I had reminded myself repeatedly that she hadn’t even really been all that into me; the only reason she had spent time with me was because she had mistaken me for her ex. In her mind, it was him that she had willingly spent those nights with, not me. The thought made me feel simultaneously grateful and envious toward Preston Walker, wherever he may be.
And then there was the uncomfortable reverberances of Headmaster Greene’s voice that occasionally popped into my head as well, telling me that Scarlet Kale was bad somehow. Although he had claimed that she was bad in a legitimately bad way, my experience with her told me the exact opposite. The Scarlet I’d been with was bad, but in a very good way…
I had almost wanted to ask her about Headmaster Greene, but I had lost my nerve. Now, I was forced to live wondering what he meant and possibly never finding out, which simply made me obsess over her even more.
“Tobias? Tobias? Hey!”
I blinked, realizing that I had zoned out right in front of Libby while looking over the reports she had given me. “Sorry,” I said, and cleared my throat.
“I don’t want to tell you how to do your job,” Libby cautioned, “but sometimes, it looks like you are in dire need of a vacation. You ever consider hiring some more people so that you don’t have to constantly work so hard? It may be worth your while, at least until Anderson is able to come back full time.”
“Yeah,” I said absentmindedly. “Maybe so.”
“How’s he doing these days anyway? And Joanna, and Addison?”
I nodded and smiled. “They’re good. All of them. Addison is an absolute doll, of course.”
Libby smiled fondly. “I bet she is. Joanna sent me some pictures of her the other day. Cutest baby I’ve ever seen.”
“I agree,” I said. “She’s already got both of them wrapped around her little finger.”
Libby smirked. “I’m sure she has Uncle Tobias wrapped around her finger too!”
I laughed. “You know, you may very well be right about that.”
“Too adorable.”
“You should pay them all a visit sometime. I’m sure they’d love it.”
Libby nodded. “Yeah, I plan to soon, whenever I can get a day off.” She winked again and headed to the door right as someone else knocked on it. She opened it for me. My secretary, Courtney, stood on the other side of it.
“Hi Libby,” Courtney said.
“Hey, Court. How’s it going?”
“Fine. And yourself?”
“I’m good. Thanks,” Libby said. “Gotta get back to work though. See ya.” And with that, she exited the door.
I glanced up from the reports. “What’s going on, Courtney?”
“Were you expecting any visitors today?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.
I looked up at her and blinked, searching my brain for any appointments I’d made and forgotten about. “I hope not,” I muttered, searching for my scheduling book. “Why?”
“There’s someone here to see you. I just thought I’d check first because I don’t remember any meetings being in your agenda for the day either. And I wasn’t sure how you’d react to an unannounced visitor.”
I sighed and rubbed my temples. “No, unannounced visitors are not desirable at the moment, to say the least.”
“I had a feeling that was the case.”
“Did this unannounced visitor at least state their reason for wanting to see me without an appointment?”
“Nope.”
“Well, tell them I’m not taking any visitors right now and that if they need to see me, please schedule an appointment for a later date.”
“Okay,” Courtney said, nodding and leaving my office again.