“Right.” I snorted. “Cute as a rabid raccoon. It’s so creepy that someone was following me around, taking pictures of me and grading me, in a way.” I shivered, and not from the cold.
Jonah tossed a report on the table. “What’s worse was he didn’t help you,” Jonah snarled.
“I still can’t believe my mom didn’t take the money. By the time I was eighteen, he offered her over $100,000. Do you know what she could have done with that kind of money?”
“Are you going to take it?” Jonah asked.
Dean had said Roger still wanted me to take the money. The last letter I’d returned had offered me $250,000. I didn’t know what to do with that kind of cash “I don’t know. It almost seems wrong. Like I’ve accepted a bribe or blood money.”
Jonah downed the rest of his drink and set his glass on the side table. “You could look at it like child support back payments, which you are more than owed.”
“True.” I leaned my head on Jonah’s arm. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“Have you thought more about visiting? The clinic is closed on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, so I have the time off. We could fly out late on the 30th.”
“What about Whitney?”
“We’ll bring her with us. She’s been begging to go to the Field Museum there. They have a huge dinosaur exhibit.”
“We could just go do that,” I teased, sort of.
Jonah pulled me onto his lap. “As much as I would love to get away anywhere with just my girls, you need to face this, for you and us. You need to deal with your past. You need to face Roger Stanton once and for all.”
“I know.” I lightly outlined his handsome face with my finger. I brushed my lips against his. “I will fight for us, Jonah.”
“That’s the best Christmas gift you could give to me.”
“Better than lime Skittles?” I teased.
“Those are a close second.” He pressed his lips to mine. “How would you like a taste of those Skittles?”
I parted his lips with the tip of my tongue. “Mmm.”
He deepened the kiss and held me close, pouring all his feelings for me, for us, into my mouth. It was soul reaching and electrifying. The intensity had me gasping for air.
“Wow.” I rested my forehead against his and caught my breath. “You’re good at that.”
He exhaled with me. “I want you, Ariana. All of you. You need to be whole for that.”
“Let’s go to Chicago.”Chapter Twenty-Eight“Are you scared, Ariana?”
I smiled at Whitney, who looked so small in the first class window seat holding her doll. First class. What a notion. I’d hardly ever flown, but I had never flown first class. Dean had purchased the tickets.
“Not of flying,” I responded to my cute flight buddy.
“Do you want to hold Mary?” Mary was Whitney’s doll, named after Mary Anning, the first woman paleontologist.
I ruffled Whitney’s hair. “That’s okay, but thank you.”
“Hmm.” Whitney was obviously still concerned that it must be a fear of flying that had me shifting in my seat and wringing my hands. She was such an observant girl. “Do you want to hold my hand?” she offered.
My heart melted. “I would love to hold your hand.” I took her tiny hand in mine and smiled over at Jonah who sat directly across the aisle from us. That was the downside to first class, we couldn’t all sit right next to each other.
Jonah was staring at the two of us adoringly. I thought he might have been hurt that Whitney insisted she sit by me on our flight to Chicago, but he said it was everything he had ever hoped for.
“Are you ready for this?” Jonah asked.
“Not even a little.” But I knew it had to be done. According to Dean, Roger Stanton had less than a few months to live, if even that, so if I wanted to face him, it was now or never. Besides, Dean was thrilled we were all coming. He’d called me every day since Christmas to say hi and chat for a few minutes. We didn’t talk about anything meaningful other than it meant a lot to me that he was trying and was interested in my life.
“You’ve got this. We’ve got this,” Jonah assured me.
I hoped he was right. I’d snuck in an appointment to see Dr. Morales yesterday before we made this little trip. To say she was shocked at the turn of events was an understatement. She suggested I write a book about it all. Our appointment actually went long, there was so much to discuss regarding Eliza, Jonah, Dean, and Roger. She was proud that I was honest with Jonah about my feelings for Eliza, and even though I’d let Eliza get to me on Christmas Eve, she said walking away wasn’t a bad thing. Now, pushing Jonah away was another thing, but according to her it was progress that Jonah and I had come back together so quickly. “That’s how it works in healthy relationships,” she had said.