Chapter 12 #2
“You could always be a bounty hunter,” I offer.
He raises his eyebrows before pursing his lips in thought. “Now there’s an idea. I am pretty good at tracking people down.”
We eat in comfortable silence, trying to ignore the fact that I am possibly throwing my career down the toilet.
“How’s uhh, Juliet been lately?” he asks, swirling the liquor around his glass. “She’s been gone quite some time, right?”
“Yeah, she seems to be doing all right. She owns her own bakery and is trying—and I assume failing—to fix up the house she’s renting. Still hasn’t asked our parents or me to come visit, though.”
He sighs. “That’s rough.” I nod without responding, so he continues. “Any reason why she just up and bailed like that?”
I shake my head. “She never said. Think her ex might’ve been a douche though.”
His grip on his glass tightens, whitening his knuckles. “Yeah, I heard a bit about that guy. He didn’t sound so great.” Eli downs the rest of his whiskey and gives me a grim smile. “Must be nice. To be able to run away like that, whether she ran away alone or with someone.”
The idea of running away with Summer to some place where no one would ever know that I had been her professor is so enticing that an ache echoes through my chest.
I shake the feeling away and raise both eyebrows, surprised. “It never occurred to me that maybe she went there with someone else.”
He snorts out a harsh laugh. “You think she’s spent these past few years alone?”
“Believe it or not, Elijah, some of us don’t need constant companionship.”
“I’d hardly call what I do ‘companionship,’” he muses.
I shrug. “If Juliet has a partner, she hasn’t shared that tidbit of information with me.” I sigh. “I’m sure she’ll get over whatever it is that drove her away in the first place and finally invite her family over. Or maybe she’ll come back to visit someday soon.”
His blue eyes meet mine, and he holds my gaze. “If she does come back to visit, let me know,” he says seriously. “I wouldn’t mind seeing her again.”
I scoff. “No hitting on my sister, Eli. We have to have some boundaries.”
His mouth opens in mock hurt. “It’s like you have no faith in me.”
“When it comes to women, I don’t,” I laugh.
He clinks his glass against mine. “Fair enough.”
I spend the night chatting and drinking with Eli until he gets an obvious booty call and gives me a ‘what are you gonna do’ look. The girl lets him know that she’s already on her way over and that she may have forgotten to wear underwear, which I take as my cue to head out.
I check the time when I arrive home and debate whether it’s too late to call Juliet. I pour myself another glass of whiskey, hoping it’ll prevent me from dreaming of a certain blonde, before I decide to try and dial Juliet.
“Hello?” My sister answers on the third ring, sounding out of breath.
“Everything okay over there, Juliet?” I ask, taking a sip of whiskey, letting the burn roll down my throat.
She sighs. “Terra has been in a mood all day. You know she threw a chair at me?”
“I doubt your two-year-old daughter is that strong,” I snicker.
“Don’t remind me how fast she’s growing. I swear I’m buying her new clothes left and right. But she threw her little plastic chair at me, smartass.”
“Is she small but mighty?” I ask.
“She’s angry, is what she is. The terrible twos are no joke.”
I can hear my sister whisking something in a bowl, but I don’t hear anything from my niece. “Baking late again?”
Another exhausted sigh. “I got a last-minute order for a kid’s birthday party tomorrow. It was enough money that I couldn’t really turn it down.”
“Do you need—”
“No, Ash, I don’t need anything. The mixer you sent me was already too much.” I can tell by her tone that though she’s not in a position to turn down the mixer I sent, she’s not happy about it either.
“Okay,” I say slowly. “But you know you can always come to me if you need help, right?”
“I know, I know. But I don’t need any help right now.”
Despite her reassurances, I still worry about her. She’s a single mom, all alone, working overtime at her bakery. I wish she’d let me help her. Or that she’d reach out to our parents and finally let them visit her and their granddaughter.
I listen to the sounds of her baking, then remember my conversation with Elijah about how Juliet had just up and run away from the only life she’d ever known. “You know who I was just hanging out with?” I pipe up, breaking our silence.
“Who?” she responds, but I can tell she’s distracted.
“Elijah.” The sound of her whisking immediately stops. Weird reaction since she knows that Jared and I see him pretty frequently. “He asked about you, actually.”
“Did you tell him anything?” she asks slowly.
“Just that you own a bakery and that you’re doing well.”
“Did you mention Terra?” Her voice has a hint of nerves to it, and a warning flag goes off in my head. To my knowledge, they interacted infrequently when he and I became friends. She shouldn’t be this worked up about Elijah asking about her well-being.
“She didn’t come up. Why?”
“No reason. I just don’t want a bunch of people back home knowing about my business, that’s all.”
“Why?”
She pauses. “I just… like my new life. It’s good, and happy, and safe, and I don’t want anyone possibly ruining that. I’d like to keep my life private.”
A sharp pang echoes in my chest. She won’t even risk her own family ruining her new life.
“Is that why you’ve refused to come home the last few years?” I try to keep the bitterness out of my tone, but I can tell by her exasperated groan on the other end of the line that I failed.
“Asher, is there a reason you called? You know I don’t like talking about this.”
I sigh. The fact that she continues to blatantly hide something from me pisses me off, but I decide to drop it, like usual.
“I kissed Summer again,” I admit, deciding to keep it PG.
“Oh, Ash,” she breathes out, the disappointment in her voice glaringly obvious. “You couldn’t find some nice girl your own age that isn’t attached to the university at all?”
“You are preaching to the choir,” I mutter.
“I just don’t want to see you get in trouble.”
“You’d have to actually see me for that to happen.” I’m met with silence and know I let my frustration with her past behavior and with myself lash out. “Sorry, Juliet, that wasn’t cool. You’re just trying to be a good sister and help. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Apology accepted,” she responds quietly.
“And you’re not entirely unjustified there.
” It’s as close to an apology from her as I’ll get, so I’ll take it.
“You know, above all else, I want you happy. And if that’s with someone who is a student…
obviously, if you’re doing it respectfully, I would never judge you. ”
The things I want to do to Summer are anything but respectful.
“Thanks, Juliet.”
“I’ll never judge you for your choices, Ash,” she continues.
“But that doesn’t mean others won’t. You could lose your job.
You could get blacklisted from other universities.
I don’t know how Mom and Dad would react, or how some of your other friends may handle the news if it gets out.
I just want you to think about everything and decide if she’s worth that kind of risk. ”
“You’re right, there’s a lot to consider here, and none of it is anything I should take lightly,” I agree. “I don’t plan on letting anything else happen again… but if it does, I’ll make sure that I take all of those points into consideration.”
“God,” she laughs. “You know, you talk like a stuffy professor?”
“I am a stuffy professor,” I deadpan.
“Is this what I have to look forward to when I get older?”
“I’m sure being a mom has aged you quite a bit; you just haven’t noticed yet.” I grin. “In that picture you sent me of you and Terra at the park, I saw a gray hair.”
She gasps. “You did not!”
“Goodnight, Juliet,” I say in a singsong. “Kiss my niece goodnight for me.”
“Goodnight, Asher,” she responds. I hear her hesitate, and I wait patiently for her to say whatever else is on her mind.
“Please don’t tell Elijah anything more about me.
Or anyone else for that matter,” she says.
“And if he asks about me again, tell him it’s none of his damn business.
” Then she disconnects, and the call goes dead.