Forker smiles, and it’s not that cocky, arrogant grin that I’m used to. It’s a grateful one, and it tells me how much easier his life is going to be if I do this for him.
“Everything okay, man?” I ask.
He sighs, his smile softening. He leans back on the bench, wincing when his abs constrict. “My dad’s just putting her through hell over something she’s already putting herself through hell for, and she won’t let me intervene. I hate watching her punish herself. She does it in the worst fucking ways.”
“She’s a smart girl,” I remind him, and he nods, like he knows that. “She’ll figure it out.”
“The way she figures shit out is always the problem,” he grumbles, moving to stand. “If one thing goes wrong, she self-implodes and destroys everything else around her, just to prove to herself that she’s still in control. It’s hard to manage, Boss, and even harder to watch. So, thanks for doing this. I’ll buy you a drink at the wedding.”
He starts to waltz off back to his area of the gym.
“It’s an open bar!” I call out.
He spins, flashing that grin that I know and love. “It’s the thought that counts, Boss Man!”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ariana
“Let me see it!”Arden squeals excitedly, dropping her lunch bag on the counter and scurrying toward the couch. I hand her my list and she takes it, refusing to drop onto the sofa until she changes out of her scrubs. It’s one of her rules. She winces a bit at what she sees.
“I can’t write like you!” I defend myself because I know what that look is for.
She made the outline of my list gorgeous and artistic, and I ruined it with my horrible handwriting and a blue pen that didn’t match the black titles she’d perfectly crafted. But I was working with what I had, and the only pen I had in my room was blue. It’s not my fault that I have a doctor's chicken scratch, either.
“It’s fine, it was just a shock to the system,” she murmurs, reading it over. Her brows raise to her hairline. “Your first choice is to stay in Pittsburgh?”
I shrug. For many reasons, the biggest being my brother. The second is that I’d be farther away from my parents for longer periods of time. I think that’s the ultimate goal here. The way to achieve actual happiness for myself. Again, I love my parents,but their expectations are suffocating for two people who were barely around.
“Selfishly, I’m glad to hear that,” Arden says. Her attention goes back to the list, and she starts nodding with each point. “Ariana, this is great. You can achieveallof this. I set alerts for positions in the area related to your field. I can forward you the open ones now.”
“You’ve been monitoring my job prospects?”
“I wanted you to be ready to jump into action once you decided. I was hoping you’d tell me you wanted to stay close. I saved all the ones with a competitive salary similar to the job you left. Some are probably negotiable.”
I stare at her, a smile pulling on my lips. “You didn’t have to do that.”
She shoots me a look. “You’re my sister. Of course, I did.”
I ignore the burn in my chest and reach for my list. She hands it over, somehow managing not to cringe at the ugliness of it when she looks at it for the last time. I study my goals, my dreams, and my smile slowly lessens.
“What?”
I glance up at her. “Hm? Oh, nothing.”
“Nothing?” she asks slowly. “What was that look for?”
I shut the notebook and shake my head.
“You left stuff out, didn’t you?” she asks, narrowing her eyes at me. “Somebigdreams? Because you thought you couldn’t pull them off?”
“Are you a mind reader?”
She stares at me. “The point of the list is to write down every single goal, no matter how big. Whatever you left out, put it in there. Now.”
“Arden—”
She snatches the notebook from me and rips it open, sliding the pen out of the binding. She shudders at my penmanshipagain, but manages to shift her focus so she can look at me expectantly over the top of the paper. “Go on.”
