Page 118 of Burn With Me

“Come here, kid. There’s no one here to see two grown men cry.” He reaches across the table to lay a hand on my arm, pulling my attention back to him to see him getting up. “Don’t make me pull you out of the chair, Jackson.”

Standing, I let him pull me into his embrace. I don’t remember the last time we hugged—it must have been when I graduated, and even then, it was only half-hearted, both of us too proud to do anything other than the awkward back pat.

With no one else around, however, we hug each other and release all the frustrated emotions that have been building up. When I was younger, he always told me, ‘Tailors don’t cry,’but we spend the rest of the afternoon reminiscing about better times and letting our tears fall whenever they come.

Because apparently, Ginny told him that showing emotions is healthy.

“She isn’t here, but I’ll take the roses to her office if you’d like?” Michelle looks at the bouquet in my hands, her neon purple windbreaker suit making a crinkling noise as she gets up to enter the waiting room.

“No, that’s fine. I’ll just take them home. Isn’t she supposed to be working here today? It’s Monday.” I knew Ginny’s work schedule as well as I knew my own. On Monday afternoons, she’s always at the clinic.

When I woke up this morning, it was with my uncle’s words fresh in my mind.Tomorrow, you show her what she means to you—got it? Don’t let her get away.

As soon as I could leave work, I picked up the roses and came straight here. I would have been here first thing this morning if it weren’t for the fact that I plan to show my uncle he’s leaving the company in good hands. It’s time to grow up and stop acting like I can fuck off whenever I want to.

“She had no clients on the books, so she took a personal day. Said she wasn’t feeling that well, but I know she has a shift at the restaurant today, too. Hopefully, she was able to get some rest, poor dear. That girl works way too hard if you ask me.” Michelle sighs as she sits back down at her desk.

I’m already headed for the exit, pressing Ginny’s name on my phone as Robert opens the door to the car. She doesn’t answer, and I hang up without leaving a voicemail.

“Home, Mr. Tailor?” Robert asks.

“No. Decadence, please.”

Laying the bouquet next to me, I send Ginny a message.

I stopped by the clinic to see you. Michelle said you weren’t feeling well. Can I bring you anything?

There’s no reply by the time we pull up outside the restaurant. Leaving the roses in the car, I tell Robert to keep it running while I go inside to check if she’s there.

It’s steady, but not overly busy. Ginny’s russet hair isnowhere to be found, but I see Lenni is at the hostess stand today.

“Hey, bossman. Looking for your girl?” she asks as soon as I step through the door.

If she’s being this cheerful toward me, then Ginny must not have told her about what happened. “Yeah, is she here?”

“I'm surprised she hasn’t called you. Her brother came in earlier to get her. He said there’s some sort of family emergency, and she needed to leave with him immediately.”

Ice shoots through my veins, gripping my heart to the point I have to let out a cough in an attempt to dislodge the uncomfortable feeling. “Her brother?”

“Yeah. Tall, dark hair, broody eyes. Cute. She looked pretty distraught when they left. I told her to call me later and let me know what’s going on,” she replies before helping a couple who just walked in.

Spinning, I run out of the restaurant and return to the car, telling Robert to take me to The Bryant. I try Ginny again, but she doesn’t pick up. Panic laced with fear rushes through my bloodstream, and my hands start to shake as I find the number for the building.

When the man at the front desk picks up, I practically shout, “This is Jackson Tailor. I’m wondering if Ginny has left at all today.”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Tailor. Miss Ginny left a few hours ago and hasn’t returned yet. Did you need to leave a–”

Hanging up the phone, I tell Robert to go to Ginny’s old apartment instead and dial my uncle.

“Hey, I was just about–”

“Are you still at NYU?”

“Just finished up. What’s wrong, Jackson? Why do you sound–”

“I need you to go to this address. It’s Ginny’s old apartment. I need you to get there as fast as you can.”

I give him the address and hear him repeat it to his driver.

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