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the dishwasher. “But between your work schedule and the demands of a grieving infant, it’s obvious that you’re exhausted.”
    “I’m so flattered that you noticed.”
    His brow lifted in response to her sarcasm. “I’m dragging, too, and I’m only working part-time right now.”
    “Part-time isn’t an option for me.”
    “Then maybe you should think about taking some time off.”
    “I did think about it,” she said bluntly. “I can’t.”
    He pressed on anyway. “You went back to work only days after the funeral—when did you think about it?”
    “In the time between learning about the accident and returning to work,” she told him. “I would have taken more time if I could, but there’s too much going on with the show right now. In fact, we’ve got Lucy Gibbs on the schedule for tomorrow morning, so I have to go in half an hour earlier because she likes to review all of the questions with me beforehand.”
    “She can’t do that with someone else?”
    “The last time she was on the show and I wasn’t there, she bullied and harassed one of our production assistants to the point that he almost quit.”
    “She sounds charming,” he said drily.
    She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter that she’s a prima donna when her name is money at the box office.”
    “If you’re going in early, will you be able to leave early?”
    “I’m going to try,” she said. “But there were a couple of day-care centers that I wanted to check out on my way back.”
    He frowned. “You want to put Oliver in day care?”
    “I don’t see that we have any choice.” She neatly folded the dishcloth and draped it over the towel bar inside the cupboard.
    “Don’t you think we should talk about this—to see if we can’t figure something else out? For God’s sake, Harper, the kid just lost both of his parents and you want to abdicate responsibility for his care to strangers?”
    “It’s not what I want. It’s what the reality of the situation demands.” She braced her hands on the edge of the counter behind her and faced him. “I don’t have the luxury of working for a company owned by my family,” she told him. “If I don’t go to work, I don’t get paid.”
    “If the issue is money, I’ll pay—”
    “No.” She cut him off sharply. “It’s not only about money.”
    “I know how important your career is to you,” he said.
    But Harper didn’t think he did. Because her career was more than important—it was what defined her.
    She’d started as an assistant to the property manager at WNCC-TV fresh out of college and worked her way through the ranks to become an associate producer of the award-winning morning program Coffee Time with Caroline . In the process, she’d sacrificed weekends and vacations, missed get-togethers with friends, turned down more offers for dates than she’d accepted—and then skipped out early on at least half of those that she’d accepted.
    Ryan, on the other hand, had been born a Garrett. He’d never had to make any sacrifices to secure his job at Garrett Furniture. Maybe he hadn’t started out as national sales manager of the company, but there hadn’t been a lot of obstacles in his path to the big office.
    He didn’t have to worry that taking a few weeks off might jeopardize his position, but Harper knew that a leave of absence—even in the short term—could completely derail her career.
    “I just don’t think we should rush into anything,” he continued, his tone conciliatory.
    But she’d learned the hard way that if she didn’t take action, things didn’t get done. “How much longer should we wait? Another couple of weeks? A month?”
    “More than three weeks,” he retorted.
    She forced herself to take a deep breath before their discussion escalated into a full-blown argument. “I did some research and made some phone calls. I’m not suggesting we drop him off somewhere first thing tomorrow morning.”
    He nodded slowly as he wiped Oliver’s hands and