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“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m happy with my life.” Mostly.
“Right.”
“I am,” I urged. “I’m fine. I got a lot of shit to do though. They want us to push out a new album before the end of the year, which is damn near impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible for Jackson Whiss.”
Except getting Lena out of my fantasies.
“Also, I saw that woman at the music class thing you did—is she your…are you…?”
“Uh, no. We’re just friends,” I said before he could awkwardly get the question out. “I don’t want to be anything more than just friends. You know women do nothing but make your life harder.”
He let out a heavy breath. “You know, Jackson, I regret harping on that for all those years. When your mom left, it really broke me, but I never wanted it to hurt you and your brothers. The complications that women and love bring can be a good thing.”
My jaw tensed. “I really don’t have time to talk about Mom. I don’t know what she’s up to, and I don’t care.”
“I wasn’t trying to make this about her—”
“Yeah, okay,” I said flatly, thinking back to our last conversation about her. Dad had mentioned reaching out…and we both knew that was never going to happen. She treated all of us like we didn’t exist anymore.
So I saw no point in trying to beg her to see me.
“I just don’t want her to ruin you by preventing you from finding someone who makes you happy. I want you to find love—and be happy.”
“Okay, well”—I ran my fingers through my hair—“I will keep that in mind. I need to get back to the meeting. We can talk some other time—or maybe you can line up another one of those great therapy sessions or something.”
He let out a grunt. “Right. Okay. Love ya, son.”
“Yeah, love ya.” I hung up the phone, shaking my head. The last thing I needed was my dad harping on about how I needed to find love. He probably was just feeling all hunky-dory about it because Eli had fallen for Olivia—and they were having a baby.
His life was all wrapped up in a perfect fucking bow.
Fuck love.
And fuck Lena for getting under my skin.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket and whipped open the door to the conference room, stopping in my tracks as all eyes shifted to me.
“What?”
17
LENA
“Ican’t believe you were able to make it.” I smiled as I greeted my mom with the biggest hug. Her familiar scent of warm vanilla sugar filled my nostrils, and it was as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
“Well, you know, I had the day off, and I thought it might be nice to get lunch with you.” Mom beamed, her gray hair pulled up in a bun. “And I know you love this place.”
“I do,” I admitted as I followed her into the Tex-Mex restaurant. “It’s really good to see you today.”
“It’s good to see you too.” Mom shot me a weird, suspicious look. “Is everything going okay with work? You don’t seem like your normal self. You’re not usually this relieved to see me,” she added with a laugh.
I swallowed the sadness welling up in my chest. I had received an email this morning letting me know that I was running out of time to pay the first part of my tuition for the next semester…
But I didn’t want to tell her that.
“I guess the job is just a little stressful with all the publicity,” I said, opting to discuss another irritating part of my life. “I mean, it’s good for the school, because they’re getting a ton of interest in their program, but the whole thing has been a headache.” And by whole thing, I mean Jackson Whiss.
