Give Me a Day

by Zoe Ann Wood

  Sebastian could see where she was coming from. And yet… “Mom, those donations helped him when the time came to file his taxes. He wasn’t doing it out of the goodness of his heart.”

  She nodded, gaze unfocused. Then a small tear rolled down her cheek, followed by another.

  Evan cleared his throat. “Why don’t I, uh, get us all some water.”

  He disappeared into the kitchen while the remaining three Lynches stared at each other across the gleaming dining table.

  “I want you to know we won’t leave you high and dry,” Sebastian said quietly. “You don’t have to worry, financially. I’m more than capable of taking care of you.”

  “As am I, incidentally,” Sophie chimed in.

  Their mother looked incredulously from one to the other. “Is that what you think I’m worried about? Sebastian, honey, I want to sell that horrible, enormous house and help you.”

  “Oh.” Sebastian raised his eyebrows. “Um. Okay.” He exchanged a glance with Sophie, then added, “Are you sure? I mean, that house has been your home for the past three decades…”

  “Exactly.” She placed her palms on the table. “And now both of you have flown the coop and your father is…well, gone. I’m all alone in there. It’s ghastly.”

  “I didn’t know you felt that way,” Sophie said. “I thought you were happy.”

  Their mother shrugged. “I am. I never had to work for a living, I have several good friends and two smart, beautiful, successful children. I just wish…” Her gaze grew distant, and her voice hoarse. “I wish I could have stopped your father from hurting others while he gave me all of that.”

  Sebastian sighed. “Well, as far as we can tell, he never actually maimed or killed anyone on his way to the top of the ladder, so he’s not some Mafia boss…” The words brought Lorelei to his thoughts. Everything seemed to remind him of her.

  “I love how you left yourself wiggle room with that statement,” Evan commented, carrying a tray with glasses and a pitcher of water into the room. “‘As far as we can tell.’ You’ve been hanging out with your lawyers too much, man.”

  Sebastian smirked at him, but his friend was not wrong. He’d spent all of Sunday in urgent meetings with his team, trying to speed up the process of closing the company. There were dozens of workers to take care of—finding them alternative employment, offering insanely generous retirement packages, or even incorporating them into his and Evan’s company was a massive task. He thought he might breathe easier once the deed was done.

  “I’ll need you to hold down the fort for a while at the office,” he told his business partner. “It’s going to take me a while to untangle everything.”

  “Is there any way I could do the work in your place?” his mother interrupted. “So you’d be free to…focus on other things?”

  They all stared at her.

  “I don’t think children should spend their lives making amends for their parents’ mistakes.” Touching her chest, she added, “I need to make amends. And I’ll start by doing this. Besides, I don’t have any grandchildren yet. I need a new project in my life.”

  Sophie and Sebastian groaned while Evan barked out a laugh. Then Sophie turned a sly grin on Sebastian.

  “I think you might get those sooner than you expected, Mom.”

  Everyone stared at Sebastian.

  “What?” he said, keeping his poker face in place despite the heat rushing up his neck.

  Sophie lifted an eyebrow. “You’ve checked your phone seven times since I got here, and it hasn’t bleeped once. You’ve had a haircut since I saw you on that video call. Yet you also look like you haven’t slept one bit, which tells me something’s keeping you up at night.”

  Sebastian opened his mouth, then closed it again.

  “You scare me,” Evan told Sophie, though he seemed more impressed than terrified.

  Sebastian wasn’t used to sharing his relationship trouble with his friend, let alone his mother and sister. But now, looking at the three people who mattered the most to him in the world, he realized they would stand with him no matter what.

  So he took a deep breath and said, “Actually, I need your help.”

  Eighteen

  Lori

  Next Monday, Lori and Hannah gave their letters of resignation to Terrence’s boss, Mrs. Yates, beginning their last two weeks working for her travel agency. She was sad to see ‘her best workers’ leave and offered to write them recommendation letters.

  They declined.

  “We’ll sort of be our own bosses for a while,” Hannah told her with a big grin.

  “And if her idea of supporting ‘her best workers’ was placing Terrence as our office manager, I don’t want anything to do with her,” Lori murmured when they returned to their posts.

  It was a scary and exciting moment to be plunging into the unknown, but Lori had never felt more certain about a decision. This was what she was supposed to be doing.

  She and Hannah had spent the week coming up with a business plan, researching other similar agencies and their offers, as well as the more boring elements that pertained to taxes and opening a company.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Hannah had said. “I volunteer to travel to all these amazing destinations and try out their honeymoon options.”

  Lori had laughed at that. “Oh, thank you for your sacrifice.”

