Page 8 of Where We Met

Luke steps forward until he’s right beside me, and Miles looks suspiciously between me and Luke.

"Is this your new guy?" Miles spits out. "He looks a little old for you."

He lets go of my arm and I immediately start massaging the sore spot where his thumb was digging into me. Luke notices and I see his eyes grow dark.

"That's none of your business, Miles. Please just walk away. You're in no condition to talk right now."

He seems to ponder my words before he finally takes a step back. "I'll see you around campus," he says while holding Luke's eyes, then walks away.

Luke looks me up and down with concern. "Are you okay?"

Miles never acted like that while we were together, so I'm a little shook up by his aggressive demeanor.

"I'm fine," I say with more certainty than I'm feeling at the moment. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I'm so embarrassed."

"Don't be. He’s the one who should be embarrassed."

I’m not sure what to say to that, and after standing in awkward silence for a moment, I panic. "I'm gonna head to the bathroom. Thanks for your help," I blurt out, regretting it immediately.

"No problem at all. I'll see you in class, Savannah." He gives me a warm smile then walks to the bar.

I speed walk to the bathroom and push through the door, embarrassed my professor had to witness something like that. If he was able to guess that Miles was an ex-boyfriend, he must think I'm an idiot for dating someone like him. I bet he only dates sophisticated woman who would never find themselves in a situation like that.

God, I just want to erase that from my memory.

I use the restroom quickly, then wash my hands and splash water on my face, hoping the cold water will help me shake it off.

When I get back to our table, I see Luke and Eric are shaking hands and leaving the bar already, having only come for a quick beer. The feeling of regret hits me at having lost my chance to talk to him again.

Chapter Four

Luke

“Hey,Ma,”Ianswermy phone as I walk along the path in the park with Vino on her leash.

“Lucas Giannelli. Why have you been avoiding my calls?” Ma scolds.

My head falls back with frustration. Ma is your stereotypical intrusive Italian mother. She’s Marie Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond. She loves with all her heart but doesn’t have a clue when she’s crossing a line.

“Ma, I haven’t been avoiding you. I’ve been busy. When I get home at night, I’m either exhausted, or I have a lesson to put together for class.”

She curses in Italian under her breath. “I told you this would be too much for you. Why don’t you ask Marcus to take on some of your responsibilities at the company?”

“I never said it was too much. I said I was busy. There’s a difference. Plus, I promised Marcus and Gabe that this class wouldn’t interfere with my normal work schedule.”

I knew it was going to be a crazy couple of months, and I may be a little extra tired in the evenings, but I’m okay with that. I just have to find enough energy to call Ma at night so I can keep her off my back.

“Just promise me you won’t overdo it. You already put in too much time at work as it is,” she says.

“I promise.”

“Good. So, tell me, how are classes going?”

A squirrel scurries past us, making Vino try to veer off the path to follow it. I have to jerk her back so we don’t end up in the grass. She is getting pretty antsy with this winter weather dragging on, as are most people here. Today isn’t so bad with the temperature at least above freezing, which is why we are taking this long walk in the park.

"Classes have been great. I feel like I’ve got a good handle on the material and have been able to add in some lessons of my own that I think add value to the course. I’m glad I took the gig. It feels good to give back somehow. I know the success I've hit at my age has been the luck of the draw. This helps ease some of that guilt.”

Imposter syndrome. That’s what I feel like I’ve been contending with, especially for the first couple of years of success. It wasn’t until this past year that I’ve come to terms with the fact that I may actually be good at what I do, better than most.

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