Page 96 of From You to Me

Because it was something we both loved to do so I didn’t question when he showed up at my place with his bright red acoustic. In fact, it elated my heart.

“You daydream a lot less too.” His hand was still scribbling on the paper as he asked.

I looked up from that one sentence that was bugging me no matter how I worded it. “Duh, obviously, trust me Evy’s wonderland of cotton candies is now a long-lost dream.”

He chuckled. “Why? What’s wrong with Evy’s wonderland of cotton candies?”

I leaned back, stretching out. “Well, life taught me it wasn’t a substantial dream anymore.”

“Why? It could still be possible.”

“Trust me, with the condition that my body is in today, my weary bones will be filled with diabetes from that stupid daydream.”

“It wasn’t stupid.” He shrugged. “I thought it was cute.”

I was pretty sure two pink splotches covered my cheeks. “Yeah, only to you,” I muttered under my breath.

“Any luck with the job search?” His fingers glided across my toes, kneading them.

“No,” I groaned. “I’ve applied to like thirty positions but still no luck. I swear, though, if Amelie bitches about Theo’s hairstyle one more time, I’m gonna punch her in the face. I mean, he’s a five-year-old with curly hair. No matter how much I tame it, it’s all over the place by the end of school.”

He sighed loudly. “I told you I could talk to some people and get you a good position.”

“No,” I said quickly. “I wanna do this on my own, Jay.”

“I know, Evy.” He massaged the pain in my feet harder. “But sometimes you need to put aside your ego and ask for help. I’m just going to be connecting you to the right people, but the work you do will be all you. It could help you build a profile and gain the experience.”

I thought about what he said for a moment and acknowledged that he was right. I had no qualifications or experience in this field, although writing was something that I’d been doing since I knew how to hold a pen to a paper. I knew I had no way of getting an actual job without connections.

I slowly nodded. “Fine, you’re probably right. Thank you.” My lips curved into a small smile.

“You’ll have a job by the end of this week. It’s time you do something you actually love, Evelyn, instead of wasting awayyour years like this. It already saddens me that you didn’t have a chance to go to Yale. It was all you used to talk about.”

I breathed out a heavy sigh. “I thought it was my dream but learned that it actually wasn’t after all.”

Lines tugged the corner of his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Like I made Yale out to be something it was not. I think I was around eleven when I asked Grandma what was the best school to go to become an author and she told me it was Yale, and somehow that stuck with me. Yale became this gilded, magical happily ever after where all my dreams could come true. It was more like if I escaped there, then life would be okay. I wouldn’t end up like my mother. So I don’t really regret not going to Yale. Actually, I’m glad I didn’t, because yes, I would’ve had the opportunity to learn the craft, but there was so much more to that in life, and I now know with all the standards I set for Yale, I would’ve been disappointed anyway.”

“But still you would’ve had the opportunity to go to college.”

A smile curved up my lips as I lifted a shoulder. “Yeah, guess it wasn’t in the cards for me. I was actually going to go with UCLA to be closer to you, but I guess college wasn’t meant for me.”

His eyes widened a fraction as he stared at me intently. But the unasked question lay thick between us. His rough hands went higher and now he was fully kneading the calf on my bad leg.

I couldn’t help the moan that escaped me.

“How’s your knee these days?” His eyes concentrated on my legs as he added more pressure.

“A lot better, just a bit sore more like a dull ache.”

A frown forced its way up his forehead. “Does it always hurt?”

“Yes.”

His frown deepened. “Shouldn’t you get it checked?”

“There’s nothing much that can be done anyway.”

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