Page 43 of Lessons in Falling
Valentina.Valentina.Valentina.Valentina.
The caller ID on my phone surprised me.Dylan?I said into the device, sliding the door to the yard behind me shut.
The one and only,my former roommate replied dryly, and cut right to the chase.Why the fuck did my uncle just tell me you declined the Anova offer?
The distracted smile on my lips fell.Valentina was no longer on my mind, and I didn’t welcome her replacement.
Dylan had been the one to get me that interview at Anova Inc.a few months ago.He’d actually beenexcitedto get me the interview.You’re gonna rot away at HBU if you keep this up, he’d said.Who needs a master’s degree these days, anyway?All you’re doing is over-qualifying yourself.
He was probably right.I just didn’t really care if he was.
Listen—I tried to justify myself, not because I had to, but because he’d done me a solid, and I owed him that much.
No, man.Youlisten.He cut me off.My uncle and I are not… great.I told you, if you want the interview, you need to be sure—
And when you said that, I told you to forget about it—
That’s not the point,he snapped, voice low.The point is you took the interview.Then the next one, and the one after that.You aced their fucking assessment center bullshit, and I thought,Wow.Caden is really doing this—getting out of Hall Beck University.He’s not going to rot away doing a useless grad program.Easy thing for him to say, with millions at hisdisposal, and billions at his girlfriend’s.He liked to think himself a common man, but he really wasn’t.And now you’re— what?!Turning down a six-figure salary to captain a soccer team that’s already won the championship.Two years of work experience are worth so much more than a master’s.This is dumb, man.Really, really dumb.
Are you done?I asked roughly, trying to ignore the voice in my head that was calling him reasonable.
Yes.
And you know this isn’t going to change anything, right?It couldn’t.No matter how much I might want it to.
He sighed on the other end of the line, and it lowered my guard—at least a little bit.I assumed as much.There was a strange noise in the background, a screech, then a very distant, very excited,Oh my God!Dolphins!
My brows furrowed.Where the fuck are you?
I could hear the smile on his face when he said,On a boat.Somewhere in Portugal.It was quiet for a moment; nothing but blurred voices and inaudible pieces of conversation coming out of my speaker, until the line snapped, and he was back.Athalia says hi.Listen, I just wanted to check in, give you a piece of my mind.That’s what friends are for, right?
I snickered, half-amused, half-annoyed—mostly by the fact I wasn’t as pissed off as I should have been about his ambush.Consider me in possession of a piece of your mind.
Great.I’ve gotta go.Dolphins, apparently.Can you believe it—?Yes, I’m coming, princess!he said, and hung up before I could even reply.
My head still shook in disbelief when I made it back outside, ready to kick that conversation out of my thoughts tomake space for Valentina, and her body, her moans, her soft skin, and gentle pleas.
On the chair, she’d curled up under a towel with the book she’d discarded earlier.But instead of finding her reading, her eyes were closed and her breaths even.
I didn’t mean to smile, really.This meant I wouldn’t have her the way I’d desperately wanted her, after all.But I still couldn’t find a shred of disappointment in me.All I could think of was how cute she looked when she slept.How peaceful and content.Just Sexmy ass.
Gently, carefully, I carried her upstairs.Scared to wake her, I tucked her into my own bed, then just stood there, like a creep, watching her sleep.My eyes were drawn away from her only when the phone in my pocket vibrated with an email notification.
Dear Mr.Callahan,
As we understand, you have declined our latest offer of employment at Anova Inc.in Boston, MA.Find our follow-up offer attached to this email.Please take your time, and hopefully reconsider.We would love to have you on board.
Best Wishes,
Pete Klein
CHAPTER 22
VALENTINA
Everything we did on Oakport was somewhat of a tradition.From the Welcome Margaritas and Chester’s karaoke performance, down to the boardwalk strolls and grocery trips.Iris would always get into the shopping cart, Alfie would always wheel her around, and Anni and I would always walk twenty feet behind, so as to not be associated with either of them.
Another meaningless—but ultimately very near and dear to my heart—tradition was pool at Blitz.Alfie’s Dad had basically forced him to learn how to play when he was barely heavier than the cue stick itself.Iris’ parents had met playing, so they insisted Iris wouldn’t have been adopted by them if it weren’t for pool, which meant she had this sentimental attachment to it.And, according to Anni, it was just a thing over in Germany—she also, to the other’s great horror, still insisted it was called billiards, not pool.Which it was not.
