Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
“I’m going to leave you to take your step back,” she says. “From me. And I’m going to go and enjoy the party.”
This is my window of opportunity. I could say I didn’t mean I wanted to take a step back from her. Because I don’t want to lose her. But I don’t have a choice. I have to let her go.
She turns and heads back into the marquee. Part of me wants to bury everything I’m feeling about my conversation with Ed and follow her. I want to dance and laugh and hold her close. I want to spend the night naked and tangled up with her breath on my skin and her fingers in my hair.
But I know now’s not the time to lose it, not the time to give in to temptation. We’re at a tipping point. Ed is stepping back, and I need to step forward. I have to save this business.
I have to save us.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lucy
I kick my shoes off as soon as I’m through my front door. On the wall ahead of me hangs a gold-edged mirror my mom bought me when I moved into this apartment. I’ve never liked it. It’s old fashioned and not in that cool vintage-y way. Less “granny chic” and more “Granny, no thank you.” My mom even chose where to put it. She said it was always good to have a mirror near the front door so you could check your appearance before you left or before you opened the door.
But I hate it, and I’m reminded that I hate it every time I come back to my apartment. It’s still there, every day, despite me hating it, even though Mom hasn’t visited since she came when I moved in three years ago. I sling my bag on the floor and reach for the mirror. It unhooks easily, and I lift it off the wall. I stand back to look at the blank space where it just was. It looks a little bare, but maybe I could find a picture to go there instead. I set the mirror back onto the hook and pour myself a glass of water.
I’m running up against the deadline to apply to sit for the LSAT if I want to do it before applications close for law school in September. I’m also sitting on an email from Sharon, asking whether I’m interested in her putting me forward for one of the in-house scholarships that will be launched this year. It’s an unwritten rule in our law firm that partner emails never have to wait more than an hour—and then only if you’re in a meeting or on a call on something else. Sharon’s email has been in my inbox since ten fifteen this morning, and I still haven’t responded. If I want a law school scholarship, I have to answer her before I go to bed tonight, or I can forget about it.
I take a sip of water. I thought the journey home from the office would clear my head and let me think, help me come to a decision, but it didn’t. Neither does the water. Neither does being at home.
I take my laptop and go to my couch. If I tell her I want to be considered, that doesn’t mean I’ve automatically got the scholarship, does it? I might not get accepted into law school. I might not even get a good enough score on the LSAT.
The LSAT study book Hunter and I bought, what seems like months ago now, is sitting on the coffee table. I set my laptop to one side and grab the book, flipping through the pages like they might have the answer to Sharon’s email in there somewhere.
I’ve mentally tried out some of the questions. I haven’t committed anything to paper. I haven’t even allocated time in my schedule to study. Although I have more time on my hands now that Katherine and Ed are on their honeymoon and Hunter has taken a step back.
A step back from me.
From us.
From life.
Maybe he has the right idea. I certainly have more time on my hands since I haven’t taken my lunch breaks this week and I’ve spent every night at home. The hours I’ve gained back in my schedule could be totally devoted to the LSAT. It’s what Hunter would do, isn’t it? No doubt he’s still in the office at this very moment. Worrying. Stressing. Taking the weight of the world on his shoulders. I can’t blame him. Given what happened with his dad, it’s totally understandable why he wouldn’t want another business he’s in charge of to fail. He doesn’t seem to realize that when he took over his father’s company, it had already failed. From what I can gather, Hunter was an innocent bystander in that scenario. Nothing he could have done would have protected him from the fallout.