My mind swirled. That was a lot of money to just sprout legs and walk away without a trace. I sincerely hoped it wasn’t due to a clerical error on my part. I’d be fired on the spot for something so egregious. “I’ll go let him know.”
“I’ll do it,” Molly offered, standing up. “Youneed to get to the Snapdragon and save us some good seats. I don’t want to sit right by the speaker again. The bartender couldn’t hear a word I said last time.”
I glanced at my watch. I’d totally forgotten that we’d made plans to go to the bar together. All the co-op students in our program liked to meet at least once a month for drinks to catch up. It was lonely sometimes, working at different companies and being so far away from peers. The Snapdragon just so happened to be a central spot for all of us and somehow became our gathering hub. They had great drink deals, but it personally wasn’t my idea of a fun time.
I groaned. “Do Ihaveto go?”
“Yes,” Molly said sternly. “You ditched me last month. You said you’d make it up to me by buying me a pitcher.”
“But—”
“You pinky promised, Viv. I won’t take no for an answer.” Molly grabbed my purse out of the bottom drawer of my desk and gave it to me. “Come on. Up you go. It’s Friday! You need to learn to relax a little. I swear to God you’d live at work if you could.”
I sighed, reluctantly getting up to pull on my jacket. “Alright, alright. I’m going.”
Molly winked at me. “I’ll meet you there.”
“You better not change my desktop background again,” I said over my shoulder as I left for the day.
“No promises!” she replied with a giggle.
Chapter 2
Jesse
Ava showed me yetanotherpicture of her daughter on her phone. Don’t get me wrong. Cassie was cute as far as babies went, but this was officially the second straight hour of show-and-tell and I was, quite frankly, over it.
“We’re thinking of enrolling her into baby swimming lessons,” Theo said with a hint of pride.
“Isn’t two a little young?” I asked flatly. I may or may not have checked out of the conversation two beers ago. I was now nursing my third, but it still didn’t give me enough of a buzz to safely endure the evening.
I loved my niece very much, but this was supposed to be our big night out, a chance to let loose. Cory and Cassie were over at a friend’s house being babysat, which gave us adults the rare opportunity to catch up, especially now that Theo worked from home as a security consultant. I tried to give him an office at Pegasus Star Security, but he wouldn’t bite. Mentioned something about wanting to spend more time with the family, yada yada yada…
“She’s got a lot of energy,” Ava continued, smiling at the picture of her daughter. “It might help to tucker her out so things are easier when we get home.”
I chuckled. “I’m glad my kid’s all grown up.”
“HowisWally?” Theo asked. “I haven’t heard you complain about him in forever.”
“I don’t complain.”
“When is he going to hurry up and move out?” Theo mocked. “I should start charging him rent. All he does is play videogames all day.”
I sniffed. “I don’t sound like that.”
“Yes, you do,” Ava mumbled quietly, sipping her pretty pink cocktail.
I finished my third beer and pushed my glass away. When the waitress eyed it questioningly, I shook my head and sent her on her way. It might have been a Friday, but I still had to get to the office first thing tomorrow morning. I knew my limit.
“Doesn’t he have to take the MCAT soon?” Theo asked.
I nodded stiffly. “Yeah, but he hasn’t been making use of the tutor I hired him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him sit down and study.”
“How are his grades?” Ava asked cautiously.
“Let’s just say I don’t know how he hasn’t flunked out yet. Wally needs to start applying himself or…” I trailed off, running a hand through my hair.
My son was a good kid. I knew he was smart. He was top of his class in high school. I couldn’t be prouder when he graduated with all those scholarships and bursaries. Whatever his scholarships didn’t cover, I’d foot the rest of the bill provided he kept his grades up and got into a good pre-med college program. Now we were in his fourth and final year, but with the way things were going, I was genuinely worried that he was dropping the ball.