“What’s wrong?” He shot around the desk. The warm room fit his personality, with light woods and cream walls. There was a white leather couch to the left, and I thought about going to flop on it, but my limbs were frozen.
I couldn’t make my feet move to go closer to him. “I’d say nothing, but you won’t agree.”
He came over, snagged my hand, and dragged me to his desk to push me down into the comfy visitor’s chair. “You look terrible, son.”
I shrugged. “I’m sorry.” My nose tingled and my eyes burned so I sniffed, but the bad feeling didn’t go away. I cleared my throat. “They uh.... So, I did something I shouldn’t have on campus. With Flynn. It was all me, my fault. They asked me to withdraw or they were going to kick me out. Alfie Warren said it was a favor to you, the withdrawal.”
Papa blinked for a few heartbeats, then groaned and hugged me. His solid warmth and familiar cologne were soothing, and I cleared my throat again to chase off the shitty feeling that I’d ruined something for him. Not me—him. He leaned back and gripped my shoulders.
“It was.” He shook his head, glaring at the ceiling. “We’ll get you in somewhere else, although you’ll probably lose half of this school year because it’s too late to do it now. There are a lot of fantastic schools, Dickenson in Pennsylvania would be a step up—”
“I’m not moving.”
As he stared at me his ears went red and he brushed a few strands of blond hair behind one. The rest of his face pinked up. “Is this about Flynn?”
Cringing back, I shook my head. I’d hoped to keep his name out of this discussion. “No, this is about me. I don’t want to be a lawyer.” My heart almost stopped as I uttered those words to my papa, who wanted me to follow in his footsteps.
With a warm smile, he patted my shoulders. “Oh, sweetheart, this is only a setback. Don’t give up on your dreams. Of course you do, you always said you did.”
“That was Jury, Papa,” I murmured.
His mouth hardened and he huffed. “You have a year in. I understand this stings, but we’ll make sure to give you a good transition to the next school. Maybe your own apartment? You’ll have a place to study without distractions.”
“Alone? I’m not going anywhere.”
Papa shook his head. “I understand.” His eyes widened and he let out a long breath, forcing a grin. I groaned. It was hiswe’re going to have a rational discussion until you realize I’m rightsmile. “You found someone who...is compatible with you. A perfect fit. You don’t want to do anything except be with him all day long.” His eyes softened and he glanced at the photo of my dad on his desk.
Groaning, I tilted my head back to stare over his shoulder instead of into his eyes, but he cupped my cheeks and moved my head down again.
“I felt that way about your father. He is a handsome man, just like our boys.” He dropped a warm kiss on my forehead that made me feel all of about ten, but I didn’t hate it. This was my papa. “The semester we got together I screwed around so much I nearly got a B,” he whispered.
“Not a B!” I covered my heart with both hands. “Say it isn’t so!”
He sighed and shook his head at me, stepping back to cross his arms. “I love you, Judge. I will support you the best ways I can. You’ve always needed more...convincing to do the things you should, always needed reasons, a good argument. That is why I am certain the law is for you. You work hard and you’re smart.” He tapped the top of my head. “Use this.”
“Oh, come on, I’m not that bad.”
He tossed up his hands. “Jury might backtalk more, but he listens to me. You decide if what I have to say is worth your time or not, and let’s be real, son, it’s often a challenge.” He smiled at me, taking some of the bite out of his words.
I shrugged but didn’t appreciate his tone. I knew what he was going to try to do—he’d sit here and talk me to death until I agreed to do what he said, and I wasn’t going to let it happen this time.
“Either you pick a new school, any school, screw the price, or you can take Flynn and figure out the next steps on your own. You want to be a grown-up?” He smiled and gestured at his office door. “Go be one.”
Nodding, I got to my feet. My heart hammered. I’d thought maybe Dad would do something like this, not Papa. “Okay.” My hands shook as I started toward the door.
“What?” he asked, and when I glanced at him his mouth was hanging open, and I nearly wanted to laugh. It wasn’t often he was stunned.
“Okay.” I shrugged at him.
“Judge!”
I left him there, not sure what to do now. I wanted to talk to Flynn, but not enough to interrupt his first day at a new job. I made it out to the parking lot but hadn’t started my car yet when my pocket buzzed. I tugged the phone out and smiled when I saw Papa’s name.
“Hello?”
“Damn it, Judge. I would never kick a child of mine out of the house.” His voice wavered, and I instantly regretted walking away from him. “How could you leave? I was proving a point.”
Relief, anger, and amusement crashed in on me all at once. “Why did you say it?”
