“Right, I understand.”
“I know you’re upset,” my friend said. “I’m trying to protect you and this company, and Lexi, honestly.”
“Yes, I know.”
But the wound that had never actually healed had been reopened. I could still see her face as she screamed that I was just like my father.
I rubbed the back of my neck as I stood at the window, looking out over the city.
“She wasn’t calling because she missed you or wanted to see you,” I told myself viciously. “She just wants a check.”
I turned back to my desk, sat down, picked up the rock that now lived on my desk, and turned it around in my hand. It was a nice rock, I thought. I could imagine Lexi picking the perfect one out, probably chatting with the clerk. Was there a clerk? Was there a pet rock store in Manhattan, or did she just grab this out of a rock pile in some restaurant courtyard?
I guessed I’d never know.
Lexi would always be a hole in my heart.
The door to my office opened with a soft whoosh.
“Yes?” I said, not looking up.
“There’s someone here to see you,” McKenna announced.
“I didn’t have anything on my calendar.”
“So now your own mother has to make an appointment to talk to you.”
The rock fell out of my hands to the floor.
“Hi, Grayson,” my mother said, walking into my office as McKenna softly shut the door.
Siobhan approached my desk.
I just stared at her, unable to think, unable to process why, how, she was here, in my office.
“But it’s Tuesday,” I said in a whisper. “You’re not supposed to be here on a Tuesday. You have lunch.”
And wasn’t it ironic that even though this was what I had wished for, worked for, sacrificed for, ever since I’d escaped the cellar, now that she was here, I’d trade it all for Lexi to be standing there instead.
It’s because you’re a horrible son.
“I skipped lunch today actually,” my mom said.
My brain finally caught up to what was happening.
“Mrs. Daniels,” I said, abruptly jumping up. “May I offer you anything? Water? Coffee? Tea?”
“Your secretary already offered,” she said.
We stood there in silence for a moment. The last time I’d been this close to her, I had only come up a little over waist height.
Now I loomed over her.
Worried that I was being intimidating, I sat down heavily in my chair then bent down to pick up the rock off the floor.
“I didn’t see you at the restaurant today,” my mom said finally, peering over the edge of my desk to see what I was doing. “In fact, I haven’t seen you in a few weeks.”
I set the rock on the desk.
