Harry's POV
January 15th 1998
Flexing my fingers around the handle of my briefcase, I bounce on my toes feeling the elevator climb to the top floor. Top floor makes it seem luxurious. It's a five story building in the middle of a parking lot that has three other block-like buildings. This is where corporate souls come to die.
And I'm walking in willing, ready to sign away my soul.
It's ironic that the elevators at an elevator company resemble 18th century death traps. I have a vague memory of Alice rambling about how they're 'classic' and modeled after old ones from decades ago. It's adorable to listen to, but experiencing it is terrifying. Is that iron gate really necessary? They might as well be run by someone cranking a big wheel in the basement.
I hold my briefcase to my chest as more people come into the elevator. I only use it for work, but today the contents are so important, I feel like someone is going to steal it from me. As if someone would steal it on the off chance it might have rows and rows of money like in those mob movies.
From my peripheral, I see a woman with bright red hair step onto the elevator. My head snaps toward her and I feel my stomach drop. My anxiety dissipates as she turns her head and I realize that it's not Jaime. Obviously. Jaime doesn't leave Jersey. There is zero reason for her to be here.
Would she even recognize me? My hair is freshly cut and I look like I've grown five years in five months from the stress. Every time the wind blows the coldness hits like a reminder of how far away summer was. The piles of ice and snow in the parking lot feel like they'll never melt.
After an eternity, the elevator reaches my destination and I step off, making my way to the reception desk.
A man sits behind the circular desk talking on the phone. He looks to be younger than me but older than Alice. A wave of jealousy flows through me, but I quickly force it down. I have nothing to be jealous of. I'm too in my head for the meeting that is about to go down.
I give the young gentleman a head nod, not stopping to make small talk. Mr. van Baker is expecting me, there is no reason to put things off any longer.
I knock lightly before stepping in. "Thank you for squeezing me into your busy schedule," I acknowledge Alice's dad while closing the door behind me. He shuffles through papers, like he can't be bothered, even though I scheduled this meeting days ago.
"It must be important. I don't see why my daughter couldn't pass along the message considering she spends more nights with you than she does at home."
I school my face as he releases this little piece of information. Alice has pulled back from spending time at my place since New Year's. She's only been over about once a week. So if she's not with me, or home, what has she been getting up to?
I file that away to ask her about later. My goal is to say my piece and get out before Alice arrives for work. Since my sisters went there, I know Alice's school gets out at 2pm. There's a chance I'll run into her, but I'm not ready to show all my cards yet.
"This meeting concerns Alice, which is why the message could not be simply passed along. In fact, she has no idea that I'm here."
"You better cut to the chase, then. She'll be here within the hour. Is this some grand romantic gesture where you tell me that you're in love with my daughter and want my permission to date her? Because I haven't made up my mind yet."
Not having his approval is a blow to the ego, even if that is not what I'm here for. If I wasn't so stressed, I might laugh at the idea of asking his permission. Alice always wants to please her father, but is desperate to be seen as her own person. Asking for her father's permission would piss her off, and I've done enough of that lately.
"I know you're not one for theatrics, but I'm afraid that what I have to say has some visual elements to it." Stealing my spine, I open my briefcase and begin taking out my props for this meeting. And they are props, because this meeting is a performance and it's important that I give a good one.
I open the ring box and place it on the edge of his desk, far enough away that he has to lean in to look at it, but close enough to me that I can snatch it away if he tries to touch it.
"Around Christmas, my mother approached me with my grandmother's ring, and told me to propose to Alice."
Mr. van Baker scoffs before I even finish my sentence. He waves his hand as if he can wave the idea out of the air.
"That's preposterous. She's just a girl. She has yet to graduate high school."
"I'm aware of her age and current education status. Though I have to say, I am quite shocked you brought it up. An outsider would say that you want nothing more than for Alice to be seen as an 'adult.' You're barring her from going away for college and forcing her to start work immediately."
He leans forward in his chair, fingers steepled in front of his mouth. "You're on thin ice here, Harry. I'm sitting down for this mockery of a meeting as a favor to your mother, but I will quickly end it if you continue to judge my parenting. You have no idea what goes on in my house."
My fists clench beneath the desk at the mention of my mother. Hopefully he's referencing the long relationship between our families, and not only my mother. She'll either be enraged that I went behind her back, or proud in a twisted way that she didn't think of this first. Either way, this scheme is the most I've felt like my mother's son.
I take a deep breath, hopefully calming my emotions so he doesn't see right through me. "I don't want to propose to your daughter. At least not now. Like you said, she's a young girl. It's a shame that she isn't going to college like the rest of the young girls her age."
I cross my ankle over my knee and push through even though this is the exact topic he wants me to avoid. "I know more than you would like about the goings on in your house, and anyone who has known you as long as my family has could easily peace together why you don't want Alice to go off to college. You don't want her to become like her mother. I don't mean to speak ill of your wife, but don't insult my intelligence by pretending it's anything other than that. But if you knew your daughter like I do, you'd know that she doesn't want to be like her mother either. Which is why you should let her go. Her dream school is an ivy league, not a party state school. There's no reason for her not to go."
