It worked, Terrence realized as he caught himself grinning. “If only that could be my problem.” He paused a second before continuing. “You know how this city is. How it can slowly peel layer after layer of humanity and normalcy away until you don’t recognize yourself in the mirror.”
Lennox cocked an eyebrow. “I have the feeling we aren’t discussing where you can stay for a few months anymore.”
“The sad fact is I don’t have anyone I can count on like that. To support me. To help me.” He glanced at Lennox before adding, “Not since Andie.”
If Terrence’s words caused any sort of reaction in Lennox, it wasn’t visible in his body language. His friend simply nodded. “I had a feeling the breakup affected you more than you let on. And I suppose I should apologize since a member of my staff is the primary reason for that breakup. But I can’t. Maybe if Marie and I weren’t together and I hadn’t experienced the depth of love I feel for her, it’d be easier for me to be apologetic. But I have and I can’t. Not when I see Andie and Fulton together.”
“I understand that,” Terrence said, and it was true. Hell, he vividly remembered how the punch to his gut felt the first time he saw that very thing between the two. “It’s not so much Andie, I don’t think, but rather the idea of her. She grounded me. Made me feel normal. I craved that and mistook it for love.”
Lennox said nothing for a long moment, and Terrence was unprepared for what he finally did say. “I know a place where you can stay for as long as you need. A place that would welcome you and offer work that would keep you busy. As an added bonus, it’s far enough away that driving to LA won’t be a temptation at all.”
It sounded too good to be true to Terrence, but then he remembered that Lennox had been in the real estate business years prior and had done quite well for himself. Better than quite well, truth be told. Should it really come as a surprise he knew where to find such a property?
“Tell me,” he said.
“At the academy.”
Terrence had to repeat those three words in his head several times in order to get them to make sense. “Your academy? On the island? With Andie?” Surely he misunderstood.
“It meets your requirements,” Lennox answered. “The spring session is almost over, and we’ve decided to only have a handful of week-long sessions for the summer. Andie and Fulton will be there some of the time, but Fulton told me they were going to do a bit of traveling. You can look at it like a summer retreat. No one will bother you.”
It wasn’t the worst idea he’d ever heard.
“And to be honest,” Lennox continued, “it would be a big help for me because I know running everything in my absence is harder on Fulton and Andie than they let on. If I could twist your arm into teaching one class, it would ease part of the burden on them.”
While Lennox could probably guess Terrence didn’t give two shits about easing Fulton’s burden, he had to know Andie still meant a lot to him. If he had the power to do anything to help the woman he once thought of as his, he’d do it and not think twice.
“But teach?”
“Only if you want.”
Terrence wasn’t sure. While staying and teaching at the academy wasn’t his ideal solution for the predicament he currently found himself in, it was a solution. Even more so, it would fulfill all the requirements laid out by Ken. Though he wasn’t sure he would tell the man exactly where he’d be staying for the foreseeable future. Terrence was willing to bet, however, Ken would say he didn’t need to know where he was hiding out as long as he was doing what he’d been told to do.
“I’ll let you know one way or the other in the morning,” he told Lennox. “I try to make it a point not to make major decisions quickly.”
Lennox chuckled and stood up. “Sounds like a solid plan.”
Long after Lennox left, Terrence sat alone. The events of the past twenty-four hours made him feel like an emotional yo-yo. He should be exhausted, and even though he wasn’t, the smartest thing to do would be to at least try to get some sleep. But his mind wouldn’t let him.
Chapter 2
VERONICA
Five Years Later
Veronica smoothed out invisible wrinkles on her black skirt, thankful it was well-made enough that the signs of wear were barely visible and that she had been smart enough to purchase timelessly classic pieces of clothing years ago when she could afford to buy new things. Since breaking all ties with her father, she had limited herself to shopping twice a year at secondhand stores.
The teenager the world had known as Ronnie would have stuck her nose up at the mere thought of purchasing previously worn clothing. Of course, that teenager would never have guessed that at age twenty-four she’d be trying to keep her head above water and pay her rent on time. Hell, had that girl even known what rent was? Probably not.
She would learn, however. Although the first and hardest lesson was how drastically she’d romanticized the process of leaving behind everything and everyone she’d grown up with. When she’d planned it out in her mind beforehand, she pictured herself flipping off the entire Lewis family while walking out theremodeled palatial plantation home her parents were so proud of. And how after that, everyone she came into contact with would give her a high-five and heap massive praise on her about what a badass she’d become.
Instead, she’d soon discovered it was hard to live without the silver spoon in her mouth, much less to aspire to anything resembling a badass. Everything she did was an eye-opener, whether buying food (who knew a package and processed loaf of bread could cost so much?) to her first paycheck (what the hell was FICA?).
As for those high-fives? Nonexistent. Most people looked at her as if she’d lost every bit of sense in her head upon hearing that she’d removed herself out from under the Lewis umbrella of protection and prestige.
She was able to resist the temptation to run back to her parents only because she had a small bank account no one knew about. On her sixteenth birthday, Aunt Meredith, her mother’s sister, told her everyone needed an emergency stash of money belonging to them and them alone. Ronnie thought it sounded like a good idea and had opened an account. Too bad she’d never added anything to it beyond the five thousand of that first deposit. Now it sobered her to know most people made do with a lot less.
Taking a deep breath, she glanced at the clock on the wall off to her side and couldn’t resist smiling at the thought of teenaged Ronnie sitting and waiting for anything. That girl didn’t wait for anyone. People waited for her. And woe to the person who got that backward.