“To be fair, I don’t believe anyone enjoys the taste.” I tried to joke, but I could see it fell flat, which only increased my concern.
“We’ve lost major funding.”
“Wait, what?” We had multiple streams of funding to avoid any catastrophes. I’d had some meetings earlier in the month to deal with a few issues, but I thought they’d been resolved.
“The grants we were able to secure in the past have been reallocated due to the current federal climate. We haven’t had as many donations this year, and costs across the board have all gone up.”
She shared her screen, and I looked at the numbers she was referring to. This was bleak.
“What are you saying?” My heart was jackhammering in my chest. I had a damn good feeling I knew what was coming.
“Noah, I’m sorry. I’ve been looking at these numbers for the better part of a month. You have a ton of seniority in the company, so you’re not out a job, but the only positions currently open are on location in Africa.” Karen looked like she might vomit.
I wanted to join her.
Africa. I loved the place, but I knew it wasn’t where I belonged anymore. Addie had just turned six. Last night I’d lainin her room under the large castle canopy we’d gotten her for her birthday to go over her bed. She had a matching one at Jake and Ivy’s place. She’d told me her bedtime stories as I lay beside her and cataloged all the ways she had changed already in the past eighteen months of seeing her daily.
I couldn’t leave her again, but what was I going to do?
“Karen, when do you need to know my answer?” I asked, figuring that was the fastest way off this call.
“I can give you a week,” she said. “Noah, for what it’s worth, I’m so damn sorry. Maybe in a year or so we’d be able to get you back in the States, but with the fluctuations in funding, it’s too precarious right now.”
“Not your fault. Thanks for looking out for me.” With a wave, I signed off and dropped my head to my desk.
I sat there for a few moments, feeling sorry for myself. I had worked for this company for eight years. What else did I know beyond this world? Maybe I could find a job locally. Or I could give whatever funds we could access from my inheritance as a donation, but I didn’t know how quickly I could get my hands on anything. And, frankly, would that fix the fact I needed to stay local? How long would it fund my position? Would the company even want to funnel the money to ensure I could still stay stateside? Maybe they already had more pressing needs.
In the future with the estate settled, I wouldn’t need to work full-time, but that wasn’t helpful now. Also, I knew bone-deep I’d need something fulfilling work-wise to be happy. Most people wouldn’t understand that, but after a lifetime of watching people in my parents’ sphere live off inheritances, that wasn’t for me.
My stomach churned with unanswered questions, and I found myself getting up and heading out my back door and to Jules’s house before I even really put it together. I needed to see her; I had before the call and now it was imperative.
I reached her back door and was surprised to find it locked. I rang the bell once, but nothing. I knocked.
“Jules?” I called. I rang the bell again.Please be here, please be here.
The door swung open, and in it stood a tall dark-haired woman I didn’t recognize. She had long hair piled on top of her head and more freckles on her face than I had seen on most adults.
“Who are you?” I asked.
She batted her eyes at me. “Your fantasies come to life. Who are you, gorgeous?”
I shook my head, so confused. What the hell was happening? “Where’s Jules?”
The woman looked at me with an assessing glance. “Went with her dad to get more moving boxes.” She gestured behind her, and I saw boxes stacked in front of Jules’s favorite kitchen nook. “Want me to pass on a message?”
I blinked, willing everything to make sense. Nope, still didn’t. I stepped away and then turned and jogged back to my house as I heard the door shut behind me. Moving boxes? Her house was being packed up? Not replying to my messages? What was going on here?
Thirty minutes later, after pacing my house and trying to call Jules no less than ten times, I still had no answers. I’d taken off to pick up Addie with my stomach in knots, taking the scenic route to her school to try to get my mind right. Now not only was I unsure about my job, but a relationship I’d decided to pursue looked like it was going to crash and burn and I didn’t understand why.
My mind raced, thinking about showing up at Jules’s house to find that she was moving and I hadn’t known. Was I not enough for her? Was Highland Falls not what she’d expected? Or now that her family knew about her writing career, was she lessfearful of diving into life as a best-selling author? I’m sure she figured out she could do better than a single dad in a small town who didn’t have his shit together in the slightest.
Yep, I was all up in my feelings. Seeing Addie would help me put everything in perspective and was exactly what I needed. I pulled up to Addie’s school only to find I was running late. There were only a few kids still on the playground, and most of them appeared to be playing on the equipment while their parents watched from the sides.
I got out of my car, checking the time. Yep, fifteen minutes late. I was so preoccupied that I had my head up my ass and had missed pickup. Shit. I scanned the kids, but where was Addie? I jogged to the school and saw Addie’s teacher standing by the door, talking to the principal. I knew them both, so I headed in that direction.
“Ms. Tracy, so sorry to interrupt, but I’m late to pickup and I don’t see Addie.” I was breathless at that point. The run hadn’t been hard, but everything else about the past hour sure had been.
Addie’s teacher turned toward me and gave me a reassuring smile. “Oh hey, Mr. Lawson. No worries—Addie’s grandfather picked up today. Sorry, he thought you knew.”
