to shatter.
“Hey, let me know when you’re ready…” Tom came barreling into my office the same way he
usually did, but today he stopped in his tracks. He pulled out the chair in front of my desk. “Anything
you wanna talk about, boss man?”
“Don’t call me that,” I scolded him. He knew damn well it pissed me off when he playfully put me
on a pedestal. It was weird as hell being the boss of someone I’d grown up with, in the school where
we’d first met. But he always had a way of turning up when I needed a friendly ear. “Sam’s family’s
coming into town tomorrow morning and the timing couldn’t be worse.”
“Honeymoon has to end at some point,” he said, waving a hand dismissively. He cocked his head
to the side and smirked. “Oh my god, you’re nervous about meeting the ‘rents, aren’t you?”
“The ‘rents? You’ve been spending too much time with your students,” I chastised. “And no, I’m
not nervous about meeting them. Yes, it’s a bit soon by a lot of people’s standards, but we both know
I’m not one to follow any sort of schedule.”
“You’re not worried they’re going to look down on you for robbing the cradle?”
I glared at him. Ihadn’tbeen worried about that, but now I would be. Tom was such an asshole.
The age difference wasn’t something I gave much thought to. I might have when our relationship was
new, but it didn’t matter to me anymore because Sam was perfect for me. And, even then, there had
been so many other hurdles for us to overcome that it had barely been a passing thought.
Tom held up his hands in surrender and laughed. “Hey, if you’re not going to tell me why you’re
tweaking about this, I’m going to start making guesses.”
He leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. I had to work to keep from squirming as he
stared at me, as if he’d see the answers to whatever questions were brewing in my mind if he looked
hard enough. “You’re in deep with him, aren’t you?”
“Deeper than I have any right to be,” I admitted. Around Sam, I tried to be confident enough for
both of us but that didn’t mean I never dealt with my own insecurities. “He has it in his head that he’s
never going to be good enough. And, I mean, I suppose I can understand where part of that comes
from, but I wish I could make him see how special he is.”
“I don’t know much about your relationship with him, but I’m sure you’re doing everything you
can,” Tom reassured me. “But this isn’t general anxiety, is it? You mentioned his family coming into
town. Does the stress that has your shoulders hitched up to your ears have something to do with that?
