salad. “Going to keep your appointment with Dr. Collins tomorrow?”
I was doing a lot of things for her that I normally wouldn’t do, like seeing a therapist and agreeing to a book tour. She wasn’t changing me. I chose to change for her. And since the changes made me feel better instead of worse, I continued to do it. “Yes.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“But I think I should see him alone.”
She stilled at the statement, raising her head to regard me.
“It’s not you. I just…think it should be only us from now on.” I knew he would ask me about other aspects of my life, and since he’d grilled me about my relationship with Emerson before, I was afraid of what he would get out of me this time.
“That’s great,” she said. “I’m glad you feel comfortable. All I needed was to give you a nudge.”
I nodded and took another bite of my food.
My phone started to vibrate. so I pulled it out of my pocket with the intention of silencing it. But since it said Dad on the screen, I answered right away. I put the phone to my ear and left my lunch on my lap. “Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, little man.” We hadn’t spoken much since that tense conversation at the cabin, and it was still a little awkward. “You got a minute?”
“Yes. What do you need?” My dad had never been too busy for me at any point in my life, so I would never be too busy for him. He was the one who would take time out of his busy schedule to take me to the batting cages or the museum, when Valerie didn’t work at all and could barely spare a few seconds.
“I’m in the lab right now, and one of my machines broke down. I called the manufacturer, and they can’t get someone out here for two weeks…even though Mom pulled all the strings she could. Any chance you could come down and give it a try? If you’re busy, don’t worry about it—”
“I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
“Thanks. See you soon.”
I hung up.
“Where are we going?” She closed her salad container.
“A piece of my dad’s equipment is busted, and he needs me to fix it.”
“Can you do that?” She raised both eyebrows.
“Yeah, I can fix pretty much anything.”
“You want me to stay here, then?”
“No.” I left my sandwich behind and went into the closet to pull out my generic tools. “I’ll need you to read stuff to me while I’m working with my hands.”
“Alright.” She got to her feet and grabbed her purse. She picked up my lunch too, probably so I could eat on the drive. “Do you know the name of the machine? I can start looking up stuff in the car.”
I got my things together and headed for the door. “I’ll text him on the way.”
The drive to his building didn’t take long since it was outside the city and so was mine. Ronnie dropped us off at the front, and we headed to the double doors.
Emerson read the company name on the door. “Hamilton Pharmaceuticals… Does your dad own this company?”
“Yes.”
“I guess science and business both run in the family.”
“No. We’re forced to handle the business side of things in order to pursue science correctly. Only way to get past all the bureaucratic nonsense.” We entered the lobby, and the assistants at the front recognized me and greeted me.
We got into the elevator and took it to the top floor, where my father’s office was.
I continued to carry the bag of tools, all the supplies I might need to fix this.
“It’s nice of you to help him like this.” Emerson stood with her bag over her shoulder, facing me during the ride, her brown hair pulled back and out of her face. She was in a skirt and blouse, wearing high heels that gave her enough height to be eye level with me. “You hate being interrupted…”
I shrugged and forced my gaze to shift to the metal doors, so I wouldn’t stare at her so intently. “If it’s for my parents, I don’t mind. My dad made the same sacrifices when I was growing up, so…”
She smiled. “That’s sweet. Not very many people understand all the sacrifices parents have to make.”
We reached the top floor, and the doors opened. After I checked in with his assistant, I let myself into his office, opening the door so Emerson could go first.
She hesitated for a moment because I usually went first,