Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Brooke
I should have known that once I started to believe I could get the hang of things, everything would begin to crumble.
I glared at my phone as I sat in the parking lot in my car, wondering why, once again, I was getting an email that I wanted nothing to do with.
Patrice had warned me that Landon Cunning would be coming after me somehow. I just hadn’t realized it would begin with passive-aggressive emails.
Brooke,
I understand starting a new job can be difficult, so why don’t I handle the next afternoon meeting so you can take your time and get your ducks in a row. I wouldn’t want you to overexert yourself. Don’t worry. I’ve done this numerous times before, and I can handle it. I’m just looking out for you.
I will talk to the head adjunct. Don’t you worry.
-- Landon.
I closed my eyes and tried not to snarl.
There were so many things wrong with that brief email I didn’t even know where to begin.
He might as well have told me not to worry my pretty little head over it.
With any other professor, calling me Brooke would be fine.
I did not want a man I didn’t know who was literally coming after me using my first name.
It diminished my achievements, assuming an intimacy between us that wasn’t wanted in any fashion.
He was purposely taking away my doctorate, my position, and my experience, so he could drop my name as if he was talking to a middle schooler.
He then tried to take over my meeting, taking it off my hands before I had even had a chance to try to prepare for it. As if I wouldn’t be able to handle setting up a meeting. A meeting, by chance, that he had requested be moved up.
It was where all of us professors would meet and discuss any upcoming items we had in our department. The physics department was quite large, but my subset of it was only a few people. And Landon was one of them.
He just wanted my tenure-track job, and I wouldn’t simply back down and give it to him.
The cavalier and passive aggressiveness in his email hurt my teeth. It was as if he were so sugar-sweet, butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He would have another think coming because I didn’t bow down to anyone.
Hell, I was a woman in science with a doctorate and more than one bachelor’s degree. I had done it on my own, and most of it as a single mom.
I had gotten this job on my own merits, not because of who I knew. I bet he got his because of who he knew and who his father was, not because of his accomplishments.
Because, from what I saw, he didn’t do anything during the day in the name of science. What I wasn’t going to do was lie down and let him have my job.
I shot off a quick reply, letting him know in no uncertain terms that I was fine to handle the meeting, considering all that meant was that I opened the meeting and made sure people knew where it was and what time.
That was it. I didn’t need to bring damn cupcakes or something. I didn’t need to make a presentation.
For this first meeting, somebody just needed to book the damn room.
And contrary to what he thought, I had already done it.
So, fuck him.
“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Luke asked from the backseat, and I rubbed my temples before I set my phone back in its holder, making sure it was charging.
I turned in my seat and smiled over at him. “Just a work email that made me grumpy. But I’m fine now and all here for you. You ready to run more errands?”
“I like errands!” He beamed at me, and I fell that much more in love with my son. He was just the kindest, smartest, sweetest boy ever.
I realized that was very much something that most moms said about their kids, but it was the truth.
After making sure Luke was ready to go, I settled back into my seat, pulled out of the parking lot, and headed toward our next destination.
With my job and Luke’s new school, it was hard to get everything done. Thank God for grocery delivery and May. Between those two, I was able to get most of the things I needed for my house, and my shelves were never bare.
However, there were a few things that I couldn’t leave to delivery or May.
We needed to pick up a few prescriptions, and I needed a new set of sheets since an entire box of linens hadn’t made it onto the moving truck somehow.
I still didn’t know how that had happened, since we had watched it be put on the truck, but that’s what happened when you moved cross-country.
Things were lost. And while insurance would cover some of it, I still needed new sheets, blankets, and a few towels.
Thankfully none of Luke’s things had been lost. While he was a well-adjusted kid, the move was a big thing. And losing something that he loved, even if he only would love it for the next five minutes, would’ve been too hard on him. I didn’t want to put any more undue pressure on him.
We went to three different stores trying to find sheets that would fit my bed and were actually in stock, and I was getting grumbly by the end of it. It shouldn’t be this hard to find a nice set of white sheets, but everything seemed to be out of stock or outrageously expensive.
