Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
MIA
“ O h my God, so she tried to go behind your back and steal the client from underneath you?” Felicity scoffs as all the girls surround Aster on his play mat, where he’s busying himself with a sensory book after dinner.
Kate nods once, her silky blonde hair falling around her shoulders as she pulls it down from a messy bun. “Yep, no word of it is a lie. Mrs. Garcia called me directly, saying she couldn’t make our appointment on Friday since a personal issue had come up. I was like, ‘There is no meeting scheduled for this Friday.’ At first, I assumed it was a mix-up with reception, but when she explained she’d made the appointment directly with Nina Higgins, my blood ran cold. She knew I had every intention of taking back my entire client book when I returned from maternity leave, but she still went ahead and tried her luck anyway.”
“Ugh, what an absolute B.” Luna shakes her head in disgust.
Kate raises her wineglass in agreement.
“I assume you had it out with her?” Felicity questions.
Kate huffs out a dry laugh. “Of course. Ideally, I’d have marched right up to her desk, but she moved back to the New York office. So, I had to settle for a phone call. And you know what her reasoning was?”
“That she’s a B?” Luna replies.
“Girl, that goes without saying.” Kate flicks her hair over her shoulder. “She was concerned I couldn’t handle a full-time workload on part-time hours.”
“B!” Aster shouts.
“Precisely, Aster.” Felicity nods at him. She looks back at Kate and places a hand over hers. “Please tell me you told Mark.”
“Who’s Mark?” I ask.
“Joint owner of the firm we work at,” Kate replies.
When I turn back to Felicity, a wry smile traces her lips. “Actually, no, I haven’t said anything to him.”
“Um, why not?”
“Because, Mrs. Morgan”—Kate clears her throat and leans in closer to us—“I intend to keep that little scandal safely under my hat. The delightful Nina now knows I have information on her that could land her in serious hot water with asses she spends half her life kissing. I like to think of it as my own little power play. At least, that’s what I said when I informed her I’d just been offered senior counsel. The same position she was being considered for.”
Felicity gasps and throws a hand to her mouth. “What?! You got it?!”
“You know it!” Kate squeaks.
Pulling Kate into a hug, Luna kisses her on the cheek. “Queen. That is all.” She points to her stomach. “When I have this baby and get back from maternity leave, I’m going to need you to teach me your ways. I have half an eye on the head of the department.”
Kate quirks a brow at her in response. “You just took your entire class from average and failing to achieving some of the best grades in the state. There isn’t a better teacher in Washington. The job is yours. No question.”
“Congratulations, Kate.” Leaning forward, I clink my glass against hers. I look around at the women sitting in front of me. “You’re all such an inspiration. Your stories are exactly what I need to get me through these next few years in college so I can hopefully open my own practice one day.”
Setting her glass down, Kate stands and walks around to my side of the blanket, taking a seat next to me and pulling me into a hug. “Successful women support successful women. Stick with the right people, and you can have or be anything you want.”
Although she never met my mom, Kate’s words are exactly the kind of thing she used to say to me. And they’re everything I needed to hear.
Kate takes my hand in hers, and I squeeze it back. “Thank you.”
“You look thoughtful.” Felicity tips her head to the side.
This whole thing feels surreal—me, Jessie Callaghan’s girlfriend, drinking and laughing with women I’ve mostly seen on screens. Two months ago, I was hiding my embarrassed face beneath my coat and racing out of the café in Whistler as they looked on with sympathy. Now, I feel like a part of their family.
I take a sip of wine and set the glass down on the coffee table behind me. The stone fireplace burns a few feet in front of us. “Ever wonder how your life can change so dramatically? One second, you’re leaving behind all you’ve ever known and the next, you’re in some strange city, trying to follow your dreams while simultaneously keeping away from the one guy who occupies them. Now, he’s just through that door, and I’m sitting here with you guys, trying to process all this.”
My eyes sting as everything that’s happened slams into me, overwhelming my emotions.
Kate squeezes my hand in hers again. “You know, I never used to believe in fate. My whole life, I’d been brought up to believe you can— and should —control every aspect of your destiny. Leaving anything to chance was a lazy way of fumbling through life.” She laughs and plays with one of the tassels on Aster’s blanket. “Then I got pregnant and fell in love with the man I had been determined to hate. I hadn’t planned on either, but they’re the greatest blessings I’ve ever had. You can’t fight fate, girl. And you shouldn’t either.”
I nod and drop my head, tears pooling in the corners of my eyes. “You’re right. But my dad will never see it that way. At some point, I’ll have to tell him about Jessie. I lost my mom seven years ago; I can’t lose my dad too.”
“Why does he hate him so much? I mean, I know the background story. But what’s so bad about a guy who’s clearly crazy about his daughter?” Luna asks.
I know the women sitting around me are as loyal as it gets. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past couple of months, it’s when it comes to the best people, you don’t have to be friends with them for years to know you can trust them. But Jessie’s life isn’t mine to tell.
“I’m gonna need you in here, Princess.” Jensen pokes his head around the living room door. “Jon is trying to take over the joint birthday party with Aster. He thinks we need another tier on the cake and there won’t be enough giraffe balloons.”
Kate releases my hand and narrows her eyes, rubbing her palms together. “Please excuse me for a hot minute. I have a Morgan to deal with.”
Dad
I’ll be back in town two weeks on Saturday for business. Thought we could meet up for dinner if you’re around?
