“When is the next meeting with your advisor?” he asked.
“I meet with her every Monday. So, I have a few days to rewrite my draft. Your aunt really helped.”
“Good to hear,” he said. “I’m interested in hearing how it goes.”
“Okay. Maybe I can give you a call or something Monday and catch up?”
“You know where to find me.”
And there it was. The reminder of how we left things, rather, how I’d walked out on things a few nights ago. He’d told me his stance, and watched me leave. He gave me the control to seek him out instead of the other way around.
“Thank you again,” I said, and climbed out of his truck. With my bag and a long weekend of work ahead of me, I wondered if it would be enough to get Cal out of my mind.
Chapter 5
Standing on the other side of Erica’s desk, I watched my advisor flip through my revised thesis proposal. It had taken me all weekend, but implementing Bea’s business as the model filled out the project.
Erica scanned another page, reading quietly.
I started biting my thumbnail.
Finally, she tugged her glasses off. “This is great. Exactly what I was thinking, and the way you tied your project with a real business will really impress the board.”
“Really!”
“Yes. I think I’m ready to sign off on it.”
I wanted to hug her. Instead, I tried not to jump up and down. “Thank you so much.”
She seemed to read my body language because she stood up and hugged me. “Really, well done. Just give me a couple days to really read it over, and then we’ll take it to the board.”
“Okay, great.”
I tugged my bag onto my shoulder and she leaned against her desk. “So, before you go, how’s life going?”
“Life is going pretty well,” I said. But what was awesome was that I meant it.
“That’s great. Did you get that waiter’s number? Because you seem happier.”
“No, not the waiter…”
Her eyes got wide. “Why, Lana Case, are you being social?”
Heat hit my cheeks. “A little.”
“Good! Keep it up! Sorry we had to meet in my office this week, but next week I say we try the tapas place right across the street.”
“Sounds great.”
After another wide smile, I walked from her office and out into the parking lot. It felt good to be succeeding at something. Something I controlled. Something that was just mine and I could be proud of—
“Shit,” I muttered when I saw Brock pull into the parking lot. What the hell was his problem? Did he make it a ritual to wait for me after class just to annoy me? I wanted to continue to my car, but thought about what Cal had said. If Brock was crazy enough to mess with me just to try to inspire fear, it wasn’t worth taking on a potentially dangerous situation.
I turned, hustled back inside, and headed straight for Erica’s office.
“Lana?” she asked, surprised when I just bolted in. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, sorry I just got spooked walking in the parking lot.” I didn’t want to say that my step-brother was trying to make my life miserable, but close enough.