With the First Goodbye (Thirty-Eight Book 5)

by Len Webster

  Their sister who is about to become a lawyer.

  I know I’m asking a lot.

  Your father doesn’t know I’m reaching out to you.

  I’ve always wanted you to be a part of our family, Josie.

  I realised too late that we never formally invited you and opened our arms out to you.

  You have your own life, and I understand that.

  You’re an adult and have experienced many things we haven’t.

  We don’t have to be in yours, but we’d very much love you to be a part of ours—even if it is only through emails.

  I have attached pictures of Heidi and Angelika in this email. They’re learning ballet because they saw a picture of you in your tutu when you were young in Jeff’s office.

  You inspired them, Josie.

  They’re sweet girls.

  I haven’t told them that I am writing to you in fear of getting their hopes up.

  I don’t want to disappoint them if you don’t respond.

  Not in the way your father and I have disappointed you through the years.

  I look forward to hopefully hearing from you soon.

  Johanna.

  They want to meet me.

  Josie reread the message once again.

  It was right before her. The email she had wanted when she was nine. The words she had hoped for when she was a child. To know the sisters she never got the chance to meet.

  Heidi and Angelika.

  For years, Josie knew of them but refused to let him speak their names. Every time her father would begin to discuss them, she’d cut him off. It wasn’t until she was thirteen that she agreed to see him for a few weeks each year. She was an adult now. Her mother believed she was old enough to make her own decisions. And Josie only agreed to please her mother and no one else.

  Josie could simply ignore Johanna’s email and hope they left her alone. But Heidi and Angelika would only be getting older. Soon, they would be able to go online and find Josie on social media. It would only take one name search, and they’d find everything. Her Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even her Snapchat. Only her Twitter and Instagram were available for public viewing, but they’d see her life. A part of her told her to ignore the email. It had already been years, and her German sisters could continue their lives without her. But a bigger part of her felt guilty.

  Her bitterness with her father affected Heidi and Angelika. They had questions and were curious about her. Josie didn’t want them growing up and resenting her for being selfish. When she was younger, all she wanted to do was get to know them and be a big sister. Her mother was right; she had to know them. They shared the same blood. They might never be real sisters who told each other secrets, but they could be friends.

  Josie let out a sigh as she clicked on the picture attachments her father’s wife had sent her. When it loaded, she saw two blonde girls in their leotards with smiles on their faces. Unlike Josie, Heidi and Angelika had brown eyes, and she presumed that they must have gotten them from their mother. They were cute, and Josie took in their smiles. They were so young and innocent.

  She was torn between giving them a chance at a relationship and giving her father what he wanted. But she had no idea how her mother would really take the possibility of Josie connecting with her father’s young German daughters. Josie didn’t want her mother to think she was betraying her … or worse.

  Abandoning her.

  Josie closed the image and returned to her inbox.

  The thought of her mother ever thinking Josie could abandon her caused a pang of guilt to explode in her chest. Josie was used to abandonment and disappointment. She wouldn’t allow her mother to feel the terrible way it ate at your heart and played with your mind.

  She’d spare her mother of that one thing.

  But she couldn’t expose Heidi and Angelika to it either.

  It was a mess.

  And she knew the only person who could help her was the man she was waiting for.

  Max.

  He would give her helpful advice. But she hadn’t heard from him, and she presumed his day at court had dragged. The court case his father was on was already all over the news. The media had called it the trial of the decade. Josie had brought the cupcakes to his office early in the morning on her way to university, but he had already left for court. She wasn’t sure if she should leave them, but it was Monday. And she had promised a decision.

  That he was right for her, and she was right for him.

  She just had to hope that Ruby, the receptionist at the front desk of Gordon Sheridan Lawyers, did as she promised and left the box of Max’s favourite cupcakes on his desk for him to find. The suspense of not hearing back from him yet was driving her mad. All she wanted to do was message him. But he was in court, and she had been in class all day.

  “Here you are, Josie,” her contracts tutor, Oswald, said as he stood in front of her table.

  She glanced up from her laptop screen to see him holding a stack of papers out to her. Josie reached out and grasped the papers to discover it was her assignment she had handed in two weeks ago. The same assignment she had worked hard on with Max.

  “Congratulations, Josie. You surprised me. I’m glad you finally understood the content. You should be proud of that mark,” Oswald said as he began to distribute the rest of the papers to the class.

  Josie set her assignment on her keyboard and smiled the moment she saw the high distinction grade on the top right corner of the coversheet of her assignment. Then under it, she saw 96% written in red pen. Oswald was one of only a few tutors who liked using the percentage grade along with the standard marking key. He wanted students to understand exactly where they were, and Deakin’s standard markings were too vague for him.

  The smile on her face stretched as she realised her overall average for her bachelor would remain in the high distinctions, eighty percent and above, if she aced her contracts exam. That goal of graduating with honours could still be realised, and she had Max to thank for that. She quickly dug her phone out of her cardigan pocket and paused the moment she set her thumb on the screen to unlock it.

