Page 7 of Landon & Shay: Part Two

A pool of heat filled my stomach, and I slid into the driver’s seat of my car. I rolled down the window and stuck my head out toward Landon. “I’ll see you later.”

“You’re killing me, Smalls,” he muttered, walking over to my window after he set his precious food in his passenger seat—even buckling it in. He leaned into the window and gave me that smile that drove me wild. “Good night, good night, parting is such sorrow,” he said, leaning in and kissing my lips. “I’ll text you in the morning.”

“Good deal.”

He started walking back to his car and spun on his heels to face me once more. “And Chick?”

“Yes?”

Those blue eyes of his sparkled as his lips curved up. “I love you times two.”

3

Landon

If Greyson ever needed a kidney,I was fully prepared to give him one of mine. Shit, he could have both. The fact he’d gotten me to Illinois to be with Shay was a big deal. I’d already felt like a huge letdown to her with each passing day, and I’d often felt like I wasn’t good enough for her. I’d lie awake tossing and turning, wrestling with the fact that I couldn’t be there for her to give her the kind of love she needed and deserved.

I often thought about her starting college in a few months and how I didn’t want to hold her back from living up the full experience. There were times my thoughts tried to convince me I wasn’t enough, tell me I couldn’t provide the normal kind of love a girl like Shay deserved, but then I saw her.

I held her.

We fell together with a magnetic pull, and nothing felt better than being able to hold her when she needed me. Nothing felt better than feeling needed. As if there was a reason I was in this world, and that reason was to help others.

Speaking of helping others, I was going to try my best to help my mom next. She’d been crying herself to sleep a lot with the stress of the divorce with the way Dad was draining her for pretty much every cent she had.

While Shay was at school, I headed down to Chicago to visit my father’s law firm. I hadn’t spoken to him since Mom and I moved out to Los Angeles. He hadn’t tried to reach out, so I hadn’t seen a reason to contact him. When it came to picking parental sides, I was in my mother’s corner until the very end.

I walked into the law firm, feeling like a foreigner in the space. I couldn’t believe I’d spent so much time there sifting through paperwork, trying to make my dad proud of me, trying to build a better relationship with him.

I nodded to April, Dad’s assistant, who was sitting in her cubicle outside his office. “Hey, April. I was hoping to talk to my dad today.”

She frowned. “Oh, sorry, Landon. You should’ve made an appointment. Mr. Harrison is busy today. Maybe try back next week.” She went back to click-clacking her fingers against the keyboard.

“Yeah, but you see, I’m only in town for the next thirty-six hours. I was hoping to meet with him before I head back to Los Angeles.”

She glanced up and then looked back at her computer. “Yeah, sorry. It’s not possible. He’s a very busy man.”

I didn’t have time for this, so I ignored her and walked straight toward Dad’s office door.

“Hey! You can’t do that!” April hollered, chasing after me, but I was already inside.

He sat on a phone call with his bushy eyebrows lowered and that same stern look upon his face. When he looked up at me, he grimaced and waved me away.

“Sorry, Ralph. I told him not to bother you today,” April called out, apologizing profusely for my intrusion. Since when did April call her boss by his first name?

Dad gave me a harsh look and pointed toward the door.

I took a seat instead.

“You can’t do that,” April whisper-shouted.

“Watch me. Close the door on your way out, will you, April?” I said, crossing my arms and making myself comfortable.

Dad grumbled a bit before speaking to whoever he was on the phone with. “Mr. Jacobson, I do apologize, but we just had a distraction at the office that I have to deal with, so if you would excuse me, I’d like to reschedule our conversation for a later date.” He paused. “Yes. Indeed. I’ll have April set it up with your assistant. Thank you. Goodbye.”

He hung up the phone and frowned like a regular Scrooge. “Close the door on your way out, April.”

She did as he said without any back talk. I’d have bet he liked that—having someone who never went against him simply because he signed her paychecks.

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