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Dan stands and heads towards the door. “I won’t keep you. I know you were heading out when I dropped by.” He pauses and points at my face. “Your eye looks awful. You should probably ice it some more.”
”He just showed up at the school?” I don’t know why this surprises me. My father will do about anything to get what he wants even if that means going to harass my brother at school. This is all my fault.
“Hey,” Millie grabs my face, forcing me to look at her, “none of this is your fault. Any and all action that Jack takes is on him. Not you. It’s not your job to protect everyone.”
I lean into her touch. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Know exactly what I need to hear.”
Millie kisses me softly as she moves her hands from my face to around my neck. “You aren’t as good of an actor as you think you are.”
She kisses me again, but this time I pull her in closer and deepen the kiss.
“Or maybe you can just read me better than most people.”
Millie shifts and sits on my lap. “Maybe that’s because you let me.”
I lean back further into the couch, pulling her body with mine. “I don’t mean to be so closed off.”
“I know,” she says softly. “Letting people in is hard. It makes you vulnerable, and you don’t like that, but, Mark,” she sits up so she can look me directly in the eyes. “Being vulnerable doesn’t make you weak. It makes you brave.”
I let that sink in as we lay on the couch completely wrapped up in one another. We stay there in complete silence as I listen to Millie breathing softly as she lays her head on my chest, my hand rubbing her back absentmindedly.
I had to step out of the office for a bit. It’s been a long string of meetings with clients followed by long hours sitting in my office at my computer as I work on the contracts they need written up.
I’m exhausted. Mentally and physically. It’s been nice having work distract me from all the things I can’t fix. I don’t know how to help Millie. I know she and Jonathan have talked things through now, but she’s still been so upset about Ben, and I can’t help but feel responsible, even when she continually assures me that it’s not my fault. Now with my father in town, I know it’s only a matter of time before he finds me. I know it sounds ridiculous, a grown man being afraid of his father finding him, but I am. Maybe afraid isn’t the word. I’ve never feared for my safety, I just lost who I was as I became everything that I thought he wanted me to be. I don’t know what to expect when I see him. When it comes down to it, I’ve always sought his approval, and knowing I don’t have it after leaving Charleston like I did, I’m not sure I’m strong enough to withstand whatever he will lash out at me.
After my last meeting, Nancy invited me to go to lunch, and I couldn’t say no. Not that I would want to. I laugh as I think about how much I didn’t want to get to know her when I first started at Lexington. Now I couldn’t imagine my life without the crazy woman who has become somewhat of a surrogate aunt. Who has welcomed me into her family with open arms.
When we stepped off the elevator Nancy pulled my arm towards the pavilion of tables in the courtyard where Marty was waiting. He gives my shoulder a squeeze and Nancy a kiss on the cheek, then turns to the table and pulls out a chair for her to sit in.
“I don’t want to intrude on your lunch plans. I can just go get something from the taco truck and head back into the office.”
There’s a knowing glance between the two of them as Marty starts to unpack the cooler he brought with him.
“No need for that. I brought sandwiches.” Marty hands me a wrapped deli sandwich. “Nancy said you’d like a number six with no mayo.”
I smile to myself. I should have known they had something planned.
I spend the next hour enjoying Nancy and Marty’s company. I sit back and listen to stories of their travels and vacations they took when their children were young. As they go from story to story, Marty starts to take over as narrator and gets more and more lively as time goes on. Nancy once told me that I reminded her of Marty, I didn’t know it then, but that was the biggest compliment she could have ever given me. Nancy adores Marty, almost as much as he adores her. They bring out the best in each other. I only hope that that can be me and Millie someday. The thought makes heat rise in my chest, but it’s the good kind. The kind that makes a man want to get down on one knee and ask her to be mine forever.
Miles is pacing by the front door of the office when Nancy and I walk off the elevator with an expression I can’t quite read. I don’t know what he’s going to say, but the moment his eyes meet mine I know I’m not going to like whatever it is.
“Mark! There you are!” Miles says in a voice much louder than necessary for the small space. He looks behind him towards the partially open door. “Hope the meeting went well.” Again, his voice is louder than it needs to be when I’m standing three feet in front of him.
“Uh, yeah. It went fine. Pretty standard.”
Miles leans in speaking in a hushed tone this time, “A man claiming to be your father came in demanding to see you.” My stomach drops. “I told him you were in a meeting and I wasn’t sure when you would be back. I tried calling you, but it went straight to voicemail.”
I look at my phone, and sure enough, there was a message from Miles. And the unopened one from my brother that I was too chicken to open last night. No matter how much Millie told me I should read it.
Jonathan: Dad’s in town. He’s looking for you. Thought you should know.
“I must have forgotten to take it off of do not disturb.”
Miles nods.