  Max was probably still in court.

  He still didn’t know her answer.

  That she wanted to be with him.

  “So has he gotten in touch with you yet?” Stella asked eagerly as Josie held her phone between her shoulder and ear.

  She sighed. “No, he hasn’t. He might not have even gone to his office after court. He could have gone straight home, which means he won’t see the box until tomorrow … and even that’s a big if he goes to his office before court.”

  “Argh!” her best friend groaned. “Why can’t you go to his apartment then?”

  “Because I don’t know where he lives.”

  “How?”

  Josie locked her Mini Countryman and hoisted her satchel onto her shoulder. “I’ve never been to his apartment.”

  “This is so frustrating. You tell him you want to be with him in the most adorable, sentimental way, and it’s just sitting there on his desk, waiting for him to read it. Like come on!”

  She laughed as she made her way towards her building’s security gate. Josie should be parking in the apartment garage, but the street parking was more convenient for her early morning commute when she drove to campus. Sure, there was a chance her car could be stolen, but her father had paid for it, and she had insurance. It wouldn’t be a loss she’d miss greatly because public transport wasn’t so bad. When Josie reached the security keypad, she entered the passcode and heard it buzz, announcing it had accepted it. Two steps to the right were made and then she pushed the door.

  “Are you still there?”

  Josie reached up and grasped her phone in her hand and relieved her shoulder from the cramped position it was in. “I’m still here. I’m just getting home. What do you want for dinner?”

  “I’m gonna stay at West’s tonight. The school I was at today is probably Satan’s devil factory. Every class I taught
was horrible. And well …”

  She rolled her eyes as she entered the building complex and pushed the gate closed behind her. “You need West to relieve the stress?”

  “Exactly. So I’ll see you tomorrow once I finish work?”

  “Yeah, I’m closing at the bakery. So stop by if you want to.”

  “If I want to? Oh, I definitely want to,” Stella promised.

  “All right. I’ll see you then.”

  Josie concentrated on her footsteps as she listened to her best friend say, “When Max gets back to you, call me straight away, okay?”

  She lifted her eyes off the concrete and found the man in question sitting on the steps that led into her building. Josie’s footsteps halted when she noticed he was staring at the business cards she had left with the cupcakes.

  “Stella …”

  “No, seriously, I need to know. I’ve been going insane all weekend!”

  “Stella, I’m gonna have to call you back,” she said just as Max took his focus off the business cards and directed those light brown eyes to her.

  “Is he …?”

  Josie couldn’t read the expression on Max’s face. She couldn’t tell if he was here to say ‘yes, let’s be together’ or ‘I had time to think it over, and we let ourselves get carried away.’

  God, don’t let it be the second one.

  She removed the phone from her ear and hung up on Stella without a goodbye. Just the sight of him had her heart soaring and aching. It suddenly weighed heavily from the nerves that ravished it.

  As she slipped her phone into the pocket of her oversized cardigan, a wave of nausea rolled through her as his silence struck her and only sickened her more.

  Max slowly got up from the steps.

  Inhale.

  Exhale.

  God, breathe, Josie.

  He closed the distance between them, and she watched him take a deep breath. Then his palms cupped her cheeks; her business cards were soft and cool against her skin.

  And before she could say the first words since their kiss outside her apartment door, Max whispered, “I’m ready.”

  But then he did something she hadn’t expected.

  He kissed his statement into a promise as his lips found hers.

  I’m ready.

  Two whispered words before Max couldn’t take it anymore and had to kiss her.

  And what a kiss it was.

  Her soft, sweet lips on his.

  She kissed him gently as if she were telling him that she was ready, too. Max had dropped a hand from her face and reached the strap of her bag. He pulled it away from her, and her bag fell to the concrete path. It was the only thing in the way of him wrapping his arms around her and pulling her body to his.

  The impact of their bodies touching elicited a soft moan from her.

  It was music to his ears.

  Caused the dizziness in his head.

  Josie’s hands settled on the nape of his neck, caressing his skin with her precious touch.

  The way she kissed.

  The way she tasted.

  The way everything about her was so different and new to him was beautiful.

  She was beautiful.

  “Max,” she breathed against his mouth and then pulled away.

  When he opened his eyes, her lips were red from their kiss and a stunning shade of pink tinted her cheeks.

  But her eyes.

  God, her eyes were magnificent.

  They were that soft shade of blue.

  Full of hope and adoration.

  She gazed up at him as if she saw a better man.

  The man he was because of her.

  “Josephine,” he said in a low voice.

  He said it with all his love for her. Whether she heard it or not, he knew it was there.

  He was in love with this woman.

  “I have to tell you something,” she announced.

  Max stilled and instantly thought the worst. Nothing good had ever followed those words. He knew those six words always ended with something horrible and heartbreaking for him.

  Not with Josephine.

  Don’t let her break my heart.

