Chapter 8

Ella

The last of my bags were packed and sitting on the dresser. My outfit for the next day was laid out across the chair in my room. I wasn’t looking forward to going back at all, but I had to. The ringing of my phone brought me out of the dread I was feeling, and I answered it swiftly, seeing that it was my father calling.

“Hey there, kiddo,” he said.

“Hey, Dad,” I said.

“You getting ready to head back to school?”

“Yep. I’m all packed and so is Taryn,” I said. “I’ll drop her off on the way to the airport.”

“Great,” he replied. “So, did you give any more thought to applying to law school?”

“Dad, we’ve talked about this,” I said with irritation. “I am studying education. I want to be a teacher. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher.”

“And I’m not saying you can’t be,” he replied. “Don’t you think, though, it would be worth going to law school anyway? You can go with any degree Harvard has to offer, especially with my pull at Harvard Law. Once you have your JD, then you can have more options.”

“Why would I waste that kind of money on something I have no interest in doing?”

“First of all, it’s my money, so I decide what it is wasted on,” he said gruffly. “And secondly, you don’t know you won’t love it. When you pass the bar, you can come work for me and eventually run the company with your sister.”

“I don’t want to run the company, and to be honest, I’m sure my sister doesn’t either, but she isn’t willing to go through what I’m going through with you,” I replied. “It is completely exhausting to always have this conversation with you.”

“Heaven forbid I try to give my eldest daughter a chance at a solid future,” he growled.

“Like teaching with a degree from Harvard won’t be a solid future, Dad,” I replied. “Look, I don’t want to follow in your footsteps. End of story. Now, if we are done here, I have more to do before I can leave.”

“We are done,” he said, hanging up.

I pulled the phone away from my head and threw it at my bed, growling in anger. I was so completely tired of having that conversation. It was like no matter how many times I stated my piece, he always tried to make it worse than it was before. I was exhausted by it, and it made me not want to talk to him at all. I needed some sort of release, someone to talk to about how frustrated I was. Normally, I would just go to the pool and swim out the frustration, but I didn’t think I would get the right satisfaction in the complex’s pool, especially with all the kids there on their spring break.

I walked over and sat down on the bed, grabbing my phone. I dialed Taryn’s number and listened to it ring until it went to voice mail. I had forgotten that she was at the movies with some of her friends and probably had put her phone on silent. I flipped over to Will’s number, my finger hovering over it. I knew I could walk next door and talk to him, but that would tear down the barrier between us. I didn’t need to end up back in bed with him the day before I left to go back to school.

Still, I was completely overwhelmed and shaken by that conversation with my father, and I needed someone to talk to. I was normally so tough, but for some reason, when it came to my dad, I instantly felt like a twelve-year-old girl again. He demeaned my choices in life because they weren’t on his path or his watch. It was so incredibly frustrating, and all I wanted was for him to accept me for who I was and know that I was going to be my own person. I was never going to be him. I had known that from the time I was a little girl. I never wanted to argue or get in trouble. I was not cut out to be a cut-throat attorney like my father, no matter what he wanted. I sighed and decided that calling Will was probably a good idea, so I dialed his number.

“Hey,” Will said, answering the phone. “What’s up?”

I sat there for a moment, trying to decide whether to talk to him about my father or not. I ended up deciding against it since it was a long and deep story and he and I didn’t need to feel a connection any more than we already did. Instead, I just told him I was calling to check in.

“Are you all ready to get going tomorrow?”

“Yep. All packed and ready to go,” I replied.

“Great,” he said, making my heart drop a little since he didn’t seem to care that I was leaving. “What time are you leaving tomorrow?”

“Well, my flight is at ten, but I have to drop my sister off at the academy on the way and sign her back in, so I’ll probably take one of my father’s cars out of here around seven just to be safe. The airport will probably be busy since this is Easter weekend and everyone is flying to see family and such.”

“It is Easter, isn’t it? It’s crazy that your spring break and your sister’s is scheduled without enough time for you to stay until Sunday,” he said.

“Well, my sister’s is. She just doesn’t see the point in hanging out at the apartment by herself since my parents are gone. I could really go back on Monday, but I have some work I need to get done when I get back. I like the silence of the campus when everyone is gone for the holiday.”

