Page 61 of Inevitable Love
I waggle my new drink at her, feeling fuzzy and a little tipsy, but breathing easier. I’d never be this open on a regular day. Alcohol obviously makes me a blabbermouth. “You wanted feelings. Here they are with all the yuck.”
“True. Proceed.”
I don’t even know where to start. They probably don’t know my parents, so I give them the cliffs notes version of their goals and expectations and how I completely shirked my responsibilities, in their eyes. I sum it all up with, “I thought if I had some higher-profile corporate clients, my folks might actually get a little more invested, show a little more interest in it.”
“Are you going to keep doing the corporate catering type stuff?” Jules asks.
“Maybe? The money would be nice.”
“I’m sensing a but…”
“But not at the expense of my regular business. I love my bakery. My regular customers make me smile every day, even if I sometimes have to fake it. Now, if I can hire some additional help to grow into offering the catering more regularly, then yes, because it’s a good investment.”
“Then what do you care if your folks recognize it?”
I think about that for a minute. “It would be nice if Icould hear those words. But at the end of the day, my business is thriving. And I’m proud of it. Their expectations are theirs, not mine.”
Jules and Kate beam at me with “Hell yeah” and “Now you’re getting somewhere.” I finally feel like I’m emerging from this heavy-ass conversation, and maybe, just maybe, I can move forward.
I drink in celebration of achieving my goal. I drink in sorrow at having lost Jackson. Such a swirling mix of emotions, and finally, I acknowledge that I can be both happy and sad at the same time.
Kate promises she’ll drive me home, so Jules keeps the drinks coming. I’m reveling in my newfound lightness—until I down the one that pushes me over the edge and the tears start. Tears for the way my parents treat me. Tears for Jackson.
“Okay, girlie, I’ve been waiting on the dam to break. Time to cut you off,” Jules says. “Go home, have a good cry, and pass out. We’ll sort it all out tomorrow.”
“I’m okay,” I insist as Kate ushers me to the car. I reiterate it as we stumble into my house, and she directs me into my bed.
I’m such a liar. I’m not okay.
I just want to hear his voice one more time. Maybe that’ll take away this hollow ache in my chest. Plus, they were the ones wanting me to unload and talk about my feelings. I juggle my phone off the bedside table.
“Nope.” Kate plucks it right out of my fingers.
“Ish clo-shure,” I whine as the blanket falls over me.
“If you still want to talk to him tomorrow, fine. But for now, go to sleep, Maggie. You’ll thank me in the morning.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jackson
“Dismissed,” Captain Hale barks. “Georgia, stick around.” It’s been another week of studying and testing and practicals. Another week of being run into the ground by guys even just five years younger than me, and I’m about to get my ass handed to me. I can tell by the look in his eye.
Kids file by—they’re not kids, but since I’m the oldest guy in the class, I can call them that—my annoying roommate clapping me on the shoulder as he passes, like he’s offering me support or good luck, or some shit.
After that night at the dive bar, I have thrown myself into this course. And the harder I work, the more I hate it. I just don’t want to admit that out loud.
Captain Hale doesn’t keep me waiting. “I need to know if you’re invested in this,” he says without preamble.
Fuck. What’s his deal? I’m just about to ask when he continues, “You’ve got real potential, and I want to see you succeed.”
“Excuse me, sir. Since you’ve mentioned it more than once, what makes you think I don’t want this?”
His stone-cold face doesn’t change, but he cocks his head to the side. “Call it a hunch.”
“With all due respect, you don’t know me well enough to havea hunchabout me,” I bite back.
“You want specifics? Okay.” He crosses his arms over his barrel chest and stands tall and proud. Immovable. “You stare off into space in the middle of lectures. You hesitate in practicals and let someone else take the lead, and then stand back grinding your teeth when they don’t do it the way you would. You’re all over the place and a fucking mess.That’swhat makes me think you aren’t invested. Your head, or your heart, isn’t in it.”
