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Since she was the first one home, she normally started dinner. “Mom said she took chicken out to grill. To grab whatever sides I wanted.”
She might live there for free, but she bought groceries every other week, her parents the alternate weeks. It was only fair in her eyes.
“Got noodles and cheese?” Jax asked.
Her brother loved cheesy butter noodles. “Anything for you.”
“Come here,” Jax said, pulling her into his arms for a big brother hug. “Try not to stress too much. I know it’s hard, but we’ll get through this.”
“Eli’s my whole world.”
“And you’re not spending any less time with him,” he said. “Look at the bigger picture. This is just making you go out of your way. It’s about you, not Eli this time.”
“It’s always been that way,” she said. “If Eli didn’t love his father so much I could argue more things in court, but Jeff is a good father.”
“Asshole exes can still be good to their kids,” Jax said. “Remember that.”
“Lucky me,” she said. “But you’re right. Bigger picture is Eli and what is best for him.”
“Always,” Jax said.
They turned when their mother walked in the door. “What’s going on?” Ellen Hollister asked. “Did something happen to Eli? You’re crying and Jax is here.”
Her brother picked up the papers and handed them over. “Jeff’s being a dick again.”
Their mother read the documents. “I just want to scream. Why won’t it end?”
“He’s not happy unless he makes me miserable because I didn’t want to be with him,” Roni said.
“And this behavior just proves once again you made the right decision. Remember that,” Jax said.
“It’s the only thing I’ve got to hold onto right now.”
1
A Sign From Above
Two Years Later
“How didyou manage to get this space and so quickly?” Janine Miller asked Trent Davenport.
“I know people,” he said, laughing.
He’d unlocked the door on Friday morning. The Friday before the Fourth of July weekend. His new law practice would officially be open for business next Wednesday and his one and only employee, Janine, would start full time now that he’d coaxed her from her last job to come work with him.
“This is a brand new building though,” Janine said. “They are still taking tenants and yet you get into a space that was already done?”
“A business backed out at the last minute. Actually, they realized they didn’t need the amount of space they signed the lease for. My sister, Raina, was talking about it last month with Megan.”
“Megan is your future sister-in-law, correct?”
“Yes,” he said. “I know it’s been a year or so since we’ve worked together. I’ll try to fill you in as we go. But yes, Megan is engaged to my brother, Jonah. Both Raina and Megan work at Fierce Engineering. As you know, I’d decided months ago to leave the law firm but was still working it out in my head.”
He’d wanted to leave for close to a year, but it was scary as all fuck going out on your own when you had a stable job and income.
He just couldn’t stay where he was another day. Not with the way the partners and managers treated their staff.
When he’d heard about this space, he felt like it was a sign from above and the wheels started to move.
