God, wouldn’t it be nice to work with her instead.
19
When he receivedDaniel’s text about going out with his friends, Jensen decided he couldn’t mope around his house any longer. Mostly because he had no groceries and a rumbling stomach. His need for a good meal and comfort predictably led him to his parents’ house.
“Mom? Dad?” Jensen called out as he slid off his shoes and placed them on the rack next to the door. Without waiting for an answer, he wandered into the kitchen. The lights in the house were on, so at least one of his parents had to be there.
“Your mother’s working,” his dad said as he walked into the kitchen. “I didn’t expect to see you today.”
He let out a long breath and sat at the counter. “I’ve had a bad day.”
Graham nodded and went to the fridge to pull out multiple containers of leftovers. “We have a lasagna, meatballs, and teriyaki chicken. We also have stuff for a salad, but I don’t think that’s what you’re looking for.”
“Can I have the lasagna?”
Graham nodded, then plated a substantial piece, covered it, and put it in the microwave. They both sat in silence, Graham leaning a hip against the counters and Jensen with his headresting on his palm, as the food heated. The soft whirring sounds mimicked the swirling of Jensen’s thoughts.
Two minutes later, the kitchen was filled with the scent of herbs and the spiced meat his mother included in so many of her meals. Jensen’s stomach gave another grumble as the mouthwatering plate of food was set in front of him along with a fork. He didn’t need prompting to cut into it.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Jensen blew on a steaming bite before putting it in his mouth and chewing thoughtfully.
Now that he’d had time to cool off, he realized he may have overreacted. Sitting in his car earlier that day, fresh off Larsson’s rejection and the blowup with his boss, Jensen had thought the world was falling in on him. He’d felt like he was on the precipice of losing everything. Like he was never going to achieve his full potential or participate in true love.
After stewing around his house for a few hours, Jensen had been able to gain some much needed clarity that only came with time and distance.
He was still dejected, but he felt steadier. The situation didn’t seem so insurmountable. Of course, nothing had really changed. He was still thousands of miles away from Daniel with no job prospects in Sevier. The argument with his boss wasn’t going to magically disappear either.
But he still had a job and a relationship with Daniel. He didn’t need to make rushed and irrational decisions he would regret later on.
“I walked out of work today after arguing with my boss,” he said after swallowing. “The job I thought I had lined up in Sevier is a nonstarter. I don’t know how I’m going to make everything work.”
Graham pulled two glass cups from the cupboard and began filling them with water. “What did you argue with your boss about?”
Jensen stabbed a piece of the lasagna, feeling bitter about it. He may have calmed down, but his boss lying to him still pissed him off. “I’m not meeting deadlines on this ridiculous project, and I asked about being moved to something else. He admitted he was never going to put me on anything other than modern office buildings.”
“Well, I could have told you that.” Graham sat down next to Jensen and put a glass in front of each of them. “Did you quit?”
“No,” he said while shaking his head. “I don’t have anything lined up. It’d be stupid to leave without a new job.”
“Maybe, but if you never take risks, you’ll never gain anything.”
Jensen glanced at him from the side of his eye. “You’ve been working the same union job since college.”
“That is true.” He leaned an elbow on the countertop and turned toward Jensen. “I’ve told you about how I wanted to be a teacher.”
It wasn’t a question, but Jensen nodded and answered anyway. “You gave it up so you could pay for Mom to finish school.”
“I did pull my admission essays for a graduate degree and started working. But the full truth is more complicated than that.”
Jensen put down his fork and gave his father his attention.
“Your mother and I sat down after we graduated and talked about what our future looked like. She wanted to apply for medical school, and we needed to decide if I should start graduate school at the same time.” He scratched at his clean-shaven jaw and looked past Jensen. “When I was a little kid, I thought I wanted to be a teacher, and I never moved past that.Somewhere along the way, I realized I had no actual desire to do that though; I had just been following that path because it was easier and less frightening than figuring out what I actually wanted to do. Your mother pushed me to give up that tired goal that wasn’t serving me and wouldn’t make me happy.”
Jensen fiddled with the dull end of his fork, taking in his father’s words.
Graham looked back at Jensen. “You better believe she would have supported me going into academia, but she knew it wasn’t what I wanted. And she didn’t let me settle, even though I was scared to change directions.” His mouth curved up into a smile. “I think that’s the best part of having a partner that cares about you. They allow you to grow, and even when you don’t want them to, they push you to become the best version of yourself and get the things you want in life. If it wasn’t for your mother, I would be in a classroom teaching and hating every minute of it. This could be your opportunity to make some much needed changes in your life.”
