LOGAN STEPS INTO the conference room and claps her hands. “Today is a good day, buddy. We did it!”
I smile at her. It’s been a whirlwind for sure. Even my father called to acknowledge that he read about the public offering, which is about the closest he comes to telling me he feels proud.
The past few nights, instead of running around drinking with my team, I curled up on my couch and kept coding the data entry pages for AJ’s nature projects. I even did some digging and found some other local projects that could use a similar data entry page, so I got all that loaded on the site. I smile, thinking about Margot maybe doing a data plot this summer after all the students chart the birds using the towers in the city parks.
Audrey pecks me on the cheek, drawing my attention back to the moment. “Look,” she says, “I know you’re wiped out. It’s been a heck of a haul getting to this point.” She claps her hands. “Which is why I’m sending you home. As Chief of Staff, I can make these kinds of decisions.”
Shane gives her a thumbs up. I shake my head. “I can’t go home. I’m in charge here.”
Logan pats my shoulder. “You are in charge. It’s your company and you can do whatever the fuck you want. Weren’t those your words?”
“You can’t hold me accountable for things I said when I was drunk on Fireball.”
Another pat from Logan. “Come on, babe. Let me call you a ride home. You’re beat.” I sigh and let her guide me outside. She’s right—I am exhausted. This week in particular has felt a month long. We get to the parking lot and for a second, I think I see AJ standing there. I rub my eyes, but when I pop them open again, he’s still there. In fact, he makes eye contact with me and strides in my direction.
I shake my head. “Nope,” I say, spinning on my heel. “You had your turn.” AJ’s eyes are intense as he stares at me from beneath a fringe of dark hair.
By this point, Logan and Audrey have noticed AJ and look concerned. “What’s going on out here?” Logan frowns.
AJ wrings his hands as he looks me in the eye. “I owe you an apology. I owe you so much more than an apology. My students posted that video online themselves and I jumped to conclusions about you, Samantha.”
“Figures,” I mutter. I take a deep breath. “I’m used to people assuming the worst about me. You’ve read the news lately, right?”
Logan and Audrey back away. “We’ll be inside if you need us, Sam.” I close my eyes and nod, listening to their retreating footsteps. I feel so relieved to see him, to hear him admitting he was wrong, that I worry I still might be dreaming.
“Walk with me?” He gestures away from my office building, toward the bicycle path along the river. I follow him and sink onto a stone bench overlooking the Allegheny.
He sits next to me and squeezes his legs with his hands. “I wasn’t fair to you. You kept showing me who you were, who you are. And I kept not believing you.”
I huff, letting out a little of my frustrations with him. “Well, it’s for the best anyway. I would have just gotten attached and then you’d go off and die on me.” He pulls his head back and I stare at him. “Oh, aren’t we both exploring how our past wounds impact our relationships? My bad.” After my Foof crew suggested a career coach, I had an introductory session with a woman who is a licensed therapist specializing in helping executives meet their goals. We talked a ton about my mom. I might have also unloaded to her about AJ.
“Well I have no intention of dying anytime soon, unless it’s possible to burn up from shame.” He looks at a trio of kayakers paddling past. “You’re right that I have old wounds I need to address.” He rakes a hand through his hair. “I let myself believe the worst about you because I couldn’t let myself believe you see the best in me.”
I stare out at the water. “You brought me tacos,” I mutter. “Do you know how few people I let realize I need help remembering to eat?”
“If I promise to never take that privilege for granted ever again, could I maybe bring you tacos tomorrow?” I shake my head no. His face sags. “Okay. That’s fair. Thank you for letting me apologize, anyway.”
“I’m busy tomorrow,” I tell him, pressing my lips together briefly. “I have to go count chimney swifts at the park with some teenagers.”
AJ breaks into a grin and slides closer to me on the bench. He reaches for my hand and pulls it to his chest. “I swear, Samantha, they would vaporize in a haze of Axe body spray if you showed up while they were counting birds.”
I nod. “We’d have to record that as a weather event on the form.”
AJ smiles and leans his forehead against mine. His warmth fills the space around me and I feel like I want to cry again. My emotions are all over the place today. “I’d ask if I could kiss you here, but I’m afraid your staff is standing at the window waiting to put us on Instagram.”
I laugh and lean closer to him, savoring his scent. “Well then you better take me somewhere else to kiss me, Adriel.”