I looked forward to our next monthly meeting at the coffee shop like it was something special. I marked the date on my calendar with little red stars. Sleep was out of the question on the night before we met. I lay awake, imagining him sitting at our table, waiting for me, agonizing over how I would greet him. Hi Derek! Heya Derek! Hey there, bud.
I was lucky. Carrie simply tolerated her mentor. She was an executive in the legal department, a mom of five with barely enough time in her day to use the restroom on a regular basis. “Once, she made me go with her and talked to me through the stall!” Carrie lamented.
She only met with Carrie when it was absolutely necessary to fulfill the course requirement. Beyond that, they never spoke. Carrie would see me lying in bed in our dorm room, reading the books Derek had lent me and moan about how much she wished Derek was her mentor too. The idea of having to share him made my stomach ache so hard I’d nearly double over.
I told myself I was only territorial of our time together because I was wringing invaluable knowledge from him, but in truth, it was more pitiful than that. From our very first encounter, my head and my heart were on two different pages when it came to Derek Knightley. Ten years my senior, a full-grown man in a position of power in the company I worked for—logic told me to crush my burgeoning romantic feelings for him. My heart thought logic could go to hell.
My heart caught a break the week before Thanksgiving. On my way to my fourth monthly meeting with Derek, I received a phone call from my parents. We spoke every now and then, but always at night, when they knew I was home from class and work. A call in the middle of the day had me worried. My mind immediately jumped to worst-case scenarios about Avery, but my alarm bells weren’t necessary. She was still fit as a fiddle, but they weren’t going to be able to make it down to Georgia for Thanksgiving.
The news devastated me.
I hadn’t seen them since they left for New York at the end of summer. I’d been using Thanksgiving as a lifeline in my head, though I didn’t realize how profoundly until they yanked it away.
I knew Avery hadn’t landed the role in the off-Broadway play she’d auditioned for months ago, and her agent had her auditioning for any role he could find. He was hopeful she’d land one soon. “He says your sister has the potential to be a real star!” My parents told me it wasn’t a good time to travel. They needed to focus—on Avery. I would have just suggested I fly up to visit them instead, but I couldn’t. The holiday season is a busy time for Fairytale Kingdom with so many children on break from school. Upon accepting my position in the internship program, I’d agreed I would be able to work through the holidays.
I hurried off the phone, both worried that I was late for my meeting with Derek and too upset to effectively articulate how disappointed I was that they weren’t coming down to Georgia. There was no mention of Christmas plans, but my gut knew the odds weren’t in my favor there either.
After a steadying breath, I tucked my phone into my bag and rushed into the coffee shop just as Heather was leaving. We nodded to one another, but I didn’t meet her eyes. I barely had a hold on my emotions. I was already sitting down in the chair across from Derek before he even looked up. My hair shielded one side of my face as I busied myself with getting a book out of my backpack to give back to him.
“Hey Whitney.”
His voice, though husky and masculine, had such a polite edge to it, an edge that easily pierced my defenseless heart.
I didn’t speak—couldn’t speak, not with my throat so tight.
“What’s wrong?”
I immediately tried to rearrange my features to better conceal my mood. “What? Oh. It’s nothing.” I slid the book across the table and maintained eye contact with its spine. “Thank you for letting me borrow this,” I said, trying to push the conversation into neutral territory.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes. Fine. It’s a silly family thing. Nothing worth sharing. I really liked that book, by the way.”