Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 29567 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 148(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29567 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 148(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
“I am letting her explain. She’s standing there like a damn mute.”
“I got a promotion,” I say. “This is—”
“So, you’re sleeping your way to the top?” He shakes his head. “Oh God. We raised you better than that.”
“I got a promotion based on my talent, Dad,” I say. “In marketing.”
He and my mom exchange a look. It’s the same look they’ve shared since I was seven years old, when they realized I wasn’t going to follow the path of my older three siblings into the family business.
There would also be no sports. No music. Nothing extracurricular.
Just creative writing.
I brace myself for my dad’s “You still owe us money for taking so long to finish your degree” speech, followed by my mother’s “Why can’t you try to be more like your brothers and sisters? What’s wrong with chasing something successful?” pity monologue.
If it weren’t for the fact that I know them verbatim—and that I’ve steeled my heart against their veiled venom disguised as wisdom—I’d probably break into tears.
But there’s a part of me that wants to confess everything right now—dropped out of college, still surviving, trying to create something for myself that actually means something—and in the midst of their yelling, right as the profanity-laced confession is about to roll off my tongue, the door from the parking garage opens.
Dominic, dressed in a white T-shirt and gray sweats like he’s just come from the gym, takes out his earbuds and looks between them and me.
“Well, hello there, sir.” My father walks over to him. “Since you live in this building, maybe you can help us get to the bottom of this.”
“What exactly is this?” Dominic asks.
“Do you know my daughter here by chance?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, good. Well, maybe. Her boyfriend Nolan mentioned a shady roommate situation. Is that you or someone else?”
“He’s not my boyfriend anymore, Dad.” I hiss. “He’s an asshole and he called you with bullshit to get back at me.”
My dad waves off my words, extending a hand to Dominic. “George Locke of New Jersey. We—minus Ivy here—run one of the top family-owned agricultural centers on the East Coast. You?”
“I’m Dominic Sutton,” Dominic says. “I’m the CEO of Sutton Enterprises. My company designed most of the labels for the vendors you supply.”
“No way!” My father smiles. “What a small world. Does Ivy know what you do? Are you hiring?”
He doesn’t give Dominic a chance to answer.
“We’re here because we’re worried and we know she’s lying about things, but maybe you know more than we do.”
“I don’t think so,” Dominic says, looking at me. “I actually came here to go over meeting notes with her. She’s one of the marketing executives at my company, and she’s on the verge of helping us secure what I hope will be a two-hundred-million-dollar marketing contract.”
My father’s jaw drops. My mother and sisters gasp in unison.
“My apologies for interrupting your family time, Miss Locke. Would you like to do this some other time, or maybe I can take your parents on a quick city tour while you get ready?”
I mouth ‘thank you’ before nodding. “I’m not sure they’d want a tour.”
“Of course we’d want a tour of Manhattan, especially a free one from someone who lives here!” my mother says, then she looks at me. “I had no idea you were doing so well, honey. I would’ve never…”
“Next time I see Nolan, my fists have some unfinished business,” my dad says, walking over to me. He hugs me, but the words he said before still hold weight; they still hurt.
“I’ll be back in a few hours if that’s all right with you, Miss Locke?” Dominic is being way too chill and understanding about this, but I don’t turn down the chance to catch a break from my family.
“Sounds good,” I say. “I’ll be ready for work when you return.”
My family follows him out the door, and I let out a huge breath.
I’ve definitely lost the right to call him selfish for a while now…
I refresh my inbox repeatedly in the evening, hoping for updates from anyone, but there’s nothing.
It’s not until Mitchell comes up to the suite to give me a warm weighted blanket that I finally burst at the seams.
“Do you know when Dominic will be back?” I ask. “Do you know where he went?”
“I believe he’s leaving a Broadway show with your parents,” he says. “They did a relatively quick tour and he treated them to a Michelin-star dinner.” He tilts his head. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen Mr. Sutton try to make an impression on his girlfriend’s parents…”
“Oh, no. I’m not his girlfriend.”
“Okay, Miss Locke.” He smiles.
“I’m serious.” I shake my head. “I’m sure his timeline on meeting his girlfriend’s parents is still whatever it is.”
He stares at me, saying nothing.
“What is his normal timeline for meeting girlfriends’ parents?”
“Never.” He places a glass of water on the coffee table. “He never makes time to get close to anyone.”