she turns to me with a small smile. I step up to the desk, looking down at the book that we had for people to sign in, but I didn't see any name that I didn't recognize. "Did she say what she wanted with Julian or what her name was?"

"No," Jessica says with a shake of the head. "she just came in and asked if she could speak to Julian and I said that he wasn't here, but she could make an appointment with him if she wanted. Then, she freaked out and demanded that I tell her where he was."

I let out a sigh, running a hand through my hair. "Okay, if she comes back, you let me know before anyone else, okay? Maybe leave a note for Hannah for when she gets back."

Jessica nods her head before I look around. When I see that no one seemed stressed or in trouble, I walk out the same doors that that girl had just left from. Once the cold air hits my face, I let out a long sigh and lean back against the brick wall of the building. We were located on a busy street, so there were tons of people walking along the sidewalks, either with other people or on their phones. I stood there for a second, feeling a sinking feeling in my chest about everything's that already happened today.

I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, making me let out a heavy sigh as I pull it out. I groan when I see that it was Julian, earning a few glances by some of the people walking on the street. I ignore them as I press the green button and hold the phone up to my ear. "Julian, I'm not in the mood right now, can we just talk when we get home?"

I could feel the lump in my throat, telling me that I was close to crying. Today just sucked and there was so much going on and I really just didn't want it to get even worse. "Baby, what's wrong? I was just calling to say thank you for the coffee."

I run a hand through my hair because obviously, that's why he's calling. "Nothing, don't worry about it."

"Miles, talk to me. You're stressed, so tell me why," he tells me in a soft tone and I can hear people talking around him, which told me that he was either in a meeting or walking through the hallways in his office since it was usually loud in there.

"So much has happened today, Julian. Alexander had to go to the ER this morning because he cut his hand while cutting oranges for breakfast and he had to get three stitches. Hannah's uncle died so she's out for the next few days. There was a fight at our home in Georgia, so I had to Skype with Fiona this morning on how she should handle it. I only got three hours of sleep and then we got into our fight and there's-" I tell him, trying my best to not freak out too much right now. I was holding back tears because I felt if I started now, I wouldn't be able to stop.

"Baby boy, calm down. You need to take a breath," he whispers to me. I listen to him, letting air fill my lungs, making me hiccup a bit due to the lump that was still in my throat. "now, you need to go to the conference room and just sit for a bit. You can't be around the kids when you're like this, okay?"

"Okay," I whisper to him, immediately grabbing the handle to the door and rushing inside. I make sure I look busy so no one can stop me in my tracks. I keep my eyes down until I get into the conference room, making sure to lock the door before sitting down in one of the office chairs. "okay, I'm here."

"Alright, good. Now, what else is going on?" My fiance asks me and I immediately feel a sense of inner calm just from hearing his voice. I knew that he was good in stressful situations since he's dealt with them a lot in his businesses, but I was still new at this and I wasn't good at controlling my emotions just yet. I was definitely better than when I first started, but today was a bad day.

"Some girl came in asking for you and when I tried to see what she needed, she freaked out and left. I think she's scared or hurt or something, but I don't know who she is, so I can't do anything about it. Then, there's this fucking fundraiser, which is definitely going to fail because Bradlee needed my help with the mural again today, so I can't prepare for the meeting tomorrow, which means I'll probably have to stay up again tonight to plan and I just can't, Julian," I ramble on, finally letting a tear slip down my face since I'm in private.

"Okay, listen to me, beautiful. Don't worry about Alexander, it's a few stitches. The kid's strong, he'll be okay. And Fiona has everything handled in Georgia, she messaged me this morning and told me everything, so I know she's doing okay. She's got that. And we'll make sure to take Bailey out before we go to sleep, okay? That was a mistake that we shouldn't have made, but we can't change it now, but we'll sleep tonight. Also, don't worry about our fight. That was all on me and I apologize. I was angry and looking to argue, so don't think you did anything. You forgot something, that's it, it happens," he tells me, making sure he keeps his voice soft as he speaks to me.

"Julian," I whimper, placing my head in my free hand.

"I know, Miles, but everything will be okay," he whispers. "when you're okay, I want you to find some of the kids and ask them if they want to help Bradlee with the painting. And about this girl, she'll come back if she needs help. They always do, right? We'll help her with whatever she needs. And about the fundraiser, we got this. We have most of the planning done and I'll ask Nina to help, just send me what you got and we'll go from there. Get your stuff and stay in the conference room and do what you can, but don't stress. You're doing an amazing job, especially since you're still kinda new to all of this stuff. You're handling a lot, especially since you're in charge of these kids' lives, but you are handling it."

"I am?" I ask, wiping at my eyes.

"Yes, baby," he whispers. "you're doing great."

"I'm sorry, I know you have work too," I tell him, suddenly feeling awful that he had just called to say thank you and I had broken down. I know he's doing a lot as well and this probably just made everything worse for him because he would be worrying.

"No, don't worry about it. It's okay, I just need to know that you're okay."

"I'm okay," I whisper.

"Alright, good. If you need anything else, you know where to find me. I'll see you tonight?" He asks and I hear all the talking again, telling me that he was walking through the hallway that was next to everyone's cubicles since it was always loud there.

"I'll see you tonight and I'll make sure to get the coffee stuff. I love you."

He chuckles. "I love you too, baby."

Once we hang up, I stuff my phone in my pocket before wiping at my eyes. I sit there for a few minutes, making sure I looked presentable before leaving the conference room and going back to the main room. "Hey, you okay?"

I look up at Jessica as she asks, giving her a smile. "Yeah, I'm okay. You good here? I can always get someone else to do Hannah's position while she's gone if you're not up for it."

"No, don't worry about it. I'm perfectly fine here," she tells me with a smile before going back to type something on the computer in front of her. I walk over to the group of kids that were sitting on the couch and floor with some TV show playing in front of them. I recognized a few of the kids since they were in either of the two homes in the city and the others were just regulars at the support center.

"Hey, guys," I say to them to gain their attention. They all look up with smiles and I immediately see Derek, the kid who essentially made me want to be involved in this non-profit because I saw potential in him when he had a hard time. He was now a senior in high school and was planning to go to school for psychology and I was really proud of him because he's been through a lot, but he's only taken those things and grown from them. "so Bradlee needs some help with the mural for a bit. Would anyone want to help? He'll tell you what to do and everything, I just need to finish up some work so I can't help."

"We can help," one of the girls, Megan, says, motioning to herself and two of her friends.

"Alright, awesome, just come with me," I tell them, taking them to the support group area. I see that Bradlee was still painting away at the thing, putting the right colors in the right places to make it pop more.

"Hi, Bradlee," Megan said when she sees him.

He looks up in surprise before smiling when he sees that I was accompanying them. "Oh, hey, what's going on?"

"I have to finish some work, so I thought I would get you some help. You got this?" I ask.

"Yeah, I got this," he tells me with a smile before instructing the girls on what they could help with. When I know everything's situated, I walk around the center to make sure that everyone else was okay before grabbing my stuff and going back to the conference room. Before I set my stuff up, I pull my phone out to send a text to Julian.

Thank you for being here, Julian. I know i'm not the greatest sometimes but I am so appreciative of all you've done for me. I love you <3 I text him before setting my phone down and sitting back in the chair. I let out a sigh before realizing that I should probably get this stuff done before I don't have time to tonight.