Page 15 of The Professor's Possession (Crystal River Billionaire Brothers)

“Sorry I couldn’t talk to you earlier,” I reply. “I had a class this morning.”

“And tell me, how is everything?” Mom asks in one quick breath. “How’s college? How’s your dorm room? I want to hear it all.”

“Yeah, great,” I say. “Everything is great, thanks.”

“Oh, I know you’re a reserved girl, but you’ve got to tell your mother more than just that. It’s your first day at college, for Pete’s sake!”

“It’s just as I pictured, Mom. I’m really happy to be here.”

Iambeing honest. I am happy to have done this. It seemed like a bit of a dice-throw when I decided on Crystal River, but I really feel like I could make this all work.

“And what about friends?” Mom asks. “Have you made any yet? I know you can be quite...reticentwith things like that, but I think it would be good if you gave other people a go. See what the scene is like there and go out and have fun.”

“I’ve got a good roommate called Ava,” I say. “We’ve already chatted and spent time together.”

“Good, good. What’s she like?”

“Oh, very different to me,” I reply. “But I think we might get on well. She’s nice. You would like her.”

“That’s very calming to hear. I can get very worried about you sometimes, Olivia.”

“There’s no need to worry about me,” I say. “I can handle things on my own.”

“I know,” Mom replies with a sigh that sounds like she’s remembering my whole life and every single time that I’ve insisted I could anything on my own, from learning to ride a bike to moving to another town across the country. “You’ve always had that spark of independence.”

“And how are you?” I ask her, wanting to move swiftly on.

“Missing you, sweetheart,” Mom replies. “Everything else is the same. Nothing changes for us old folk.”

I experience a sharp pang of guilt for swiftly jetting off for college. I know Mom would’ve preferred if I’d stayed close by in my small hometown instead of running away, but I guess she’s always known I would depart the family nest ever since I was a little girl with big dreams and books under my arms. She’s always known I’m not like her and was always destined to leave home the very minute I could.

“And how’s Dad?” I ask her. “How’s he going?”

“He’s here if you want to talk to him.”

“Oh, sure.”

“I’ll get him for you,” Mom says. “Wait one second.”

I hear Mom walking through the house to the living room. I can picture the layout and the scene so perfectly, even here so far away. I bet Dad’s in his favorite chair, watching sports on TV while Mom is fussing around in the kitchen. I hear her fumble over the phone to him.

Dad is not like Mom at all. He’s a very quiet, detached man. I guess you could say I take after him more than her. Mom is the loud social glue that keeps the family together, while Dad is the solid, stoic rock usually sitting in the corner, refusing to take part in one of Mom’s grand plans. Dad barely speaks, and when he does, it’s with an economy of words. Sometimes he does come out with something dryly witty with a little twinkle in his eye that hints at a whole deep life within that he keeps hidden from the world, but he mostly likes to keep to himself. He loves to fish in solitude, and that’s probably the best way to sum him up; a man who likes to spend time alone with himself in complete silence, as far away from everyone else as he can get.

There’s a grunt on the other end of the phone as Mom hands it over to Dad.

“Hello,” he says, his voice characteristically soft.

I smile. I really like Dad, even if most of our communication is simply me sitting in the same room as him as he watches football in total silence.

“Hi, Dad.”

“How are things?” he asks.

“Good.”

“That’s good,” he replies in his understated way. “You have everything you need? Do you need some money?”

“I’m all good, Dad.”

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