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However, I wasn’t going to lie. I didn’t hesitate to torture my brother, knowing he was wondering about the girl who was taking my attention away. He had stopped hounding me about Tiffany, though I knew it was still on his mind. He would just have to wait like everyone else until the time was right. In the meantime, I would get to keep my feelings for Tiffany private and just between the two of us. Our time would be our time, and I felt it would make it even that much more important to the two of us. It wasn’t very often, especially in my family, when something special came into your life that you got to enjoy in privacy before everyone wanted to be a part of it. I wasn’t sure how my family would react, but I knew in time, no matter how they felt at first, they would be happy to have Tiffany back into the fold.
I spent the rest of the afternoon organizing the notes into folders and putting them together. I figured eventually Tiffany might want to read some of the information, but for now, I had a pretty good understanding of the disease, what the symptoms were, and what to talk to the doctors about. I would be making phone calls first thing in the morning from the office. I wanted to get on top of this as fast as possible so Tiffany could put her mind at ease for the future. I had no idea how she felt, but I did know that the less stress she had, the quicker she could come back to work, and the more relaxed we could be around each other. The best thing I knew how to do was get her in to see a doctor and be there for her, no matter what the end result was. I couldn’t help but think there wasn’t something we could do to get through this, even if she didn’t end up with me in the end. I just wanted her to be happy. Everything else would work out how it was supposed to after that. I flipped my office light off and headed to my room to get changed and get ready to go to my parents’ house for dinner. It was going to be a fun night, watching my brother act the douchebag like he usually did, knowing in the back of mind, I saved Tiffany from a miserable existence in his shadow.
My parents always sent a car for me on Sundays. They wanted me to enjoy wine with dinner and whiskey afterward without worrying about me getting home. They had moved outside of the city when we were young teenagers, into a large mansion on the edge of town. I hopped in the car and sat back, watching as I passed the changing colors of the trees and texted Tiffany on my way there. She was eating pizza and drinking tequila with Mona, and it made me a little jealous, but only because I wanted to be there with her. When I arrived at my parents, I shoved my phone in my pockets and walked up the large front staircase. My mother had already pulled out the fall decorations, and there was a large wreath covered in orange, red, and brown leaves hanging from the front door. The maid opened the door before I could even reach for the handle, and I smiled as I walked in, smelling the scent of Sunday evening dinner. It was really the only time my mother cooked anymore. Instead, she’d hired a chef and spent her days and nights between the office and doing her crafting with her friends from the club.
At the start of dinner, I looked down at my phone and smiled at a picture Tiff sent of her and Mona sprawled out on the floor, surrounded by tequila and pizza. They were ridiculous, but I was really pleased to see Tiffany starting to act like her old self again. She was way too precious to be caught up in heartbreak, and I was happy to be part of the solution.
“That your new girlfriend?” Jordan looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. “Where’d you meet her?” He sounded suspicious, but I ignored his tone.
“I met her at a bar a few weeks ago,” I said smiling. “She’s pretty awesome. You’d really like her.” I stared right at Jordan with a cocky smile. He squinted his eyes at me with curiosity.
“Is that why you didn’t come back to work on Friday?” My father interrupted our stare-off, and I switched my gaze to him, taking a deep breath.
“Um, yeah, actually,” I chuckled. “She had some stuff going on, and I wanted to be there for her.”
“Well,” my mother said. “I need to meet this girl. We need to meet this girl. You haven’t talked about a girlfriend since that flakey girl you dated in eleventh grade.”
“I know.” I laughed, thinking about little Marcy from school. She was sweet but not too bright. “When the time is right, you will all meet her.”
That seemed to appease my mother and father, but Jordan kept his gaze fixed on my face. I knew he had his suspicions, but I couldn’t have cared less about what he thought. I was going to make the best decision for Tiffany in all of this, something he neglected to do from the get-go. If he wasn’t going to cherish her and treat her right, I would make sure that I did.
Chapter Twelve
Tiffany
I looked in my bathroom mirror after applying the last of my makeup and my cherry lip gloss. My hair looked silky smooth
and flowed over my shoulders in ringlets. I was nervous, and I didn’t really know why. The other night was amazing with Jason, and we had talked non-stop since then, sending silly texts back and forth and staying up until the wee hours of the morning talking on the phone. He had a great dinner with his parents and laughed at how they noticed his attention was elsewhere. Everything seemed perfect, except that our relationship was a huge secret. I didn’t know where it was going or if I should even be thinking about that, but I couldn’t help but let it plague my mind. I just wanted everything to go smoothly. I wanted his parents to accept that we were dating, Jordan to get off his high horse about thinking I was still his property, and this medical stuff to be lifted off my shoulders. The only thing I could tell myself was to be patient and let it play out. Nothing was going to come from worrying so much.
I had gotten a lot of work done on Saturday and was ready to turn it in for more, but that meant going to the office. This time, however, I wasn’t as nervous as before, knowing Jason would be somewhere in the office. John would be pleased the files were done, and I knew there was plenty of work to keep me busy for a while. I wasn’t quite ready yet to get back to my office, but I didn’t mind having something to keep me occupied during the day. I knew, too, when I got there, I would be able to stick my head in Jason’s office and surprise him since he didn’t know I would be coming in today. I finished getting ready and grabbed my phone, dialing John’s cell phone number.
“Hey there,” he said happily.
“Hey, John,” I replied. “I finished up those files and was going to come trade them for some more. I wanted to ask—”
“I’ll make sure Jordan is out of the office,” he interrupted kindly. “I have some errands I can actually send him on right now if you're ready to come over.”
“Sounds perfect,” I replied.
“Great,” he said. “I’ll see you soon.”
I hung up the phone feeling better that he wouldn’t be there. The last thing I wanted was for Jordan to ruin my good mood. I hopped in a taxi and headed over to the building, excited and nervous to see Jason’s smiling face. He texted me on the way, but I didn’t answer back, figuring dropping in would be better than a text. When I arrived, I took the elevator up and smiled at the receptionist who seemed happy to see me. I wondered what kind of chaos was going on while I’ve been gone but pushed the thought from my mind, not ready to jump back into anything stressful. I walked to Jason’s office and poked my head around the corner, smiling as he looked down at his phone with a concerned look.
“I’m okay,” I said smiling.
“Hey,” he said excitedly. “This is a surprise.”
“I know,” I replied. “I mean it to be one. I just came to grab some more work. I’ll poke my head in before I leave.”
“Please do,” he said happily. “I’ll walk you out.”
I nodded and walked merrily down the hall to John’s office. He was equally as pleased to see me and was very gracious for the expediency in which I prepared the files. I stopped by my office and refilled the box, noticing that only one or two folders had been taken since the last time I was there. The temp must really be struggling since a pile like the one on my desk would normally have been done in two working days. I shook my head and headed back to Jason’s office, standing in the doorway with a smile for him. He got up and walked over, taking the box from my hands.
“Walk me out?”
“Of course,” he replied with a wink.
We walked to the elevators, ignoring the blank stares from the people around us. Once inside, I reached over before he could press the button and hit the seventh floor button. He looked at me strangely, and I chuckled.
