Chapter 20
CHAPTER
TWENTY
MILES
Damn, this woman writes one hell of an essay.
Honestly, her first draft was better than the second draft. She got too caught up in her head and started second-guessing too many of her good stylistic choices from the first essay by the time she wrote the second draft.
The second draft still seemed like good work to me. More clinical, maybe, but well done otherwise.
Someone slams the door to my apartment open, startling me. I slam my laptop shut on Annie’s email from when she was trying to get me to pre-read her first essay draft.
“Miles!” my Uncle Luca barks out as his thunderous steps make their way toward the second bedroom that I have set up as an office. I put my hands behind my head and lace my fingers, leaning back in my chair to appear nonchalant as Luca lets himself in.
He stops short in the doorway when he sees me. His chest is heaving and his face is red with anger.
“I thought we agreed we would keep your uncle and landlord roles separate—like church and state.” I can only imagine what has him so mad he decided to ignore our formerly agreed-upon rule that he not let himself into the apartment I’m paying for unannounced.
Luca has perfected the disappointed growl despite not having kids of his own to be disappointed with. I seem to be doing fine as a surrogate son. Probably helps that my father can’t be bothered with hands-on parenting.
There were a lot of nannies when I was growing up. One of them even became one of my stepmothers for eight months.
“What do you think you’re doing with my assistant’s daughter?” Luca plants his hands on my desk and looms over me like a bad rendition of a superhero movie villain.
I purse my lips and pretend to consider the question. “I think we’re dating. Why, do you call that something different? I never understand the lingo from your generation.”
“I don’t think this is funny.” Luca talks through gritted teeth.
“Ditto.” I relax my arms and then cross them over my chest. “Don’t barge into the apartment I pay you rent for and demand I speak to you about my personal life just because you have the hots for my girlfriend’s mom. In case you’ve forgotten, she works for you . Considering you’re a lawyer, I don’t think you need help understanding why it would be a very bad idea for you to start getting inappropriate ideas about your employee.”
Luca slams his fist down on the desk. The metal frame rattles in place.
“Do you have any idea what a pain in the ass you are?”
“Some idea, yeah.”
My uncle has a way of keeping me humble.
“Did she stay the night here last night?” Luca’s head turns on a swivel as if a woman will magically materialize to answer for herself.
I play dumb, pretending to misunderstand the question. “No, why would your assistant spend the night at my apartment?”
Luca stands up straight and squeezes his eyes shut. He counts slowly out loud to ten before he opens them again. When he does, he’s still glaring at me. His chest is no longer heaving though, so we’re making some progress.
“Have you ever considered that being respectful might be a more effective approach when I’m already pissed off with you?”
“Nope.” I shrug my shoulders. “If sitcoms have taught me anything, it’s that the audience loves an antagonistic familial dynamic.”
“When is the last time you watched a sitcom, Miles?”
“Probably never.” I grin.
Luca shakes his head at me like I’m hopeless. I watch bemused as he turns and leaves the room. I would say getting under his skin is one of my top three hobbies, but I don’t want to drive him away.
I get up and follow Luca into the living room. He plops himself down on my sofa so now I’m the one awkwardly standing like a guest in the space.
“Are you ready to talk like an adult?” Luca asks.
“Sure.” I lean against one of my bookshelves. I perfected casual stances long ago so that I would never give away too much about how I’m feeling.
“Are you and Annie really dating?”
“Yes.” We’re really pretending to, at least. Close enough to the truth.
“Did she stay here last night with you?”
“That’s not your business but for the sake of you not chewing me out any more than necessary, the answer is no. I dropped her safely off at her shitty temporary motel home after our date last night.”
“Don’t be disrespectful. Not everyone grows up on an estate property with a whole team of household employees. Some people are normal with normal people's problems.” He looks around my high-end apartment pointedly.
Unbelievable. He spends a little time with his working-class assistant and suddenly he’s no longer a card-carrying member of the wealthy elite.
“You grew up on an estate property with twice as many household staff members as my father employs,” I remind him. “Oh and let me remind you that this is an apartment you own.”
“Touché,” he grumbles.
“Look, this semester has been a mess. I’ve disappointed you. I get that. But this thing with Blue—Annie, I mean—isn’t me being an asshole. There’s a spark of something between us, Luca. I don’t want to hurt her, I only want to figure out why she’s under my skin.”
Luca studies me carefully, probably trying to weigh whether I’m bullshitting or being honest with him.
I’m sure my face gives nothing away. I’m not personally sure myself anymore where the line is drawn between the white lies and the truth. Blue is under my skin.
“Anyway, I’m glad you came by. Do you want to go to lunch and I can tell you all about my new work-study position with the English department?” I feel smug as hell as Luca’s face descends into an expression of disbelief.
“That’s official?” Luca asks. “If I called my connections at the college, they would confirm you’re on the payroll?”
Hysterical. “Okay, funny guy. Call everyone you’ve ever met over there, they’re going to confirm this is legit. I’m working under Professor MacNamara.”
“You had her last year, didn’t you? You liked her.” Luca’s expression changes. He looks like he could be impressed, the muscles around his jaw relaxing as he even manages to get halfway to a grin.
“Yep. Great professor.”
“And you’re going to stick with this?” He narrows his eyes suspiciously.
I’m not going to make any promises but… “That’s the plan.”
“And you’re not going to break Annie’s heart and upset the best assistant I’ve ever had?”
“Of course not.” Maybe there’s a little surprise chemistry between Annie and me but nobody’s heart is involved. Even I have to draw the line at playing with that much fire, despite liking the role of an antagonist.
Luca sighs out a long breath. “Okay, kid. Let’s go to lunch and talk about next semester’s tuition.” He stands up and wags a finger at me. “But I still don’t like how you embarrassed me over the tutoring center fiasco. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about that just because you’re cleaning up your own mess for once.”
“Noted,” I deadpan. He can hold whatever grudge he needs to so long as I get to keep focusing on my education the way I wanted to in the first place. Looks like everything is coming up roses for me.