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“I’ll send my friend a text now to see when her mom can fit you in this week. If there’s anything universal in girl code, it’s an SOS signal for a hair crisis.”
I laughed, thinking that was true. We each took a seat at my dining room table to chat more comfortably. “Thank you. Meanwhile, how’s school going?” I knew Haylee was a smarty-pants. She’d gone to Stanford and was now attending Yale law school. But she was also a mother a few months in, so juggling the two couldn’t be easy.
As evidenced by her sigh, she was feeling the strain. “It’s okay. I’m doing well in my classes, but I find myself distracted. I want to finish and I do want a law degree, but being separated from Josh is tough. We try to cram everything into the weekend, but it’s tough. Not that he complains. He’s been absolutely terrific and supports my dream of becoming a lawyer.”
I sipped my coffee and then was candid. Because frankly, I didn’t know how not to be. “Priorities change once you have a child. It’s simply fact. Is law school still what you really want?”
She seemed to contemplate the question. “You and Dr. Mac are the only ones to come right out and ask me that. Josh is afraid it’ll come across as unsupportive, and I guess I’m afraid to ask myself the question because I worked extremely hard to get here.”
“Sometimes we women are so invested in something that we lose sight of what we’re getting out of it. Glutton-for-punishment syndrome I call it.”
And yes, I was speaking about my marriage. How many times had I considered leaving until I thought about the thirteen years I’d invested in him?
“I’m not saying you should quit law school, especially if it’s your dream, but have you thought about modifying the situation? What about transferring to a school in New York so you can be with Josh during the week? Are there any good ones?”
She nodded. “Yeah, Columbia and NYU. I was accepted into both of them. Bigger class sizes, but at this point, I’m not sure I care. I’m not looking to sign with a top law firm. Matter of fact, I find myself wanting to be more a part of Josh’s brother’s charity, which is now taking off. It would be nice to be with my husband during the week. He isn’t keen on raising Abby in the city, but it would be temporary. I just feel bad with him buying this building up here for me to stay in, and we have a nanny, and—”
I stopped her there. “Haylee, he bought this building to keep housing costs low so you would choose a school near him back when you were dating. As for Natalie, she’s wonderful, but eventually you’re planning to move anyhow. You need to do what’s best for your family.”
“You’re right. Although I want to discuss this with Josh, he’d only say, ‘whatever you want.’ Of course, I’d need to make certain the transfer is possible.”
“So do that first. Then you have your options. Simply applying and telling him you got in will probably give you his raw reaction to you moving to New York.”
“The school wouldn’t be so different from here. I’d miss the beautiful campus, but not as much as I miss Josh during the week. He’d continue to travel, but he’s cut down quite a bit already.”
From the excitement in her voice, I could tell she was already halfway toward making the decision. “You sound happy about the possibilities, which I think tells you something.”
“I’ve been counting the days until the end of law school so we could move. So why do it if I’m miserable?”
“Exactly.”
“Have you met with Dr. Mac yet?”
I couldn’t help but blush in remembering my first encounter after I got him mixed up with the other Mark. “Uh, not yet. And I know I should. I will. I really don’t have any excuse.”
“I don’t mean to pressure you. Whether you see him or not is completely up to you. But he inquired about you the other day and wanted me to tell you he’s open if you ever wish to call him.”
I knew I needed to make an appointment, but my avoidance kept me in blissful denial that I was struggling. Sometimes not dealing with emotions seemed a whole lot easier.
Haylee suddenly grabbed her vibrating phone. “Oh, it’s my friend calling about your hair.”
I listened while she described my unfortunate hair-color-from-the-box incident and was relieved when she asked, “Does tomorrow morning work? You can drop Tristan off with Natalie, and her mom can meet you at nine o’clock at her place. It’s about six miles from here.”
My nod could not be more enthusiastic. “That would be amazing.”
Haylee confirmed the time and paused, covering the phone with her hand. “Do you mind if I chat with her about our paper? It’s due later this week.”
I waved her off, not minding in the least. “Of course not.” Getting up, I poured more milk for Tristan and then heard another knock on the door. Since chances were it was Mark, I remembered my hat. Didn’t want to scare anyone else with the state of my hair.
“Hi.” I hadn’t expected to see him again this weekend. The fact that he appeared fresh from a shower, looking handsome in jeans and a flannel, practically had me giddy. I was a sucker for him in jeans.
“Hi, yourself. You, uh, going to a ballgame?” He pointed to the hat.
“No. Got into a fight with a chick on a box of hair color, and she kicked my butt.”
He quirked his head to the side in a familiar way. It practically said, ‘what the hell is this crazy girl talking about now?’ “Pardon?”
Wow. Even his manners were a turn-on. “Um. I attempted to color my own hair and it turned out kind of punk rock meets sad stripper.” Jesus. Sometimes I truly couldn’t help myself with the crap that came out of my mouth.
