“But youdidwork outside the home.”
Shrugging, Jess said, “Yeah, but it was only eighteen hours a week, and it’s not like it was high stress or something.” She popped the fry into her mouth and chewed it, not wanting to think about how she’d left Evelyn so suddenly.
Aaron had a bite of his burger that was too big to be considered polite. It was something Jess had started to notice about him. He had terrible table manners, unlike Mike, who was a very tidy eater. Before his mouth was completely empty, he started to talk again, causing Jess to do a full-body cringe on the inside. “You know, one of the things my ex and I used to fight about was having a family. I wanted one. She didn’t,” he said, wiping his mouth with a paper napkin. “For exactly the reasons you’ve listed. She knew I wasn’t going to be putting in half the work, and there was no way she could live with that.”
Jess took a bite of her burger and chewed while she thought about her own marriage, and how much of her own misery had come from her expectations—of herself and of Mike. And now she’d shifted that misery onto him by no longer meeting his expectations. She wiped her mouth and looked at her boss. “So here’s the million dollar question. How do you meet in the middle when you come into the whole thing with completely incompatible expectations?”
Aaron shook his head and took another huge bite, before saying. “If I knew the answer to that one, I’d still be married.”
Or maybe if he didn’t chew with his mouth open…
* * *
When they got back to the office after lunch, Jess went straight to her desk, determined to get the cover letter over with. But after a couple of hours, she was only on page twenty of twenty-six. Aaron wandered out of his office in search of his afternoon coffee.
“How’s it coming?”
Jess let out a groan in lieu of an answer. When she looked up at him, he was scratching the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable.
She grimaced, realizing what the problem was. “You wanted to send this off already, didn’t you?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t want to rush you, but I promised them they’d get the contract today, and it’s already after two.”
Shit. “Should I send what I’ve got back to you so you can take over?”
“I think that would be for the best,” he said. “But, I don’t want you to see this as a fail because it’s not. It was your first crack at it and there’s a lot to learn.”
“Right, thanks,” Jess told him, forcing a smile. “You’re a really nice boss to say that when we both know this is a total fail.”
He chuckled and tilted his head in a conciliatory way. “Nobody wins one-hundred-percent of the time.” Aaron started to walk away, but then turned back. “What are you going to work on for the rest of the afternoon?”
“I was thinking about finally tackling your filing system.”
“Speaking of total fails, right?” he said.
She grinned up at him. “We all have our strengths. Yours just might not be organizational skills, which is okay because you’ve got me, and it’s definitely one of mine.”
The next two hours flew by. Jess was so caught up in creating a new system for Aaron’s files that she didn’t think about how nervous she was about the study group or how upset and conflicted she was about her marriage. She dug in and got to work—finally feeling competent and excited for the first time in a long time. She was doing something she was actually good at, and as much as she hated to admit it, it was something she actually loved infinitely more than working on contracts. By quitting time, she had come up with what she was sure would be the perfect way for Aaron to easily track and find any file he needed. There would also be a system in place for him to automatically get reminders on open files. As she gathered up her things to head to the college, she smiled to herself, knowing she was doing something important that would make Aaron’s life easier. A little thrill ran through her, knowing that she was making a difference.
* * *
Snapchat Messages between Noah and Liam:
Liam: I’M BACK! LET’S PARTY!
Noah: Sweet! Make sure you stop yourself the next time you want to swear at your parents.
Liam: Never again. These last two months have been THE WORST.
Noah: Time to throw the world’s most epic party to celebrate.
Liam: But where?
Noah: Leave that to me. I think I know of the perfect place.
22
“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”
