Page 61 of Mostly My Boss
“No. It’s not that I don’t think you’re amazing and you’re going to do amazing things. I just…I can’t leave school on the hope that’s going to be true. Remember, this is my lottery ticket.”
“School is a waste,” I said, disgusted with the restrictions of it suddenly. When my parents offered me the out of college, I’d grabbed it. I’d applied everywhere and naturally accepted Harvard’s invitation. It was the best. Now it was lost, and I couldn’t let myself feel as if I’d regret something. “It’s a piece of paper to prove something to people when I don’t have to prove anything other than what I can create.”
“Well, I have something to prove. I have everything to prove. This is it, my way out for me and my family, and you’re asking me to leave it behind on a whim—”
“It’s not a fucking whim!” I shouted. “You don’t want to come, fine. Stay here. Get your degree. Get your job on Wall Street, save the farm, whatever the fuck you think you need to do. But don’t believe for a second I’m not going to do everything I fucking said I would.”
Her bottom lip trembled until she managed to control it. Not before it broke my heart, though.
“You’re angry because I’m not going with you, but you can’t be so cruel as to blame me. You know what I have to do for my family.”
I did. She had to save them. Jules had to save all of them. Wanting her to save me, and me alone, was selfish.
A first-class brain who thought money was going to make all her problems go away. I had money. I had lots of money and it hadn’t changed a damn thing.
This hurt too much. And messing with my emotions was something I couldn’t afford. Not if I hoped to remain in control. I knew she couldn’t come with me. I’d known when I came up here to tell her I was leaving.
I wasn’t even going to ask…but then I did.
“I’ve got to go,” I said. “You have my number.”
“Ethan!”
“What?” I barked.
Now it was her turn to be mad, apparently. “You’re going to leave me, just like that?”
I shook my head. “Not just like that. I’ll call. We’ll continue to write. And I’ll be back when I can prove to you I’m legit because, clearly, you have no faith in me!”
“You’ll forget me,” she said, looking away and shaking her head. “You’ll forget last year ever happened. I’ll just be this person you knew that one year you attended college.”
That was almost funny. “I’ll forget you? My first year of freedom? My first actual friend? Someone who wasn’t paid by parents to talk to me? Someone who had my back? Someone who wouldn’t leave me behind when I was cut off from everything and everyone? No, Jules. As pissed as I am at you right now—and I am pissed—I’m not going to forget you.”
I stepped closer to her then. In her space, forcing her to look at me, her blue eyes so focused on me it was like they could see into my soul. “And you’re not going to forget me, either. In the immortal words of Arnold Schwarzenegger…”
She grabbed my collar and pulled my face down to hers. “Do not fucking say it.”
I smiled. “I’ll text. I’ll call…but I’m not going to lie. I kind of like the letters. We can be like that historical couple…”
“John and Abigail Adams?”
“No, Ronald and Nancy Reagan.”
She huffed out a laugh and that was the point. I gave her a salute then headed for the practical sedan with good gas mileage I’d purchased.
When I turned, she was still standing there watching me, waiting for me to leave.
She didn’t have faith in me yet. I would change that.
11
Yearone apart
Jules,
As you can see, I now have an apartment. Seattle is as often described. Gray, wet, but oddly beautiful. And people are nice here in a way I’ve never experienced. Never even imagined. Not even of yourIowanianfamily I’m sure.
The girl at the Starbucks counter who takes my order asks me how my day is going in a way that seems like she actually cares. It’s unnerving.