Sitting up in Luna and Zach’s spare bed, I stare down at the message I received from Dad a couple of hours ago. Maybe telling him then would be the right time to do it. If it’s face-to-face, I can at least try and stop him from murdering Jessie.
Me
Okay. Just let me know where, and I’ll make sure I’m not working.
Dad
I know I didn’t say it last time, but I’m proud of you, Mia. I’ll be the first to admit that, initially, I thought Seattle was a mistake. But you’re proving me wrong. Your mom would be proud of you too.
I bite on the inside of my cheek as I read his text over, convincing myself that if he knew the truth, he’d still feel the same way.
I set my phone down on the nightstand and pick up my textbook, focusing on the chapter I need to have read and summarized before Monday’s class. The sound of the shower filters into the room from the en suite. Part of me wishes I’d said to hell with studying and joined Jessie, like he’d tried to get me to do—several times.
I’m halfway through the first page when Jessie’s phone lights up on the opposite nightstand, and I reach across to grab it, seeing Mom lighting up the screen.
The call continues to vibrate in my hand until it goes to voicemail, and it sparks memories of the night Jessie cut our theater date short. He let the call drop that night, too, but clearly, he knew she needed him.
A second later, the phone buzzes again, and without thinking anything through, I answer.
“Hey, um, can Jessie ca?—”
“Will, is that you?” a weak female voice cuts me off.
Will?
“No. This is Jessie’s phone.”
“Who are you?” she replies, her tone clipped.
“I-I’m just a friend. I can go get Jessie. Give me a second.”
“Tell him we need more money. Sixty thousand this time.”
My heart races in my chest as I fall silent.
“Are you still there? His dad, Wayne, he’s mixed up with a couple of loan sharks. They’re threatening him and?—”
A crash rings down the line, and I pull the phone away from my ear, wincing at the noise.
“The fuck is this?!”
I know without even having to ask who just picked up the phone.
“T-this is Jessie’s friend. I was speaking to his mom.”
“Alice, you fucking idiot! Who are you spewing your guts to now?!” His voice is muffled, and I can tell he’s covered the speaker, even though I can hear every single word he says.
My heart beats faster in my chest. “I’ll get Jessie to call you back,” I hurry out, ready to end the call.
“Wait a goddamn minute,” he snipes. “I know exactly who you are.”
My book falls from where it was resting on my knees and hits the floor with a thud. “You have no idea who I am,” I respond. There’s no way he could.
“Red fucking fingernails.”
Frantically, I check the screen, panicking that I’ve switched it to video mode.
“Don’t go all quiet on me now, Jessie’s girl.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I push out, my voice shaking.
His laugh is low and evil-sounding. “Since you’re with him right now, I have a favor to ask. Tell him we need a hundred thousand by tomorrow morning. I’ve got a few people I need to keep happy, and they know where to find Jessie if he doesn’t give them what they want.”
My throat runs dry as I look up and see Jessie standing in the en suite doorway, his mouth open and a white towel hanging low on his hips.
“I assume you can do that for me, Sweetheart. That’s what the S in his phone stands for, isn’t it? He used to have a sweetheart a few years back.”
Bile rises up my throat, his insidious voice leaving me cold. “I’ll let him know.”
“You do that.”
The call cuts, and I drop the phone into my lap.
“Who was that?” Jessie asks, slowly walking toward me.
“He wants a hundred thousand, Jessie,” I whisper. “He got himself mixed up with loan sharks or something, and he needs you to pay them off.” My voice cracks as trembles set in.
Scratching his nails down the side of his face, he looks down at his phone in my lap. “You answered the call?” He looks concerned, but his voice is sharp.
“I-I wasn’t thinking.”
“Did you tell him who you were? Anything about you?” Reaching forward, he grabs the phone, clicks a few buttons, and tosses it back on the bed. “Mia.”
I straighten at his tone. “No. I just said I was a friend. He said something about red fingernails and called me Sweetheart. He said you used to have a sweetheart a few years back.” I cover my face with my palms. “If you don’t pay by the morning, he’s going to give these men your address.”
“Fuck!” he shouts, his towel dropping from the floor as he scrambles for his wallet.
“You can’t pay him, Jessie. No matter how much he demands, he’ll always want more. It’ll never be enough.”
His breathing is erratic, and when I reach out and grab his hand, his skin is ice cold.
“I can help you work all this out. I promise. Does Will have something to do with this?”
He snatches his hand away as his eyes fill with tears. “How do you know about Will?”
I sit back in bed and bring the duvet up to my neck. “When I answered the call, it was your mom. She called you Will. Your dad grabbed the phone from her and started screaming.”
“I need to get home,” Jessie rushes out, not looking up as he starts shoving clothes into his overnight bag.
“Jessie, you can’t just leave. Everyone will start asking questions.”
He stops packing and looks up at me, the shattered look in his eyes returning. My heart cracks clean down the center.
Please don’t. Not again.
“I need to make some calls. Go to sleep, Mia.”
“Jessie,” I plead, “don’t shut me out.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose and holds up a hand, the eagle over his rib cage more visible since the bruising has completely faded. “Just … leave it, okay?”
“Jessie—”
“ Leave . It.”
Tears tumble down my cheeks as I watch him throw on a pair of gray sweatpants and a black T-shirt.
When he gets to the door, he pauses with his hand on the handle and turns back to me. Desperation all over his face. “Even when I think it’s safe, you’re always in danger.”