I also needed a few things for the house, like fake plants so I wouldn’t accidentally kill them, since the one from my realtor was already barely hanging on, and a tray for the kitchen. Luke was getting tired, but I had a few more items on my list.
My brain kept going to lesson plans, wanting to check my email in case Landon emailed back, and the fact that Leif hadn’t texted me. Or called me. Or contacted me in any way in the past week since our date.
I let out a breath and try not to be upset about that.
He’d said that he would be out of town for a couple of days visiting family, but I had thought all his family lived in Colorado. But what did I know about him and his family? He had a job, a business he owned. He was busy.
But he hadn’t texted.
I thought he would have texted.
And now I was annoyed. Because why was I worrying so much about him when I had to get my son home, had to finish my shopping, and had a thousand other things to do that had nothing to do with that Montgomery.
The same Montgomery who hadn’t wanted me before but now suddenly did.
I held back a growl and went to look for a few more things that I needed for the house.
I didn’t even have a damn toilet brush since mine had broken as soon as I bought it.
Two weeks of cleaning, and it had snapped.
Now the store I went to for the matching set was out of stock.
How the hell were toilet brushes out of stock?
I sighed and checked out, knowing that meant we had one more store to go to.
Luke was tired, and I knew he was hungry. So was I. I didn’t know the restaurants around here, and since it was lunch hour on a Saturday, there was barely any parking anywhere.
I rubbed my temples as I put everything in my trunk, and after buckling Luke in, I looked over at my son.
“I didn’t plan this well. We still have to go to another place to drop some paperwork off. I’m sorry, buddy.”
Ideally all the paperwork and everything associated with moving cross-country and buying a home should have been easily organized.
That was not the case for some places. Although I had all of the utilities and insurance and everything ready to go, there were still other small pieces of paperwork that had shown up out of nowhere that I needed to deal with, and I had to drop them off in person.
On a Saturday.
I still had time next week to do it if I didn’t make it today, but I just wanted it to be done.
“I’m hungry, Mommy.”
I looked at my kid, then leaned forward and kissed his forehead.
“Me too. I have some fish crackers if you want some, and maybe we can just head home and I will make your lunch.”
“Okay. I love you, Mommy.” And then he burst into tears. I rubbed my temples, knowing that I was messing things up again.
I leaned forward, unbuckled him, and held him close, rubbing his back.
He was hot, tired, and had been so patient all day.
We should have spent the day doing fun things where he could relax, and I could have mom and son bonding time.
Instead, I had to be an adult and drag my kid with me. I wanted to cry right along with him.
“I’m sorry, Luke. Let’s get you home, and we’ll go play out in the backyard. We’ll run errands another day.”
“I’m sorry I’m crying. I don’t know why.”
Tears pricked my eyes, and I ignored the person who honked at me and wanted my spot. I was holding a crying kid who was hot, hungry, and tired.
The man flipped me off as he drove away, and I was grateful that I was holding my kid, or I would have flipped him off too.
Jerk.
“Okay, let’s get you home and stop taking up space here. I could use some lunch too, kid.”
“Sorry for crying. I just had a tough day.”
He sounded so serious and adult-like that my eyes widened, and I just grinned. He’d probably heard that from me a time or two and had picked the phrase up. Hence why I tried not to curse around him too much since I didn’t need him going to kindergarten dropping the f-bomb.
Again.
“Me too. Let’s go eat something yummy.”
I saw the line for a familiar fast-food restaurant behind Luke’s head and figured we could sit in that line and have a greasy burger, but first I needed to buckle him in.
I did so and walked around my car and cursed under my breath as soon as I spotted it. Black dots slid over my eyes for a moment before I blinked them away, an overwhelming urge to cry along with Luke hitting me like a two-by-four.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
I knelt down in front of my now flat tire and wondered how the hell that had happened so quickly. I hadn’t noticed there was an issue when I’d driven earlier, but sure enough, there was a damn nail that proved to be a slow leak that hadn’t stayed slow.
Luke was still in the car, and I needed to get him home, feed him, and deal with the countless other things on my list, but I couldn’t because I had a damn flat tire.