Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 91058 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91058 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
The moment—and I mean down to the millisecond—she finishes taking our picture and hands my dad’s phone back, her smile drops and she returns to her resting bitch face.
I don’t let it bother me. I turn to my father and give him a side hug. Honestly, I’m just glad to see a friendly face after my long morning.
“Balloons and cake, Dad?” I rib him.
“What?” He drops a kiss to my head. “Can’t I celebrate my one and only daughter on her first day at her new fancy job?” Then his eyes widen like he’s remembered something, and he looks behind him. “Janice, come on, show her the cake.”
Though it seemed over the top from a distance, up close…I’m actually speechless. There’s a little miniature version of me planted into the icing on the top tier. Did he get it custom made? He must have. The figurine has a leather briefcase, brown hair, and brown eyes. She’s also holding a little pennant flag that says: I love Elwood Hoyt.
Despite how much this is going to hurt me in the long run, I can’t help but feel grateful for his support. I know he doesn’t approve of my position here. There were many, many late-night discussions over rounds of Scrabble where I convinced him this was what I truly wanted. I appreciate him putting his feelings aside today and making me feel loved.
Unfortunately, Janice takes the cake to the break room, and when I go in to get a piece after lunch, most of it’s already gone, and my figurine, well…someone stuck her headfirst into the cake so all that’s sticking out are her feet and that pennant flag. Which now reads: “Loser.”
Later that night, I try to tell Jasper about it all, laughing while I do it.
“Like sure, they could have come up with something slightly more creative than loser, but the overall effect was still pretty funny.”
My boyfriend sets down his silverware and eyes me with tenacious concern from across his dinner table. “That’s not funny, Scarlett. You need to tell your father, or at the very least, Barrett. They’ll be able to do something about it.”
Panic has me leaning over to touch his arm, to reassure him that it was really nothing. “No. Come on, lighten up. So they wrecked my cake? Big deal! I still got a big ol’ slice for myself. I just happened to also accidentally decapitate my figurine in the process. They really stuck that sucker down in there.”
I laugh, but I’m alone in it, so I let it trickle away as he shakes his head at me. It’s like I’m in as much trouble as they are. I didn’t destroy my cake!
I should have known not to tell Jasper. He’s completely by the book. Everything is right and wrong, black and white. With him, there’s no nuance to life. It makes sense, I suppose. He works for the district attorney’s office. Those guys all fit a certain kind of mold, and I don’t mind it, truly. Jasper is wonderful! A perfect boyfriend! We’re about to celebrate our first anniversary. He was a year ahead of me at Columbia Law, and we were introduced through mutual friends. We didn’t jump into things right away. Jasper courted me like we were in the Victorian era. First, we’d see each other in group settings, then we slowly developed a steady friendship. From there, we moved infinitesimal step by infinitesimal step toward a relationship that was mostly long distance as he took a position in Chicago and I stayed back in New York to finish my final year of law school.
When I asked him a few weeks ago what he saw for our future, he said it was already mapped out. At our two-year mark, he’d ask me to marry him, and an appropriate amount of time after that, we’d have the ceremony.
“And what if I propose to you first? The day before our two-year anniversary?” I teased.
I meant it as a joke, but Jasper looked at me like he was horrified.
“That would make no sense, Scarlett.”
He’s looking at me much the same way now as we discuss the silly cake situation.
“The point is, it’s disturbing. I’m going to call your dad if you don’t.”
I try not to be overly annoyed by his threat. “Relax, Jasper. You’re taking it way too seriously. There was always going to be a little bit of light hazing. What job doesn’t have some of that? Think back to the way they treated you when you started at the DA’s office last year!”
“That was nothing. The guys made me wear a t-shirt at work that had my middle school graduation picture on it, big whoop.”
I wrinkle my nose. “I’ve seen that picture. It’s pretty bad.”
Jasper has neatly combed blond hair and a cute spray of freckles across his cheeks. Though a little dorky in middle school, he’s attractive now, but that’s not really why I’m with him. He’s kind and respectful, dependable and honest. He’s a good man, and I’m lucky to have him.