Page 11 of Not Your Girl
I snicker because I know.
He zips Sophie’s footie pajamas and lifts her up, turning to face me with her in his arms. “Are you sure you can’t stay through New Year’s? Liv isn’t going back to DC until January third, and I’d love for you to stay too. There’s no way GenTech won’t be a ghost town this week. I’m sure you could work from here. Do you want me to make a call? I know like half of the GenTech board of directors, and most of them owe me favors.”
“No!” I say, a little too sharply, because the only thing worse than my famous billionaire former tech CEO brother calling one of my bosses like I’m still in middle school is him calling and realizing that my bosses aren’t my bosses anymore because I quit my job at GenTech six months ago and haven’t told him. Or anyone else.
“You okay, Ames?” Gabe asks, his face a mask of concern.
Tell him, my brain yells at me.You’re being ridiculous. But as much as a big part of me knows keeping my resignation and my current job situation to myself is stupid, another, bigger, part of me knows that the second I come clean, it won’t be mine anymore. And I want what I’m doing now to belong to me and only to me. Not to Amelia Sullivan, little sister to the famous guy who invented the phone in everyone’s pocket. Just to Amelia.
“I’m fine. I swear,” I add when Gabe quirks a brow skeptically. “I have a project I’m working on, and I want to take advantage of the quiet between Christmas and New Year’s to finish it.” Okay, that sounds reasonable. Not exactly a lie, just not the whole truth.
Gabe heaves a sigh and drops down into the recliner, settling a sleepy looking Sophie against his chest. She rubs her eyes with her tiny fists and nuzzles her head against him, and I almost die from cuteness. “Fine, but you better come back soon. Boston isn’t that far. I don’t like when you stay away for so long.”
“I promise, Dad.”
He groans. “I hate when you call me that, too. It’s weird. I’m not your dad.”
I walk over and lean down, kissing his cheek and then Sophie’s soft curls. “You’re not my dad but you are someone’s dad, and Gabe, it looks good on you.”
“Thanks, Ames.” He glances down at Soph as he rocks slowly. “She’ll be out in a couple minutes. Get the pie ready; now all I can think about is second dessert.”
“Done and done.”
Fifteen minutes later, the four of us are sprawled on the living room floor under the glow of the Christmas tree, surrounded by six different pies and a pile of forks. Per our family tradition started during Molly’s first Christmas with us, second dessert gets eaten right out of the pie plates. “I don’t know what possessed you to make six pies, but whatever it is, I’m so here for it.”
Molly holds her hands up when I glance at her. “Don’t look at me. I suck in the kitchen. This is all your brother. Ladies, find yourself a man who cooksandbakes. You’ll never be sorry you held out for that kind of perfection.”
Gabe snakes an arm around Molly’s waist and tugs her until she’s between his legs, settled back against his chest. He kissesher cheek then reaches around her to dig his fork into the apple pie she’s holding. “I really did outdo myself, didn’t I?”
Molly laughs and elbows him, leaning her head back on his shoulder. “No one answer that. His ego doesn’t need any more stroking.”
“Every part of me needs stroking by you, Rory baby,” Gabe murmurs into her ear, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“No,” Olivia and I say in unison. I point to them and put on a disgusted face even though I low-key love Gabe’s old nickname for Molly. But still. “Be gross on your own time. I’ll even keep the baby monitor in my room so you can be gross all night uninterrupted, as long as I don’t have to see it now. Or hear it.”
“Sold.” Molly grins at me. “Now. Girl talk. We didn’t have any time for it today. Give me all the gossip, ladies. Who’s doing things they’re not supposed to do? Who’s dating someone? Tell me everything.”
I’m glad Liv starts talking first because my stomach is currently lodged in my throat. I take a long sip from the mug of Diet Pepsi in front of me to try and clear it. Even though I’m not doing anything wrong, exactly, not telling my family doesn’t feel right either.
And as for the dating thing, well, I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to shove that particular dumpster fire out of my head for months. The one where the funny, smart, and very, very hot stranger I sat next to on a plane six months ago and felt all the feelings for despite only knowing him for, like, six hours, turned out to be the professor I was preparing to beg to be my PhD research advisor when school starts in a couple weeks. I mean, what are the fucking chances, right? But I can’t exactly tell Molly because she doesn’t know that instead of working at the very important job they all think I have, I’m jumping with two feet into app development and am two weeks away from startinga PhD program in computer science and taking a different path entirely.
My life is a damn house of cards. One soft breeze and the whole thing will come tumbling down.
And yet, even though I don’t love the secrecy of it all, I get a little thrill every time I think about doing the thing. A thrill that makes me believe down to the very depths of me that this is my path. The one I’m going to forge all on my own, without my brilliant, famous brother’s input or any of his connections. This part of my life belongs to me and me alone.
And if I have to keep some secrets and potentially run into hot, mystery plane guy turned professor to do the things, then so be it.
Amelia Sullivan has a life to lead.
CHAPTER THREE
ELLIOT
The sun is barely up when I unlock the front door of the brownstone, coffee and cinnamon roll in one hand while swiping sweat off my forehead with the other after my early morning run.
It’s the best part of any day.
Running in the dim morning light through a city just waking up to greet the day, the only sound is my running shoes pounding the pavement. Stopping at the coffee shop on the corner where my favorite barista always has my order ready. All four seasons, rain or snow, freezing temperatures or sweltering heat, the five-mile Back Bay loop is where you’ll find me as the sun rises.
