Chapter 23
Iglowered at Elijah as he towered over me in Adam’s kitchen.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. Even though I tried to keep my voice friendly, an edge of distaste sharpened my words.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
I arched a challenging brow at him. “I live here.”
Or at least I did for another couple of weeks. But I wasn’t about to reveal those cards to Elijah yet.
“Is that so? I thought you were finishing up your job at Dartmouth?”
“I am,” I admitted. Involuntarily, I shifted my weight from the left foot to the right. Inwardly, I cursed as Elijah’s eyes followed the movement with a slight curve of his mouth.
“And you don’t know what’s next, do you?”
It felt like a trap. Everything about Adam’s father felt like a trap. So, I remained silent instead of answering him.
“So, you need your next gig. And I need you to stay far, far away from my son. I think we can both win here, Ms. Meyer.” From his back pocket, he pulled out his phone, swiping his thumb across the screen. “I have a friend at Stanford and they’re looking for a full time position there in the library. Someone who can maintain their rare books.”
A sharp breath pinched my lungs.
A full-time position like that was unheard of in my industry. “That’s not real,” I said, shaking my head. “It can’t be. Positions like that don’t exist except for at huge national libra?—”
“It could exist,” Elijah said. “He’s a good friend. And he owes me a favor.”
“What the hell kind of favor involves a six figure salary with benefits?” I croaked.
Elijah wiggled his phone in the air. “Say the word and I air drop you his contact information. As long as you promise to stay away from Adam.”
“You’re not listening to me,” I snapped, my glare hardening even more. “I”m not going anywhere.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Harper. This job is once in a lifetime. You’d be an idiot to pass it up, even for someone as amazing as my son.”
He was right about one thing… the job was once in a lifetime. But it wasn’t real. I’d only be getting it because of some seedy favor owed between him and a ‘friend’?
“Your hatred of me makes no sense. You see that, right? I’m a smart woman, a hard worker, I’m kind, Adam and I make each other happy and I love him. I am everything you should want your son to find in a partner.”
Elijah’s face paled. Even his lips drained of color. “Love?”
I pressed my fingertips to my mouth. Love.
I do love Adam.
I loved him in high school. I loved him when we broke up.
And I love him even more now.
I just didn’t realize it until this very second when I was fighting for us.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I love him.”
“You’re kids. You don’t even know what love is.”
I snorted. “And you do? The father who sneaks around behind his back with Jasmine? Who tries pulling strings behind the scenes to secretly keep running his son’s life? If that’s your version of love, then I don’t want it.”
“Everything I’ve done for Adam is because I love him! I don’t know what Jasmine claims happened, but all I was trying to do was show her she could be part of our family.”
I paused, taking a breath, my dad’s words from the other weekend haunting me.
This is Adam’s father still. And if I love Adam, I’d have to find a way to deal with Elijah one way or another. I couldn’t just cut him out of my life unless I plan on also cutting Adam out, too.
And that wasn”t an option.
“I don’t want us to hate each other, Elijah,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “But I also can’t build a foundation of mutual respect with you all on my own. I need you to try with me as well. We both love Adam, right?”
Elijah regarded me carefully, but gave a sharp nod in confirmation.
“Then let’s start there. It may be the only thing we have in common, but we both love Adam. If nothing else, can we remind ourselves of that when we come to an impasse?”
He lowered his hand, still holding his phone, to his sides with a sigh. “We both also love books,” Elijah grunted.
“Yes!” I threw my hands up in triumph. “Exactly! Maybe if we get to know each other we’ll find we have more in common than we thought.”
He gave a grumpy hmph in response that wasn’t all that encouraging. Still, it was more cordial than either of us had been in years.
“What’s one of your favorite books?” I asked, hoping to keep the good vibes coming.
“On the Road.”
I swallow my groan of disappointment. Of fucking course that was his favorite book. An overly cerebral ego-maniac’s journals about masculinity and sex in the sixties.
“Kerouac’s an innovator of American literature,” he added, his gaze darkening.
“Who needed an editor,” I muttered.
I fully expected Elijah to flip a lid over that comment. But instead, a small smile curved on his mouth. “Maybe. But that’s what I liked about it. That it was raw and unedited. That we didn’t see a culled down version of his rambling thoughts. Sort of like The Diary of Anne Frank. An editor would sully the reader’s experience.”
Huh. “That’s… kind of a good point,” I admitted. “Though I’m not exactly on board comparing the historic figure of Anne Frank’s diary to the partially autobiographic/partly fictionalized ramblings of Kerouac, I see what you’re saying.”
His grin widened. “Alright then. As long as we can keep our discussion topics to books, maybe we’ll be okay.”
“Maybe. And eventually if Adam and I get married, you know you’re going to have to make nice with my dad and Addy.”
He sighed heavily, but nodded. “Can we take this one step at a time, please?”
I nodded. “Sure.”
Then, looking down at his phone, he pressed his thumb to the screen. Seconds later, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
I pulled it out, looking at my screen to find his friend’s contact information at Stanford. “I thought I made myself clear?—”
“The job is real,” Elijah said. “And it’s a good enough and rare enough opportunity that you should at least look into it. Adam wouldn’t want you to ignore this opportunity. And even if you don’t get the job, this Stanford friend of mine is a good contact for you to have. Consider this my olive branch.”
“Thank you,” I said.
Keys jingled in the lock and the door swung open, Adam entering the apartment, seeing us faced off in the kitchen. “Dad? What, uh, what are you doi?—”
I spun to face Adam, giving him my best reassuring smile. “We were just talking,” I said.
“You… were?” He glanced around the room, like he was looking for evidence of a flat out brawl.
“Burying the hatchet,” Elijah said, crossing to Adam and giving him one of those bro-like pats on the back.
“And not in each other’s backs, believe it or not,” I added.
“I… don’t really know what to say.” Adam’s gaze was still ping-ponging back and forth between us.
“I had come by to see if I could take you to dinner,” Elijah said, pausing to glance at me. “But why don’t the three of us try that new Thai place around the corner? I hear it’s good.”
“Well…” Adam looked again to me with a panicked expression, like he was trying to find a way to protect me from the dinner. “I think Harper might have plans, but?—”
I shook my head. “No plans. I’d love to join you both,” I said.
“Really?” Adam’s eyes went wide.
“Really.”
“Okay,” Elijah bent to give Verne a butt scratch, hesitating as Jules rubbed against his leg, too. “I’ll uh, just wait downstairs for you two.”
After he shut the door behind him, Adam pulled me into his arms and whispered, “Thank you.”
“He’s your dad and he’s not going anywhere. But also… neither am I.”