Page 62 of Grand Escape

“Good.”

“You’re not going to wish me luck? We’ve been discussing this once a week for six months.”

“You don’t need it. Now go,” she said, lifting her bracelet-clad arm to point toward the door.

I didn’t need to be told twice.

Rylan

“Don’t,” I told Teddi as I walked into the staff room.

She stood there with her mouth open, catching flies. “You can’t ignore me forever,” she finally said, cornering me in the back by the printer.

“I should have ordered my own printer, then I never would have to come down here.” Grabbing my sheets of paper, I turned to find Teddi right behind me.

“He fell for you, and you can’t keep doing this to yourself. Or us.”

“Take a step back. You’re like a lion stalking its prey.”

Teddi didn’t move, her red hair escaping her messy bun and falling all around her face, and I couldn’t help but think how much she looked like a lion.

“I’ll move if you promise to talk. You avoid me at the bar and don’t return texts.” She stood her ground, hand on her hip, staring me down.

“Step back and I’ll talk,” I told her.

She moved an inch.

“More,” I said.

Teddi pointed at the papers I was holding. “What’s that?”

“Boy, you want it all today? Maybe you should go work out and burn off some of that extra energy.”

“Don’t try your caustic BS on me. I may be younger, but I’m wise and I know when someone is hurting. And you. Are. Hurting.”

I blew out a long breath and closed my eyes. “I’m moving on. With everything in my life. I put Adam on do not disturb. He texts, he calls, and what for?”

“Going out on a limb, I’d say because he cares for you?”

“People don’t care for me, Ted.” I waved the papers in the air. “See these? This is an addendum to my trust fund. It will never be mine, as if I really care about that. You see, originally, my parents stipulated that I couldn’t access my trust until I was thirty-five, had earned a degree, and was back living in the States. Now, it’s all null and void years before I hit that age because they finally accept I’m never doing any of that. So, they’re reneging.”

When she inched closer, probably to give me a hug, I stopped her. “Hey, this is for the best. I don’t want any of their blood money.”

“Ry—”

“Don’t Ry me. What really hurts is they’re no longer my power of attorney. They appointed some random person to make decisions when it comes to me, took my life, and forged my signature when signing off on the change. What’s ironic is I would have signed myself, except I would have chosen Tony as my power of attorney. I mean, who the hell wants them to be in charge of me? I’m also out of their will. Again, I don’t care about their money.”

“This is a lot to take in.” Teddi pulled in a deep breath. “I didn’t mean to make you upset today—”

“Backtracking, are you?”

“No,” she said, now with both hands on her hips. “Let’s go for a drink, but not here. Let’s go to the Ritz and sit outside. We can discuss it all there.”

“Now you want a girls’ night out? For real, Theodora. Look at me,” I said, gesturing to the jean cutoffs and black tank top I was wearing.

“Don’t use my full name ... and you look amazing. Let’s go. We’ll go by your place so you can drop off those papers, and then Tony can send us over in a car.” She took my arm and urged me toward the door.

“But I’m in flip-flops.”

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