  His jaw clenched, knowing he had given her the power to break him just like all the women before her. But he knew she wouldn’t. She hadn’t done a single thing wrong since he had met her. The way she was looking at him with that contented expression on her face was the reassurance he needed.

  Josie’s hands left his neck, and Max took a small step back to give her space. He watched as she bent her knees and opened her bag. Then she took out a piece of paper and stood straight, holding the paper out to him. Max slipped the three business cards he would treasure for his entire life into his pocket and took the paper from her.

  “What is this?”

  “Just flip it over,” she encouraged.

  And he did.

  His heart had sped up its beats as he took in her name and the assignment title. Then he saw the mark on her assignment, and he glanced up to see the smile on her face. He couldn’t take it anymore; he wrapped his arms around her, proud of her for getting the mark she had.

  Her arms looped around his neck, and she whispered, “Thank you.”

  He lifted her, and a giggle escaped her.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she breathed.

  And his heart broke.

  Completely broke for her.

  Not in the way he had expected.

  But his heart had given up on trying to keep that small spot reserved for another. Josie broke his heart and mended it for it to only beat her name.

  He adored her.

  So much that he had fallen in love with her.

  Max inhaled deeply, content this was what he wanted.

  This woman in his arms, he wanted and needed.

  Once he had set her on her feet, he kissed her cheek and smiled down at her. “I’m so proud of you.”

  Her hand moved from his neck to settle on his cheek. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  Shaking his head, his palms found her hips. “It was all you, Josie. I didn’t write that assignment. You did.”

  Her thumb brushed along his cheek. “Trust me, Max, I couldn’t have done it without you. This whole semester, I wouldn’t have survived without you.”

  She wouldn’t have survived without me.

  He loved hearing she needed him.

  And he loved seeing her appreciation in her blue eyes more.

  Max squeezed her hips. “You know I’m always here for you, right?”

  She bit down on her lip and nodded. “I know.”

  “I never want to disappoint you, Josie.”

  “And you haven’t,” she assured.

  “I never will,” he promised as he bent down and kissed her forehead.

  “Do you want to come inside?”

  Max pulled his lips from her skin and nodded.

  They had a lot to discuss.

  They needed to get their pages aligned so they could be together.

  His hands left the sides of her body, and he bent down to pick up her bag. Then he turned and reached out to grab her hand. She let him. Their hands had touched many times before, but he had never held her hand as intimately as right now. Max’s thumb stroked hers as he led her up the steps and into the apartment building.

  He smiled, knowing that this was right.

  Their kiss.

  Their connection.

  The way their hands fit perfectly together.

  She was right for him.

  And he was right for her.

  To: MaxwellSheridan@GordonSheridan.com.au

  From: AndreaWallace@GandMC.com

  Subject: G&MC’s offer.

  Dear Mr. Sheridan,

  I understand you are a busy man and work for one of the best law firms in Australia and might not have come across the previous email I sent a few weeks ago. Mr. Gregson would like to speak to you about working for G&MC accounting firm for a short contract. We already have
the paperwork done for your visa that will permit you to work. We have also outlined the terms and payment package you will receive (please see attached document) if you do agree to assist us. The recent change in the law department has seen a few lawyers either moved or promoted. Andrea Wallace is one of those lawyers who was recently promoted to become the senior lawyer at our Boston office.

  And at the request of Mr. Gregson, we are seeking a skilled and experienced corporate lawyer to oversee and help Ms. Wallace transition into her role as the new senior supervising lawyer. You come highly recommended, and Mr. Gregson is happy to open negotiations to have you and your talents at our firm. I can assure you money is not a problem, so please let us know what your terms are, and I will redirect them to Mr. Gregson.

  I do look forward to hearing from you soon.

  Again, if you wish to reach out to me personally, please email me at XenaDavenport@GandMC.com with any of your concerns or questions.

  Kind regards,

  Xena Davenport

  Executive assistant to Andrea Wallace.

  Senior supervisor.

  Legal Department.

  G&MC accounting firm.

  “Can I ask you something?” Josie asked as she walked across the lounge room and sat on the couch next to Max. While she was putting her bag in her room, he had waited on her couch for her and went through his emails.

  Max locked his phone and hid the email from Josie. The email meant nothing. He wasn’t even going to consider taking the job opportunity in the US. He was where he was meant to be. And though he had good intentions, Max still felt as if he were deceiving Josie. But that was his past.

  Andrea was his past.

  And he wouldn’t reply to any of her emails.

  In fact, he wouldn’t read any more if she decided to send any his way.

  “You can ask me anything,” he said as he slipped his phone into his pocket.

  Josie handed him the laptop she had brought from her bedroom and took the sticky notes and marker off the keyboard. Max set the laptop on his thighs to see that she had an email opened on the screen.

  “What is this?” He glanced over to see her remove the Sharpie lid.

  “It’s from my father’s wife.” Then she sighed and set the tip of the marker on the sticky note. “This is the first time she’s ever reached out to me.”