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Authors: Elizabeth O'Roark
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me.”
“So you’re not? Proposing, I mean?” My heart rate doubles, at least.
He shakes his head. “Jesus, no,” he laughs in exasperation. “Like my life isn’t enough of a fucking mess. Where does Ginny get these ideas?”
I’m beginning to think she gets them from Allison, but I keep my mouth shut. “Your life isn’t such a mess. Just look at mine.”
He grins. “Yeah, yours is kind of a train wreck, isn’t it?”
I smack his arm again, and he laughs. It’s a low rumble in his throat and it completely unseats me. I could be in the middle of a funeral and start thinking about bad things if I heard that sound.
“Yeah, but I don’t have Ginny offering me a daily lecture on the perils of failure,” I say. Ginny’s lectures to James are even tedious to me, so I can’t imagine how tiresome he finds them. “Are your parents making a big deal out of it?”
“They make Ginny look restrained by contrast,” he sighs. “They think I’m going to turn into Max if I don’t finish.”
“This is only a big deal in Campbell world,” I tell him. “In the real world, deciding you aren’t cut out for a certain type of law or even being a lawyer at all isn’t that big a deal. If you decide you want to be a lawyer, you’ll find the right niche for yourself. But if you already know the one you left wasn’t it, is it really that great a loss?”
He smiles at me, looking a little less stressed than he did only moments before. “I’ve been feeling like I just destroyed every chance I had, the way I quit. Like I’d never amount to anything. But you’re totally right.”
“See how wise I am?” I grin. “By the end of the summer you’ll be coming to me for all of your advice.”
He looks at me for a moment, and there is fleeting panic, and regret, on his face, before he closes his eyes, leaning his head back against his chair. “You’re dangerous, Elle.”
“How so?” I ask with consternation.
He doesn’t open his eyes. “You just are.”
Chapter 15
I spend two days feeling hopeful. He tried to break up with her. He isn’t marrying her. He doesn’t even seem to miss her.
And then it’s all taken away: Allison is coming down for the weekend.
I don’t hear it from James, but from Ginny, who couldn’t be more giddy. She is video-chatting with Alex when I go upstairs to get ready for work, and Allison’s arrival is all she wants to talk about. You’d think Hillary Clinton was staying with us.
On my part, of course, Allison’s arrival here is roughly as welcome as a herpes outbreak. Max seems to feel similarly.
“That’s the last thing James needs right now,” he grumbles.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because he doesn’t want to be with her, he’s already confused about school, and all she’s gonna do is show up and make him feel guilty and more confused.”
“If he doesn’t want to be with her, why is he?” I ask. James has never struck me as the type to waver.
“He broke up with her and she asked him to give it the summer,” he says.
I shake my head. “I don’t understand why he’d agree to that.”
“He has all these people telling him he’s losing it — Allison and Ginny and his parents. And telling him not to blow the whole thing up instead of fixing the bad parts. And he’s worried they’re right. He says, ‘When four people you respect are telling you the same thing, it’s probably true.’”
“And what do you think?” I ask.
“Yeah, I think he’s having a bit of a crisis,” he replies. “But it’s been a long time coming. He’s not the type to sit at a desk all day. He needs to move, he needs to have a goal. He used to talk about joining the FBI until his parents flipped out. But it seems kind of perfect for him. He’s got that whole save-the-world impulse. He’s kind of just born to protect people.”
I laugh. “Yes. I think Ginny and I have experienced more than our fair share of that this summer. No guy can get within 10 feet of us.”
Max
“So you’re not? Proposing, I mean?” My heart rate doubles, at least.
He shakes his head. “Jesus, no,” he laughs in exasperation. “Like my life isn’t enough of a fucking mess. Where does Ginny get these ideas?”
I’m beginning to think she gets them from Allison, but I keep my mouth shut. “Your life isn’t such a mess. Just look at mine.”
He grins. “Yeah, yours is kind of a train wreck, isn’t it?”
I smack his arm again, and he laughs. It’s a low rumble in his throat and it completely unseats me. I could be in the middle of a funeral and start thinking about bad things if I heard that sound.
“Yeah, but I don’t have Ginny offering me a daily lecture on the perils of failure,” I say. Ginny’s lectures to James are even tedious to me, so I can’t imagine how tiresome he finds them. “Are your parents making a big deal out of it?”
“They make Ginny look restrained by contrast,” he sighs. “They think I’m going to turn into Max if I don’t finish.”
“This is only a big deal in Campbell world,” I tell him. “In the real world, deciding you aren’t cut out for a certain type of law or even being a lawyer at all isn’t that big a deal. If you decide you want to be a lawyer, you’ll find the right niche for yourself. But if you already know the one you left wasn’t it, is it really that great a loss?”
He smiles at me, looking a little less stressed than he did only moments before. “I’ve been feeling like I just destroyed every chance I had, the way I quit. Like I’d never amount to anything. But you’re totally right.”
“See how wise I am?” I grin. “By the end of the summer you’ll be coming to me for all of your advice.”
He looks at me for a moment, and there is fleeting panic, and regret, on his face, before he closes his eyes, leaning his head back against his chair. “You’re dangerous, Elle.”
“How so?” I ask with consternation.
He doesn’t open his eyes. “You just are.”
Chapter 15
I spend two days feeling hopeful. He tried to break up with her. He isn’t marrying her. He doesn’t even seem to miss her.
And then it’s all taken away: Allison is coming down for the weekend.
I don’t hear it from James, but from Ginny, who couldn’t be more giddy. She is video-chatting with Alex when I go upstairs to get ready for work, and Allison’s arrival is all she wants to talk about. You’d think Hillary Clinton was staying with us.
On my part, of course, Allison’s arrival here is roughly as welcome as a herpes outbreak. Max seems to feel similarly.
“That’s the last thing James needs right now,” he grumbles.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because he doesn’t want to be with her, he’s already confused about school, and all she’s gonna do is show up and make him feel guilty and more confused.”
“If he doesn’t want to be with her, why is he?” I ask. James has never struck me as the type to waver.
“He broke up with her and she asked him to give it the summer,” he says.
I shake my head. “I don’t understand why he’d agree to that.”
“He has all these people telling him he’s losing it — Allison and Ginny and his parents. And telling him not to blow the whole thing up instead of fixing the bad parts. And he’s worried they’re right. He says, ‘When four people you respect are telling you the same thing, it’s probably true.’”
“And what do you think?” I ask.
“Yeah, I think he’s having a bit of a crisis,” he replies. “But it’s been a long time coming. He’s not the type to sit at a desk all day. He needs to move, he needs to have a goal. He used to talk about joining the FBI until his parents flipped out. But it seems kind of perfect for him. He’s got that whole save-the-world impulse. He’s kind of just born to protect people.”
I laugh. “Yes. I think Ginny and I have experienced more than our fair share of that this summer. No guy can get within 10 feet of us.”
Max
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