Page 76 of Eleanor & Grey

SUBJECT: Re: Re: Work Standards.

Eleanor,

Your sarcasm is ill-received.

Please be more cognizant of acting your age.

Strike one.

Warm regards,

-Mr. East

31

Greyson

Lukewarm regards.

I didn’t know if Eleanor was trying to be comical or sassy, but she’d missed the mark on both accounts. I simply found it childish and rude. There wasn’t anything I’d said to her that was out of the norm for a professional place of employment, and for the amount she was being paid, she could’ve at least been respectful enough to not be catty.

I didn’t have any more work to do in my home office that night, and it was only eleven. Perhaps that was why I’d found the need to send Eleanor the email at all.

I needed to stay busy. Otherwise I’d think, and nothing good came from my thoughts.

Ding.

I looked down at my cell phone.

Landon: Roses are red, violets are blue, would you stop being a dick and just call me, dude?!

Landon’s best friend daily check-in message came a little later than normal that night. He must’ve had a long day of filming.

After high school, Landon’s life had shifted in a way most people only dreamed of. He’d gone off to California during spring break to get wasted and party, and instead, he had been discovered by a Hollywood acting scout and become this insanely famous actor.

People called him the next Brad Pitt, but I still just called him Landon. The last thing he needed was to think he was a famous god. He was surrounded by enough people who praised him as if they knew him, but he and I had never had that type of relationship. I was proud of him, yeah, but I didn’t treat him like a celebrity. I treated him like my best friend from childhood. He needed some people to keep him grounded.

I didn’t message him back that night. He didn’t expect me to.

“Daddy,” a small voice said, making me look up as my office door opened. Lorelai was standing there rubbing her eyes and yawning as she walked into the office. She was once again wearing her butterfly wings on her back, even though I’d taken them off about two hours earlier when I’d done my rounds to check on the girls.

“What are you doing out of bed?” I asked, standing from my desk.

“I had a bad dream,” she whined, still rubbing her eyes.

I walked over and picked her up in my arms. “Let’s get you back to bed. You have school in the morning.”

“Can I sleep with you and Mommy?” she asked, and her words hit me straight in the chest. I took a few deep breaths and tried to push down the hurting her words caused my soul.

“Not tonight, Lorelai.”

“But Daddy,” she cried.

“Not tonight,” I repeated as I led her to her room.

I laid her down, and she was still crying with tiny tears falling from her closed eyes. “Will you lay with me, Daddy?” she asked, sniffling. I lay down beside her, and she wrapped her arms around me. Lorelai wasn’t one to ever really show sadness except for when she had bad dreams. I wondered if they were anything like my dreams. I wouldn’t have wished my nightmares on my worst enemies.

As I held her, her sadness began to fade as she fell back into a deeper sleep. I, on the other hand, lay there wide awake, staring into the darkness as her words danced across my mind.

---