Page 68 of Back To You

“Your dad asked what this call was referring to?” she asks, and my grip on my phone tightens.

He can’t even take my goddamn phone call?

I pinch the bridge of my nose, leaning back in Emmett’s desk chair. “It’s about my position at the firm,” I say, trying to keep my voice polite and even.

“He assumed so,” Maria replies. “He asked me to confirm whether you will be accepting the position or not.”

My annoyance gets the best of me. “Can he not ask me this himself?”

“Your dad is very busy. If you’d like, I can take a message and he can call you back when he has a chance.”

I stand up from where I’m sitting, my feet pacing back and forth across Emmett’s office. The annoyance I feel prickling all over my skin begins to burn, frustration making it hard to see straight.

I was stupid and naive enough to think I wasat leastworth more to him thanthis—that I deserved the decency of something as simple as a conversation.

My feet pause, stopping me from pacing a hole in the floor, and I shake my head, knowing that I really should be diagnosed clinically insane, because why did I think that doing this—expecting my father to see me as more than a bother, a problem, aburden—over and over again would lead me to different results.

“No,” I say into the phone, wishing things could be different but knowing they never will be. “I will not be taking the position at the firm.”

I hang up the phone before I can even hear if Maria says anything, and I close my eyes, taking a deep breath. It’s such an ugly feeling, holding onto hope that you mean something to someone you care—cared—about.

At least there’s a silver lining in all of this.

Today marks the last time I will ever have to deal with Daniel Owens.

Chapter 26

Luke

Annie should be home from her first day any minute now.

I didn’t let the conversation with my dad—or lack thereof—affect the rest of my day, and I had to finish the schedule before my midday shift started.

I purposely gave myself a shift that let me be home in time to see Annie when she got home from her first day of rotations, her days being the equivalent of a work day, along with work she has to bring home and do before repeating it all the next day.

She warned me about how busy she’ll be because this year involves long hours of hands-on clinical training across all the different specialties. She has to manage cases while also adapting to different teams before rotating to a new placement and doing it all over again. I hope that I can make things less stressful for her—I plan on doing so whether she wants me to or not.

I hear her keys outside the door, Rosie hopping off the couch to meet Annie, just as I press a big, white bow to the top of the stand mixer I got her yesterday.

Maybe now that she’s my girlfriend, she’ll be okay with me buying her presents.

My Annie girl deserves the very best.

“Happy First Day!” I shout as she walks through the front door. Her brown waves are twisted back in a clip, pieces falling out to frame her face.

She’s dressed in black scrubs and her white tennis shoes, a white lab coat and her stethoscope hung over one arm, her backpack hung over the other.

She smiles when she sees me with my arms out as I stand in the kitchen, intentionally blocking my gift for her, but also wide open in case she needs to fall into them.

Her lips curve into a smile, and she looks like she wants to roll her eyes at my antics, but I can see her ears pinken as her smile grows and she walks towards me.

She drops everything she’s holding on to the floor and wraps her arms around my waist. My arms immediately pull her in close and lean down to press a kiss to the top of her head that’s resting against my chest. She smells of her usual scent of jasmine and roses, and a hint of antiseptic hits my nose.

“Did you have a good day?” I ask into her hair, and I feel her nod against my chest.

“I’m tired,” she mumbles against my chest, making me chuckle. She lifts her head to look at me. “What?”

“I like tired Annie—she’s cuddly.”

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