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“No shit?” Luke asked with a small smile.
“Yes.” I nodded. “I got it all put together.”
“Good for you.” Luke smiled.
“Thanks.”
I got the sense the men wanted to talk business. I had only stopped by because I was a little bored. I wasn’t used to sitting in an apartment all day while I was supposedly working. My apartment was smaller than the room I had at home. My old home. Not my new home.
“I should go,” I said. “I’ll see you later.”
“Thanks for bringing this over,” Leo said. “As always, it’s good. Send your invoice into payroll and we’ll make sure you’re paid.”
“Thanks,” I replied, nodding.
I pushed the back of Luke’s head like I always did. It was just the thing we did to each other. “Bye,” Luke said.
I left the office and headed back to my apartment. I took a deep breath as I walked through my front door. It was still so weird to be going home to a tiny apartment. I made the decision to move out of my parents’ house over some stuff that had been brewing for a while. It was the argument with my father that finally pushed me to take the leap. I had to have my own space. It was time to grow up and be the independent woman I wanted to be.
As I sat in my new apartment, surrounded by boxes and furniture that I had painstakingly chosen from Craigslist, second-hand stores, and the classifieds, I couldn’t shake the feeling of uncertainty that lingered in the back of my mind.
Was I really ready for this level of independence? Would I be able to handle the responsibilities of paying rent, buying groceries, and taking care of myself without the safety net of my parents’ support? And what would happen to my relationship with my family now that I had made this decision?
Despite all the doubts, I knew I had made the right choice. The argument with my father had been the final straw in a long line of disagreements and strained interactions that had left me feeling stifled and frustrated. Moving out was the only way to break free from the cycle and start building a life that felt truly my own.
I looked around my new home and smiled. I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. Yes, there would be challenges ahead, but I was ready to face them head-on. With each passing day, I felt more and more confident in my decision and excited to see where this new chapter of my life would lead. It was time to leave the nest. I had waited long enough to find my own way in the world. My dad could not dictate my life. I had to do this for myself. I needed to forge my own path. It might not be what he wanted, but it was what I wanted.
ChapterThree
Luke
“Anything else?” I asked Leo.
He was looking at me funny. I already knew what he was going to say, and I didn’t want to hear it. I knew Leo very, very well. He was basically a brother. We had known each other for over twenty years. We had been through a lot together.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged. “I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ll be in my office.”
I got up and escaped before he could say anything. I made it back to my office and closed the door. I sat alone in my quiet office, lost in thought. My mind was consumed with thoughts of the woman I had loved for as long as I could remember. She was my best friend since childhood. We had grown up together. But while I had been secretly in love with her all these years, she remained completely oblivious to my feelings.
Emmy was the boss’s daughter. Technically, Joey wasn’t my boss, but he was my dad’s boss. I had always thought of Joey as my boss. He had given me little jobs around the house so I could earn money for stuff teenagers spent money on. My dad made it clear little Emilia was off limits. She was the Limonsatta princess. She never seemed to care that I was the help’s kid. A lot of the help had children our age. The gardener often brought his son. There was Leo and the cook’s daughter. It was fun. I had a good childhood, but I knew my place in the pecking order. Messing with Emmy was just not allowed.
I always daydreamed about seeing her and telling her how I felt. It was nothing more than a daydream, though. I knew it would never happen. I couldn’t bear the thought of ruining our friendship or making her uncomfortable. So, I kept my feelings to myself, content to just be near her whenever I could. We spent time together as friends. We went out to dinner and the movies as friends. We had movie night at my apartment all the time. We were best friends. Leo was my best friend in one regard, but Emmy was the one I could talk to about, well, Leo. We could talk about stuff like the people I dated and what that meant to me. I guessed it meant I could talk about feelings. Leo would give me a lot of shit if I tried to talk to him about my feelings.
The longer I sat lost in thought, I began to wonder if she ever thought about me the way I thought about her. Did she ever daydream about me the way I daydreamed about her? I smirked and shook my head, dismissing the thought. It was unlikely, and I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Emmy was beautiful. She could have any man. Ten years ago, I never would have thought I was worthy of a woman like her. But I had climbed up the ranks. I made damn good money. I had a nice home. But she was still Emmy and out of my reach. We were good friends, and she gave me a lot of her time and attention, but I was sure she thought of me as a brother. I would never be anything more than her big brother.
Still, I couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to be with her. To hold her close and tell her how much she meant to me. But as much as I wanted it, I knew it could never be. That meant I would continue to sit alone, lost in thought, dreaming of a love that would never be.
I pulled myself back to the present. There had always been some feelings, but lately, with Leo getting hitched, those feelings felt more intense. I kept comparing myself to Leo. I spent enough time with Caroline and Leo to recognize a lot of me and Emmy in them. Emmy and I ate dinner together a lot. We joked around a lot. We argued like we were married. We could finish each other’s sentences. When we went to a restaurant, she picked the onions off my plate, and I took her tomatoes and pickles. I knew her favorite color was green, and she secretly loved opera, even if she never admitted it to anyone else. When I watched Caroline and Leo, it was like watching me with Emmy. We were a good couple.
“Hey,” Leo said as he walked into my office.
I blinked and looked up. “What?”
“What are you doing?”
I couldn’t give him a good answer because I honestly didn’t know what I was doing. I was spacing out. How long had I been sitting and dreaming about her? “I’m, uh, going over that counteroffer.”
