Page 32 of Made For You
That wasn’t a lie. Both Talon and Dean were incredibly attractive, just not actual attendees of the convention.
With a devious grin, she asked, “Hook up with any of them?”
“Franny!” I exclaimed as she laughed.
“Did you doanythingfun?”
“Um… I told off a lady yelling at the front desk worker for something he had no control over.”
Franny sighed. “Of course you did.”
“Sorry. The conference was pretty uneventful otherwise—though I did get some great information on grants we may be able to apply for.”
Franny asked about the grants and some of the other sessions, then went on to tell me about Draco’s antics while I was gone. She said she never saw my cat any time she went over to feed him and clean the litter box, but every morning, the food was gone. So, she knew he was still alive and likely hiding somewhere in the house.
That meant Draco was either going to be super affectionate when I arrived, or he was going to be a little shit and tear up a piece of furniture.
“Want to come with me to dinner tonight?” My parents hosted a family dinner every weekend, and since my siblings and I had gotten older, it tended to fall on Sunday evenings. If thefarm was busy like during the harvest, or if a storm was covering the land, my parents would host some of our farmhands as well. None of them lived on our property any longer, as they all had families, but every once in a while, we had newer employees who would stay in one of the field houses. My parents always made it a point to treat them like family, just like my grandparents and early ancestors had before them. It was one of the reasons I thought Sunny Brook Farms was always so successful. Not all the farmhands thought of their work as a job, because they were always so well taken care of.
Maybe I can help with that too when this arrangement with Talon is all said and done.
“Not tonight, though I wish I could. Grandma has an appointment early in the morning, so I need to help her get settled. You know how she gets herself all worked up.”
Her grandmother was suffering from the early stages of dementia. Franny moved into her home along with her mother to help keep her grandmother comfortable. Every day, I could see it was weighing on my best friend.
“Okay. Well, let's get together this week for dinner. I want to get over to the school and find my classroom.” The principal was waiting on the previous instructor to grab her things, since she was removed from the property so quickly.
“That sounds good.”
Franny dropped me off at my house, and I carried my luggage inside, calling out Draco’s name as I closed the front door behind me. I waited patiently by the door to see if he’d show himself, but after a minute, he still hadn’t made an appearance.
“Fine.”
As I started throwing my clothes into the washing machine, Draco slithered between my legs, nuzzling his face against my shins as he passed. I turned on the machine andthen lifted the black cat into my arms, asking him if Franny took good care of him. He replied with a purr, and I grinned, knowing he was satisfied with my friend’s care, despite what Franny thought.
Checking the clock on my nightstand, I noted I had about four hours before dinner at my parents’ house. For the first time in years, I wasn’t looking forward to it. There were going to be questions about the trip and likely more gossip about Jeremy’s upcoming wedding. Something I very much enjoyed not having to hear about for the past several days.
Normally, I would have snuck in a quick shower to rid myself of the smell and germs of the plane and airport, but there was nothing grotesque about Talon’s jet. It had been immaculate.
Through my entire stay in Miami, I had longed for my camera. It was nothing fancy. Just a digital I got on sale in high school. My love for photography wasn’t a well-kept secret, but it was something everyone saw as a hobby, not a passion of mine. That love had been extinguished almost a year ago, and it only recently started igniting again.
I looked around my barren walls, walls that once held some of my favorite images. My living space didn’t seem nearly as lived-in as it once had, but until I found a replacement camera, I was going to have to settle. Sure, I could buy something from a big box store in the next town over, but none of that would’ve expressed who I was as a person.
But who is Rory?
In the last four years, I spent so much time letting people dictate who and what I should be, and now I was married to someone who was going to do the same for the next six months. When was the last time I did something for myself?
Scrolling through my phone, I brought up a shopping app and pulled up the digital camera I had been coveting forthe last year. One of my favorite photographers used a similar model. The price was high, and I couldn’t hold back my startled gasp as I saw all the digits.
But I’d been saving, and this was something I wanted for myself. Something I’d given up a year ago for the sake of someone else.
Quickly, I brought up my banking app and transferred the money from my regular savings account to my checking. Luckily, whatever money Talon planned on sending me hadn’t been updated yet. So, I didn’t have to worry about that shock.
I clicked the order button for the camera and sat through three minutes of utter panic at making the risky decision, contemplating canceling the order every thirty seconds. But then Draco slid onto my lap and curled into a little ball, immediately calming me. As I stroked his soft fur, I peered up at my walls again. The vacant spaces reminded me of the hollowness I felt inside when Jeremy upended my life.
“I think it’s time we did some decorating,” I said to Draco as an idea began forming. I’d always been a fan of the dark academia aesthetics I found on the web. I’d been living here for the past three years, since I graduated college. Because of the scholarships I received for tuition and boarding, I was able to save all the money from my job as a tutor to put toward the down payment. My parents had also helped, which I was incredibly grateful for.
It was a modest one-bedroom, one-bathroom home, with an extra room that held no closet, which I turned into my office. The fenced-in yard was my favorite part. Toward the back, there was a nature preserve that gave me a glimpse at the wildlife of Tennessee and a view of the majestic mountains I couldn’t get enough of. But the house itself was as boring as I felt.
