Pining For You (Jasper Falls 4)

She nodded. “Mr. Buchanan.”

“You two are on a first name basis?”

They were on more than that. She couldn’t hide her grin. “He’s very…” She didn’t want to get ahead of herself. “I like him a lot.”

He lifted a box that looked to hold a frozen pie and slid it into the freezer. “Skylar, keep in mind that Mr. Buchanan is a lot older than you.”

“I’m not a kid anymore, Colin.”

“It’s Uncle Colin. And you’re more than a decade younger than your boss.”

Actually, he was fifteen years her senior, but that didn’t matter. They were both adults. “I don’t need a lecture. I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you?”

She bristled. “I thought you would be happy that I’m figuring things out.”

“It’s supposed to be a job, Skylar. I want to see you succeed. I want to see you get the experience you need to someday have your own preschool like we’ve discussed. I don’t want to see you make mistakes early in your career that do long-term damage to your reputation. You need to keep it professional. I would hope that the mayor understands that, even if you don’t.”

Stunned that he could cut her down so quickly, it took everything inside of her not to stagger back.

He sighed. “I’m only telling you this because I care about you, Sky, and I want to see you make good decisions.”

Her jaw hardened. “Were you making good decisions when you stole your brother’s girlfriend?”

His sharp blue stare turned to ice. “What did you just say to me?”

They all heard the stories. She had been young when Uncle Braydon brought Aunt Sammy home from school. Skylar still remembered everyone talking about his new girlfriend, but Uncle Colin had changed that in a matter of weeks.

Adrenaline shook her body as she held his stare. “I told you something personal because I trusted I could talk to you without judgement. But you’re being a hypocrite. I’m not doing anything wrong. He’s not married or dating anyone else. And I haven’t promised my life to someone or something. So at least I have that going for me.” She turned on her heel and stalked out of the shed.

“Skylar!”

She shook her head, furious with herself for sharing with him. He made her feel naive and stupid, like she’d done something terribly wrong—like she was just a dumb kid.

She didn’t take off her coat when she returned to the house. “Addison, come on. We have to get going.”

“But I don’t want to leave.”

“We have to.”

“I wanna stay—”

“Addison, I said we’re leaving.”

Her grandmother frowned. “Is everything all right, love?”

God, she couldn’t keep it together, and she didn’t have the courage to make eye contact. “Everything’s fine. I forgot about something I need to do.”

“Well, you come back whenever you want. The kids like when you two visit.”

“We will.”

She rushed Addison out of the house just as Colin was closing up the shed.

“Come on. Into your seat.” She quickly buckled her inside the car and shut the door.

Her uncle hovered a few feet away. “Skylar, I’m only trying to give you some good advice. You’re my niece. It’s my job to look out for you.”

She sniffled and shook her head. “Look out for me…” she mumbled. “That’s what this family does. They say they’re looking out, but really, they’re just passing judgement, meddling where they don’t belong, and gossiping. You’re no better than the rest of them.” She briefly met his stare and saw her words struck a nerve. “I don’t need you looking out for me. I needed a friend.”

He caught her arm and startled her. “I am your friend. I’m here. I’m sorry. Don’t ever think you can’t talk to me if you feel like you’re in trouble.”

She jerked her arm away and broke his grip. “Why do men always assume if a girl shares something personal, she must need some sort of saving?”

She climbed into her car and backed out of the driveway, losing the battle against her tears before she made it off the mountain.

Skylar’s professor finally got back to her, but she was more confused than ever. He said she failed the exam because she left a page blank. A page that happened to have several valuable essay questions on it.

She was a mess when she emailed him back, only maintaining a shred of calm by telling herself there was a solution for every problem. If she explained it was a mistake, a decent professor would give her a chance to make up the work.

Unfortunately, he already had.

She blinked stupidly at his response, feeling like she was suffering some sort of amnesia. He said he emailed her shortly after she submitted the exam, informing her that several questions were blank. He even gave her until the following Monday to resubmit the remainder of the test, but she never responded and he had no choice but to grade it as is.