The Sweet Escape

Chapter One

This chapter is not edited.

Chapter One

Ian stared at the screen of his computer, trying to concentrate. He had to accompany his client to court tomorrow, he had to finish up the paperwork. But there was something that just wouldn't let him do his work. Ever since Kyle, his cousin in Chicago, called him to give him the news that he'd be visiting, but that he had to drop off a friend at her college. And that friend just happened to be her. 

Five years it had been since that night at his uncle's apartment. The night when he'd witnessed just how far a beautiful girl would go to get rid of her demons. He hadn't seen her since that night, but he sure did think about her. He wondered how the broken 16-year old he'd stopped from jumping off a balcony was doing. Had she gotten better? Had she tried to take her life again? Did she seek professional help? Was she happy now? And did she ever think of him?

From what Kyle had said, he learned that she had just finished undergraduate study at Northwestern University but was transferring to Stanford for law school. She was very smart and had a bright future ahead of her.

It brought him a sort of joy to know that she would be so close to him. He would get to see her again, get to know how she was doing. See her all grown up. She wasn't the same 16-year old he'd left behind in Chicago. No. Now she was a 20-year old woman studying in a prestigious law school, taking up the same career he'd chosen for himself.

Was it wrong of him to be thinking about the young girl he'd met five years ago? She had been underage at the time, barely 16 while he had been 24. That was why he didn't try anything. Everyone had thought he would choose one of her older sisters that were much closer to his age, but he didn't. He wanted her, he just couldn't have her. But maybe it wasn't wrong anymore. She was an adult now, all grown up. But...oh, hell, she probably didn't even remember him. Maybe she had a boyfriend. And anyway, it wasn't like he could do anything about it. He had Emily to think about, his sweet 4-year old daughter that had been conceived not long after leaving Chicago after a drunken night with an air-headed woman. Christina may not have meant anything to him, but his daughter was his world.

As soon as Skylar and Kyle landed in San Francisco, she was overcome by joy. She was in California, on her own! Well, almost on her own. Her close friend Kyle had tagged along, promising to show her around so she would get used to her new home. Sure, she wasn't going to live in San Francisco as she had to go to Stanford, but she would like to get to know the city that she would one day be calling her home, hopefully working for a prestigious law firm. 

"You seem overly excited," Kyle pointed out as they got into the cab.

"I'm so excited!" she enthused. Sure, she was used to the college life. Northwestern had been great, but going to Stanford was just a dream come true. Sure, it wasn't Harvard or Yale, but it just appealed to her more than those schools.

"Just wait until you actually have to start doing all the work law students get," he pointed out. "Ian was always buried in work. Plus he had that internship, and it just added to his work."

Ian. 

The name ran through her mind and she couldn't help but smile. Ian Rinaldi, the sweet man that had pulled her off the ledge of the balcony, consoling her, promising her that everything was going to be okay, that she was strong. She had cried on his shoulder as he held her tight, and for once she had felt like someone cared about her. It was because of him that she was still on this Earth, and she would never forget that.