“I can’t believe I ever gave you a chance. Hope you have fun with your ex when you go back to Texas.” I chucked the magazine at his head and it gave a satisfactory thwap as it smacked him in the face.
He looked at the magazine on the floor and his face paled. “Shit.”
Well, there went my last sliver of hope that this was somehow all just a misunderstanding. “I’ll make the last step easy for you. We’re done.”
I barged off before he could say anything else and entered Jack’s office. My breath came out in shallow pants, tears close to escaping. Jack looked up from his computer and immediately stood.
“Are you okay?”
Was I okay? OKAY? Hell to the no. But every time I opened my mouth, I was caught between wanting to scream and cry. I swallowed past the tightness in my throat and said, “I’m feeling really sick.” The words stuck in my mouth like peanut butter and I blinked back tears that stung my eyes.
His brows creased and frowned. “So sorry to hear that. Go get some rest.”
I nodded and sped out of the store.
So stupid to trust him. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Chapter Thirty
Ryan
I stared at the magazine, trying to make sense of what just happened. How could she possibly think I was interested in Lex again?
Fuck.
Was it because I told her that Lex and I were on good terms now? I meant as in I didn’t want to scratch my eyes out when I heard her voice. But now that I thought about it, Jules could have taken it completely the wrong way.
I flipped open to the article and stared at my check marks and absentminded drawing.
Double fuck.
I’d just told her we made up, and then she saw the magazine in my locker—oh, shit, I was so screwed.
I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. It went straight to voicemail. I tried again. Voicemail. I refrained from cussing out loud, especially with customers around. Technically, I shouldn’t have been on my phone while on the service floor, but I decided to make an exception.
“Jules, please give me a chance to explain. It’s not what you think.” I almost laughed at my plea. This was the same thing Lex had said when I walked in on her and Dwayne. I knew firsthand that phrase didn’t work. But this was different—I wasn’t actually cheating on her. “Just give me a call back when you get this.” I hung up the phone. Hell would freeze over before she’d call back.
I spent the rest of the shift trying to focus on ringing up customers, but couldn’t stop thinking about how to fix things with Jules. How could I make her see that what we had was real? It was more than that stupid checklist.
By the time I got home, I still had no clue. Ironic that the first time I finally let things go with Lex I inadvertently screwed things over with Jules. I sat at the kitchen table, swirling my spoon around in my cereal. Dad came in through the garage and walked into the kitchen, still in his work clothes.
He chucked his keys on the counter and opened the fridge. “What’s going on?”
I scooped up a Cheerio and let it drop back into the bowl. “What do you mean?”
“Jules looked like she was about to cry when she left work, and now you look like someone stole your grandma’s last biscuit. Did you say something to her?”
Dropping my spoon in the bowl, I shoved my hands through my hair. Couldn’t we call a truce for a day? “Dad, I get that you think I have zero respect, but I didn’t say anything to her.” She wouldn’t give me the chance, I wanted to say, but couldn’t. Didn’t want to risk Jules’s job by telling Dad we were together.
He grabbed a soda and shut the fridge. “I don’t think that.”
I gave him a hard look. “Actions speak louder than words.”
Dad sighed and sat down at the table, tapping his nails on the top of the Coke. “I know I’ve been tough on you this summer. I want you to have a good future. We came from nothing, Ryan. I don’t want you to have to take the same path I did.”
I nodded. “I know. And I’m not going to take your path. Or Gary’s.”
He cracked the lid of the soda and stared at me. “What do you mean?”
The more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t follow through with the police academy, not even if I didn’t get the internship. I’d rather keep working at Office Jax until I landed one than sign my life away to the police force. “I don’t want to join the academy.”
Dad’s features relaxed and he scrubbed his hand over his face. “Oh thank God.”
“But I don’t want a career at Office Jax. I’ll work there for now, but it isn’t the end goal.”
He blew out a sigh. “Ryan…it’s job security.”
I nodded. “And I’m thankful that you’d give me a job. But I have something that I want to go for.”
“You have another job?”
I swallowed hard. How was I going to explain this to him? “Not yet.”
He grunted and clasped his hands together on the table. “So you’re giving up two sure things for an unknown?”
“Yes. I mean, I think I finally know what I want to do.”
“Really?” He looked at me, expectantly.