Twice In A Lifetime | Book 2 (Completed)

6: NO PROMISES

“I can't believe you just talked to me about emotions and actually sounded empathic.” I joked, but I took his words seriously. He was right, sweeping the problems under the rug is not gonna solve them.

“I was just giving you some advice, it's my job after all.” He said, adjusting his glasses, “And what you call emotions are just a bunch of chemical reactions within you, I prefer not to be ruled by any such reactions.”

Aaand that's more like him. Just as I was about to make a lame joke about him being possessed, the phone on my desk rang saving me.

Will reached for it and spoke crisply, “Good afternoon, you’ve reached Alexandra Brook’s office...who shall I say is calling?” There was a pause and then he said, “Certainly Mrs Brook.” He handed me the phone within a blink.

His urgency made me chuckle, there was none of that formality he otherwise enumerates, rather his eyes seem to declare, ‘This is your creator and you need to take this call.’

Holding the phone to my ear I greeted her, but my smile froze at my mom’s angry voice.

As I listened to her enraged scolding I was immensely grateful for the innovation that was a phone, I could only imagine what it would have been like if my mother was here in person yelling at me loud enough for my employees down the floor to listen to.

Whatever little respect I held in the eyes of my employees would have shattered to smithereens.

She scolded me for not checking my phone, for disrupting her schedule (even though she made the phone call), for not coming home early for once and whole lot of other things...I expected her to blame me for climate change and world starvation any moment now but when that didn’t come I counted myself lucky and prepared to go home early.

After the phone call I turned to Will and said, “I need to leave early today.”

He nodded in understanding, “Try not to have a wretched evening.”

“No promises.”  I said walking out towards the parking.

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There are very few things that I avoided in life, and wearing a dress was definitely one of them. Hence it wasn’t hard to guess why I wasn’t in an awfully great mood, when mom forced me into one this evening.

The simple yet graceful copper blue dress was a cold shoulder, knee length elegance that I clearly didn’t understand nor did I appreciate enough (according to mom). It was paired with bright metallic copper heels and matching rod-like long reddish brown earrings. It was all beautiful to look at but painful to be in, however I decided to suck it up for Kyle’s sake and enjoyed the way it made me feel pretty.

Dad and Kyle were in their blue and black bespoke suits while mom was dressed in a floor length emerald green dress that made her look younger and stunning.

Apparently we are all going to meet Jenny’s family for dinner and for mom, first impressions were important. Kyle gave me a sympathetic but amused look as we got into his car, since we all had one single destination, taking different vehicles seemed pointless and excessive when his car was big enough to comfortably fit everyone.

The twenty minute drive to Jenny’s place was full of loquaciousness, as Kyle filled me in about Jenny's family since I was as clueless as a dim bulb. He grievously told me about her dad’s death when she was only seventeen but brightened up soon enough as he talked about her mom Lydia who was a gracious and compassionate woman and had already accepted him as a son-in-law, he then told me about her brother who was an intimidating individual but was slowly warming up to him.