CHAPTER ELEVEN
He'd been in his new apartment for just over two weeks and it finally felt like home. His home office was set up the way he liked it and was ready to take a more active role in his business. He'd missed being involved, brainstorming new projects with his employees, working with beta-testers on their latest software release and problem solving any issues that had occurred.
In his last year at MIT he'd hired a project manager to manage his business, knowing that his final year would be a killer if he tried to do both. Mark Costello had allowed him to focus on his studies while he managed the business. He was ready to jump back in with both feet. There were a lot of software application ideas he wanted to test out and improvements he wanted to make with their existing products.
Adam stretched back in his chair as ideas for his new project began to formulate. He glanced quickly at his phone - no new messages. He'd sent a few messages to Lucy last night, but she'd not replied, although it had been late when he'd sent them. He picked up his phone to send her a 'good morning' message, hoping he wasn't coming on too strong, but couldn't help himself even if he tried.
A ping came back almost immediately, "Can I come to yours?" He knew this was her day off. They hadn't planned anything but as he wasn't fully back working full-time in his business he was more than happy to make time for her. He shot back an 'of course, anytime' and got up to let her in.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked as he put his arm around her to usher her inside. She'd burst into tears as soon as he'd opened the door.
"I'm so sorry to do this to you," she sobbed in his arms, "I needed to get out of the apartment and speak to someone."
He led her over to the sofa so she could sit down, "What's happened?" he asked as he found a box of Kleenex and handed it to her as he sat beside her and waited anxiously for her to reply.
She took the box and pulled a few out and blew her nose, "Thank you," she said, the tears had stopped, and she looked up at him with a smile. "I'm just being stupid. It's not as bad as I'm making out. It's just there has been so much going on in the past week or so and last night's news was just too much, and I don't know what to do. Well I kinda know what I want to do but I don't know if I can." She sat the box of Kleenex at the side and twisted her body to face him.
"Want to start at the beginning, or at least with what happened last night," he asked as he took her hands in his.
"The Delgado's are moving ... to L.A. and they want me to move with them," she stared at him, watching for his reaction to the news.
"L.A.?" he gulped out, "I take it that's not good news?" He hoped it wasn't good news and that she wanted to stay, especially after the conversations they'd been having lately. He wanted to play it cool, so if she did want to go then he wouldn't be the one to be holding her back.
"No, but I've said that I'd move with them," she said as she started to sob again.
"Why did you say yes if you don't want to go?" he asked, perplexed at her logic.
"They're moving in three months," she looked at him with her big brown eyes, that were now red from all her crying. She continued to explain without pausing for a breath, "and it happened all too quickly, and they were both looking at me, wanting me to say 'yes' and I couldn't think straight. Our conversation about college ran through my head but then how can I go to college if I don't have a job to support myself? What if they gave me my notice if I said no? Adam, I'm not ready for this." Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she looked at him for answers.
He withdrew his hands from hers and leaned in to wipe away the stray tears on her cheeks with his thumbs. "Lucy, what do you want? If you can answer that, then I can help you get it," he said meaning every word.
"I want to stay here and become a teacher." She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, "After we talked the other night, I've done nothing but think about it. I even looked up local courses and with my savings, I should be able to afford to go. Then I got the news about L.A. and Sylvia being pregnant again, so I didn't want to upset her by saying no, or even mention college."
He could understand why she was so upset. There was one thing he was determined about, well two. He would help her become a teacher and there was no way she was going anywhere near L.A. She'd helped him realize how lucky he was to have such a loving family and get over his hang-up, now it was his turn to help her.