AndrewThe familiar beep of a text message entered my dreams, drawing me away from reliving Lanie’s soft embrace. Rubbing my eyes, I rolled across the bed, heart thumping and blood rushing between my legs.Expecting to see a good morning text from Lanie, I grabbed the phone from the nightstand and swiped the screen open.Bob Jacobs:We need to talk. Today.And boner gone.I started to cuss but bit down on my lip instead. I’d accepted this situation, and talking to Bob was what I’d been planning to do. Sending him a text back asking him to meet at the country club, I put my phone back on the stand and jumped into the shower.Just like my bed, the shower contained an air of sadness. With no Lanie, it almost seemed there was no point in waking up, getting cleaned, doing anything I used to.If only she could have stayed.I didn’t have to imagine what waking up next to her would be like. We’d had that one time in the hotel, but that didn’t compare to what nights and mornings in my bed—our
AndrewDamn, he was relentless. “I don’t want to call it off. I haven’t met a woman as special as Lanie since Danica.”The confession was hard to make, on account of it being so true, but if I wanted to win this argument, I needed to pull out all the stops.“I know you, Andrew.” Bob spread his hands. “And you don’t get out much. You’re not exactly pursuing dates on the regular. The only reason you found Lanie was because of convenience. She works at the school your daughter goes to. Let me guess. You went into a function or a parent-teacher conference, and that’s how you met.”My skin turned hot and itchy. “Just because we met at school doesn’t mean she’s any less special than someone I would meet at a speed dating event.”I could have taken it further, demanding to know if Bob thought Lanie wasn’t special, but that would be a low blow and not even practical. I knew Bob thought the world of his family, and I hadn’t come to the club to fight. It was time to make amends.“I don’t have t
LanieMy phone rang as I scanned the street for parking.“Hold on, hold on,” I murmured, resisting the urge to pull it out and see who was calling.Finding a spot across the street from the yoga studio, I tugged the phone from my purse as the second call started.Dad. Double gulp.But better now than later.“Hi, Dad,” I answered, bracing myself. We hadn’t spoken since he stormed out of the house, and Mom hadn’t been in touch either.“Lanie, I’m sorry about yesterday.”My jaw must have fallen halfway to my lap. I struggled to answer but didn’t know what to say. My father hardly ever apologized. He was always so positive the things he did were right.“I talked to Andrew and figured some things out,” Dad continued. “I know you weren’t lying to me. You’re a grown woman, and you get to do what you want. That’s, uh, it’s hard sometimes for a father to realize that. To remember their kid is all grown up.”“Yeah,” I slurred. “I understand.”“Anyway, that’s all I needed to say.”“I really appr
AndrewCranking the stereo’s volume, I cruised into my neighborhood. The street lights were coming on, taking the day into the first minutes of dusk. After talking to Bob the morning before, every minute following had been nothing less than perfect.Seeing Lanie again—and this time with Bob’s approval—meant that I’d been in a good mood all day long. Work had flown by, and the only time I’d felt any sense of irritation was when I looked at my phone and found no texts from Lanie.Call me spoiled, but I wanted to hear from her each and every hour.As the garage door opened, my phone rang as if on cue.“I was just thinking about you,” I answered.“Good things?” Lanie asked with a laugh.“Bad things,” I growled. “Really, really bad things.”“Oh. That’s, uh.” She cleared her throat, and I laughed.“What are you doing?” I asked.“Just making some dinner. Is it okay that I called? I wanted to, you know, say hi.”“Stop. Hearing your voice is the perfect ending to my day.”“That’s sweet,” she c
Andrew“How was school?” I asked Raven.She shrugged and flipped another page.“Are you a speed reader now?” I asked.Raven glowered my way. “What’s up, Dad?”“Dinner’s ready.”“Yeah, I know. It’s been ready for thirty minutes. I had to wait for your butt.”I checked my smirk, knowing she’d been about to say ass.“I got home as soon as I could, honey. This is actually a pretty regular hour. It’s when most parents get home.”Did I need to point out to her that I no longer worked until eight or ten each night? That I made time every weekend for us to do something together?“Is something wrong?” I asked. “If you still feel like we’re not spending enough time together, you can tell me.”“No,” she sighed, looking away.“Is everything okay at school?”My heartbeat picked up. Everything had been so good recently. I never heard from the school’s office, and Lanie hadn’t reported any upsets.Raven hesitated. “Yeah, school is fine. I’m just kind of in a funk. Sorry.”“It’s okay. Do you want to
Lanie“I don’t know what he expects me to do at that lodge,” Mom continued on, her voice blaring from the speakers of my desk phone. “He’s only going there because that man, what’s his name, is going there too. The one whose company your father wants to buy. He’s hoping to do some business over Christmas vacation.”“Have you told him this?” I sifted through some papers on my desk, looking for the parent survey forms the school collected the day before.Mom was silent. I could picture her well, probably pursing her lips as she pressed the phone to her face and looked out at the bird feeder in the backyard. It was her greatest hobby, that bird feeder. Somehow, she recognized a lot of the birds that came to it. If a regular visitor stopped coming by, she’d worry they’d been eaten by a cat or flown into a window.“No,” Mom finally said. “You know how your father is.”“Yeah.”“He told me he met with Andrew.”Segue much, Mom?“Uh-huh,” I carefully answered, “and things are good between them
LanieRaven’s question took me by surprise. Andrew had never called me his girlfriend, so I wasn’t about to go there. Luckily, the best answer was indirect.“I’m speaking to you as someone who cares about you.” Leaving the desk, I settled in the chair next to her.Raven studied me, the resistance in her face melting away. “Have you heard about Jason?”I shook my head. “Should I have?”She shrugged. “He’s just, like, really popular here.”“Okay,” I encouraged with a nod. “What do you think of him?”“I like him.” She twisted the end of her sweatshirt. “I mean, I did, until he had to go and be a total idiot.”“Tell me the whole story.”She eyed me. “Are you going to tell anyone?”“I have to report the slap but nothing else.”“Fine. So, here’s the thing… I liked Jason. You know, kind of a lot. And I thought he liked me too.”“Has anything happened between you guys?”“Yeah, last week we hung out after school, like, three days. Just me and him. No one else. As more than friends.” She gave m
AndrewMy phone buzzed in my pocket, and I surreptitiously peeked under my desk to get a look at it. As I always hoped, it was Lanie calling.Loudly clearing my throat, I looked back up at the four employees seated across from me. “We’ll deal with this account tomorrow. You can go back to your desks now.”They all exchanged confused looks.“Right. Back to work,” I reiterated, adding a smile to show them I was still working on being nicer.Still looking dazed, they collected their papers and left. The second the door closed behind the last one of them, I dialed Lanie.“Hi,” she answered.“Please tell me this is a midday phone sex call.”She laughed. “I wish. You do know I’m at work, right?”“So am I.” I put my feet up on my desk, getting more comfortable in my chair. Not until Lanie did I really learn the meaning of relaxing.“Unfortunately,” she slowly said, “This isn’t a personal call.”“Uh-oh.” Without my thinking about it, my feet were back on the floor. I leaned forward in my seat