As we talked on the phone, I couldn’t shake the blatant disappointment I felt at him not seeming at all upset about the fact that I was leaving. I didn’t want to tell him, but despite the fact that I had expressed my disinterest in having anything more than what we did, I had kind of hoped that it would turn into more. I’d had fantasies about this man for the last five or so years. That was a hard thing to break, even with mind-blowing sex. I had the physical satisfaction—there was no question about that—but part of me deep down really wanted the emotional satisfaction to go along with it. I was already going to this man for comfort even if he didn’t realize it.

“Oh, hey, can you hold on one second?” he asked. “I have another call.”

“Sure,” I replied.

“Okay, sorry about that,” he said after a couple minutes. “I’m glad you were on the phone for that. Is there any way you could watch Avery for a while? Apparently the alarm system is going off at the office. It appears someone might have broken into the building, and I need to get over there ASAP. I’m sorry. I know you are all ready to get back to school.”

“No, it’s fine,” I said. “I’d love to come hang out with Avery for a while.”

“You are a lifesaver,” he said. “Just until I get back home.”

“No problem. I’ll be right over,” I said before hanging up.

I reached over and grabbed my sweatshirt, remembering that it was always a bit chilly at his place. I didn’t have anything planned for the rest of the day anyway, so I might as well hang out with little Avery since I wouldn’t be seeing him for a while. I grabbed my bag and a couple of our family board games that he hadn’t played and walked out the door.

Before I could even make it next door, Will was standing in the doorway with the door open. I smiled as I walked inside and tossed my bag on the counter before turning around to face Will. He was putting his wallet in his pocket and grabbing his keys.

“I hate these kinds of things,” he said. “If someone did breach the office doors and not just the complex, that means I have to do a complete audit of the company. That pretty much shuts us down completely for a few days. We have government contracts, so some of the info we keep in our files is secret, making us a bit of a target, I suppose. Anyway, you are a lifesaver yet again. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“All right,” I replied, smiling as he headed out.

I shut the door behind me and sighed, feeling electricity pulse through my chest. I turned around and found Avery holding the Game of Life and smiling big. I laughed and walked over, taking the game and ruffling his hair. We played board games for a while, and then I put Avery to bed by reading him a story until his eyes were sealed shut. I closed the book and tiptoed out of the room before shutting the door behind me. I walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch just as my phone started to ring.

“Hey, Taryn,” I said, sighing.

“Where are you?”

“I’m next door watching Avery,” I replied. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“I’d be offended if you didn’t.”

“I slept with Will a couple times,” I admitted.

“How do you feel about it?”

“Amazing,” I said. “I want to do it again, but Will and I had a conversation and agreed that it was a limited-time-only kind of affair.”

“You know you could make it more if you wanted to,” Taryn said.

“I know,” I replied, glancing up at a picture of Megan on the wall and feeling uneasy. “But I think maybe it is best that we keep it a one-night stand.”

“Well, just follow your instincts,” she said. “Are you coming home soon?”

“Not sure,” I said. “There was a break-in at Will’s office. If not, I’ll wake you up in the morning. Make sure you are packed and ready to go, though.”

“Will do,” she said.

I hung up with Taryn and lay down on the couch, pulling a blanket over me and staring out the windows at the city. Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep on the couch, and I didn’t wake until the sun came streaming in over my face. I sat up on the couch and stretched, jumping a little when I realized that Will was standing across the open floor plan in the kitchen. He chuckled and walked over with a cup of coffee.

“Sorry. It wasn’t too late when I got back, but you were sound asleep on the couch and I didn’t want to wake you. I just got up to make you some coffee because I knew you had to be up and ready to leave soon. It’s about six.”

“Sorry I have to leave,” I replied, considering extending the offer to sleep with him again.

“Oh, I understand.” He shrugged. “It was nice to have you around while you were here. Avery needed to be around a comforting female presence. He misses Megan a lot.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if Will really saw me or thought of me as someone who was more than just a stand-in for his wife. The feeling in my chest made me uncomfortable, so I stood up and took my coffee into the kitchen and set it by the sink. I took in a deep breath and smiled at him.

“I’m glad everything turned out okay,” I said, “but I gotta be heading home.”

“I understand.” He smiled. “Good luck at school, and I’ll see you the next time around.”

And that was that.