"You make a great point, but I believe that applications for this year are closed. Additionally, she'd have to submit her test scores, write an essay, and a series of other things."
"That's where you make the mistake of underestimating your daughter. Alice is in the top 5% of her class, is involved in multiple clubs, and volunteers in her free time, all while interning here. Any school would be stupid not to have her." I take the manilla envelope that was resting on top of my briefcase on the chair next to me and hand it to him.
"She would still have to apply. This is Brown, they're not exactly scouting out potential students. College admissions closed weeks ago."
I tilt my head at the envelope in his hands, signaling for him to open it.
"Then it's a good thing I submitted her application months ago. You see, Alice filled out the application, even though she had no intention of submitting it. She mentioned that she filled it out on the off chance things changed. I took it, submitted it for her. Paid the application fee and everything." He pulls out the contents of the envelope, which is her acceptance letter, a welcome packet and a large scholarship–not that she needs it.
"Why are you doing all this?"
"I love her, but I believe she deserves to be younger a little bit longer."
He shakes his head and throws the acceptance letter on the desk.
"I've had enough of this. You don't get to waltz into her, making demands of me, rearranging my daughter's future. Her future is here, working for me. Under no circumstances is she going to a college, states away unsupervised. I'm not running the risk of her not coming back" He's breathing heavily, worked up by the thought of his daughter leaving.
I make no move to leave. I anticipated this sort of reaction, but I didn't want to play this card.
"You may not believe me, but I am not dating your daughter. I am not in love with her, but I do love her very much. I'd do anything for her, hence." I slide a contract across the desk, sealing both mine and Alice's fate.
"And this is?" He asks, eyebrows raised as he begins to flip through it.
"A contract." He spares me half a glance, not thrilled with my little joke. "I understand it is quite lengthy, and surely you'll have someone look it over, but allow me to summarize as to not embarrass you in front of colleagues with its content.
"Essentially, in exchange for Alice going to college, I agree to take her position here so that she can study full time at her dream school. I'll learn everything I can so it will be a seamless transition when she returns."
"To clarify. Alice goes away to college. You take her job while she is away, but will step down once she returns. In addition, you plan on marrying her even though you're not in love with her."
"I can make her happy. I will take care of her, protect her, and provide for her, all while allowing her the freedom she wants. The tighter you hold onto her, the more she will push you away. Your relationship is ... complicated, but I don't doubt at the end of the day, you want what is best for her. This contract is a win for us all."
"You've given me a lot to think about." He thrums his fingers on his desk, giving my offer some preliminary thought.
"Oh. One more thing." I pull my wallet out of the inside pocket of my coat and pull out a business card. Handing it over to Mr. van Baker, I stand, preparing to leave. "This is the card for the maintenance director responsible for all the buildings under Brown University. It's a very old school. Wonder what the state of their elevators are?"
He taps the card on his desk, looking between the contract and the acceptance letter.
"You remind me a lot of your mother."
That "compliment" if you can call it that, sits like a lump in my throat. I nod my head and step out. I've been getting that comparison a lot more often than I would like.
It's the battle of the final word. But I have one more thing to say. Holding onto the door handle, I lean in with one more thing.
"Regarding her living with me, she only stays over at my place once or twice a week. If there are days that you are unaware of her absence, I can assure you it is not with me."
I leave, closing the door behind me. Physically, I'm leaving with less than I entered with, but the ring in my briefcase has an additional weight to it that it didn't before.
I only make it about ten feet out the door when I see Alice walking in. Her brows pinch together as her eyes dart between me, and her father's office that I have just walked out of.
Eating up the space between us, I wrap my arms around her in a hug. The adrenaline from the meeting is starting to leave my body and like most days, I need her comfort.
"What are you doing here?" She asks as I tighten my arms. She brings me a level of calm that people find in drugs.
"I had an important meeting that I will tell you about later. What time do you finish up here?"
Her hands land on my shoulders and she looks at me as if she can read my mind.
"Around 5, why?"
"Can I take you to dinner? I have some apologizing to do." She looks unsure. I hate that I've made her doubt our friendship. If there is one thing I am sure of in this world, it's that I need Alice in my life. "Please, Wonderland. We can go to the Mexican restaurant you love. Chips and salsa on me."
She lightly smacks my shoulder. "Chips and salsa are free, they greet you with them." I wink at her, melting some of her resolve. "Okay fine."
"Awesome. And maybe you can explain where you've been hiding so often that your father thinks you live with me."
"Wouldn't you like to know." She says it confidently, but seeing the blush rise in her cheeks, I know she's hiding something from me.
"That's why I'm asking." I hug her once again and leave with a promise to pick her up when she's done. Now just to pray she agrees with me.
A/N: I'm sorry this chapter is late and so short. I rewrote it like 3 times, but it's so important to set up the rest of the story that I needed it to exist as it's own thing.
Things are not good personally right now so have zero idea when the next chapter will be out. Please be patient with me. It's killing me not to be able to crank these out. I'm soooo drained.