Page 20 of Reclaim Me

Her question draws my attention to the fact that I’ve been subconsciously accelerating instead of hitting the brake. The crossing guard gives me a strange look and holds up her stop sign, which only makes me more embarrassed. I lift my hand and mouth ‘sorry’ but she just shakes her head and turns the other way. After placing the car in park, I turn in my seat to check in with Riley before one of the teachers in charge of drop off opens the door and spirits her away.

“How you feeling, kid?”

“A little nervous,” she confesses. “I don’t know anybody.”

“Yet. You don’t know anybody yet, but by the end of the day, I’m sure you’ll have at least one new friend.”

Hope pulls her brows up into two high arches. “You think so?”

I nod, and even though I’m not certain, I say, “I know so.”

To my surprise, and great relief, drop off goes well. Riley was retrieved from the car by Mrs. Marten, the school’s headmistress, who we met when we first toured the school, and a little girl named Scarlett, who volunteered to be Riley’s welcome buddy for the week. The moment she got out of the car, they started talking, bonding over their shared love of the rainbow stickers Riley had plastered all over the binder she was clutching in her arms.

Mrs. Marten and I watched the girls make a run for the entrance and shared a smile that made me feel comfortable leaving Riley to go and sort things out with Aaron.

His office is in the heart of the financial district, which is really just fancy terminology for a city block downtown that’s heavily occupied by banks and venture capital firms that were drawn to New Haven because of its reasonable real estate prices and proximity to Atlanta. According to Aaron, it also doesn’t hurt that it’s the home of the Adlers—a family of Black billionaires that have a hand in everything from real estate to shipping. When I was a kid, I grew up hearing that name a lot, seeing it plastered on hospital wings and football stadiums for my high school. It never occurred to me that there were actual people behind the name, but Aaron’s recent obsession with getting a meeting with the family’s oldest son, Sebastian, has changed that.

That’s probably why it doesn’t surprise me to hear it gliding off of his tongue when his secretary, Eden, lets me into his office. She wasn’t happy when I showed up out of the blue, insisting on seeing him, and she was even less enthused when I refused to accept her offers to have him call me when he had an opening in his schedule. All of that shows in her voice when she announces my arrival.

“Mr. Scott, your girlfriend is here to see you.”

I brush past her, hating the way the cloying notes of her perfume get stuck in my throat, hating, even more, how she manages to make girlfriend sound like a slur. As if it’s some kind of moral failure to not be someone’s wife. I could have been Aaron’s wife three times over by now if I wanted to, but I don’t want to, not yet.

Maybe not ever, the voice in my head says, tacking the unwelcome addition onto the end of my thought. I don’t know where it came from, and I don’t have time to explore it because Aaron is sending daggers through me with his eyes.

I turn to Eden, needing to get her out of her before we start bickering in front of her. “Next time, refer to me by my name, or don’t refer to me at all.” With a flick of my wrist, I send the door flying toward the jamb and take sick satisfaction in being able to see the shocked expression that takes over her face before it closes.

When I turn to Aaron, annoyance is written all over his features, and he’s no longer on the phone. He stands and strides over to me, robbing me of the chance to get comfortable in his space.

“What are you doing here, Rae?”

I slide my hands into my pockets, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden. “I came to see you. You left before we had a chance to talk, and you didn’t even see Riley before her first day of school.”

If I’m being honest, I think that bothers me more than anything. Aaron has been a part of Riley’s life for as long as she can remember, and, father or not, he has a responsibility to support her through hard transitions like the one she’s going through today. That shouldn’t change just because he’s mad at me.

“I’m sorry I missed it,” he says, running a hand over his head. I search his face for any signs of remorse and come up empty. “I’ll make it up to her.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Aaron sighs. “You can’t just show up to my job like this, Rae.”

“And you can’t just leave the house without saying anything to me. I get that you’re mad, okay? But you have to understand?—”

“No,” he says, cutting me off. “I don’t have to understand anything. I’ve been understanding for seven years, and you’ve lied to my face every single day.”

“I’ve already apologized for that, Aaron.”

“And I’m just supposed to be over it? Would you have even told me if Riley hadn’t brought up that you ran into him?”

“No.” My instant answer sends his brows reaching for his hairline. “I had no intention of talking about Hunter with anyone, not even Riley, ever. He is my past; you are my future.”

The declaration lacks conviction, and Aaron susses out the hollowness immediately. I guess it’s easy to do when it’s coming from a woman who’s turned down your proposal three different times.

“I’m just having a really hard time believing that.”

I close the space between us, relieved when he doesn’t step back. “How can I fix it?”

“You already know the answer to that question.”

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