  It would be a blast working with Hannah. And living with her, too, since they’d decided that keeping costs low was a priority for them until their company started turning a profit. With the wedding season in full swing, chances were most couples had already booked their honeymoons. But they were willing to work hard and get their business running.

  At the end of the day, they returned to Lori’s house for another late-night brainstorming session fueled by chocolate and pizza. The moment they climbed the porch steps, however, Lori noticed a large white box sitting on her doormat.

  She turned around to check—it was highly irregular for her mailman to just leave a package out without calling her to sign for it. Then she remembered she still hadn’t replaced her phone.

  “Hey, Lori!”

  At the sound of her name, Lori turned toward her neighbor’s house. Old Mr. Taylor was waving at her from his porch.

  “Hi, Mr. T! How are you?” She waved back, grinning at the man who’d taught her how to ride her bicycle down this very street. These neighbors were more than just passing acquaintances, and she’d miss them when she moved away.

  “I told the mailman I’d keep an eye on your box over there. He couldn’t reach you and seemed in a hurry.”

  “Thank you,” she called, but he just waved her off with a toothless grin and shuffled back into his house.

  “Man, I love living in this neighborhood,” Lori said wistfully, lifting the box and waiting while Hannah unlocked the front door. “I wonder what this is, though. I don’t remember ordering anything.”

  “Maybe it’s something for your grandma?” Hannah suggested, dropping the keys into the bowl by the door.

  Lori grimaced. If it was, the package was several months late. Then her gaze fell on the return address.

  Sebastian Oliver Lynch, it said in a neat, decisive handwriting. Lori knew somehow that he’d written it himself—that this wasn’t the work of some intern that he’d delegated the task to.

  She walked to the kitchen table as if in a trance and deposited the box on it. Then she stepped away, staring at it warily.

  “What is it?” Hannah came up beside her. “Is something wrong?” She looked from the box to Lori, who was still mutely studying the package.

  “No,” Lori finally managed to say. “It’s…from Sebastian.”

  “Oh,” said Hannah. “Wow.” Opening a drawer, she rummaged around for a moment, then took out a box cutter and pressed it into Lori’s palm. “Go on.”

  Lori snapped out of it. “I don’t…” She stopped herself, chewing the inside of her cheek. “I mean, what if it’s…”

  What
if it’s painful? She didn’t want to hurt anymore. She’d gotten better at not crying this past week, yet tears now threatened at the mere glimpse of his name. What had he sent her—and why?

  Hannah stepped in front of her, breaking her line of sight to the box. “Lori, you need to open it. I’ll give you some space, okay?”

  She rubbed Lori’s shoulders briskly and turned away to leave, but Lori grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug. She clung to her best friend and squeezed her eyes shut, as though that might make the box miraculously disappear.

  “Thank you for being here,” she whispered.

  Hannah patted her on the back. “Anytime.” With that, she left.

  Lori opened her eyes a fraction. Nope, the box was still there. With a sigh, she readied the box cutter and slit the tape on top of the box.

  It was filled with dark-green tissue paper. Lori removed the protective layer, lifting fistfuls of the stuff and depositing it on the table next to the box. Underneath, she found…a Lacrosse trophy?

  It was very shiny, as though it had recently been polished, and bore Sebastian’s name. Apparently, his high school team won first place in a state championship. Lori turned it over and found a blue sticky note attached to the bottom of it.

  I hated lacrosse, but my dad made me do one team sport in high school and I hated football more.

  Lori snorted and put the trophy on the table. Next, she fished out an old plush dinosaur with another sticky note pinned to it.

  I deny all knowledge of this, but my mom claims I carried this around with me all the time. We once had to make a two-hour trip to fetch it because I’d forgotten it at a restaurant.

  Her throat closed up, and she held the dinosaur for a moment, unwilling to face the rest of the box. What was he doing with this?

  Then she pulled out a large envelope not unlike the one she’d seen on that table in Vienna. Opening it, she realized it was filled with documents on Sebastian’s life. His school records, his bank statements, every detail of his life exposed and arranged in spreadsheets, lists, bullet points.

  Lori sat at the kitchen table, paging through it, not really taking anything in. She thought she knew why he was doing this—to level the playing field. To show her all of him, the way he’d found out about all of her. It was a step in the right direction, sure, but that didn’t erase the fact that he’d gone behind her back and snooped through her private life.

  Sighing, she reached into the box for another item. It was a printed-out photo of them at the Butterfly House. They were both grinning at the camera, Sebastian’s green-blue eyes twinkling at her. Lori ran her fingers lightly over the photo, then made to deposit it on the table, when she noticed another sticky note on the back.

  The best day of my life.

  Tears now coursed down her cheeks, obscuring her vision. She wiped them on her sleeve, half angry at the man—she was so over crying by now. But she couldn’t disagree. The day they’d spent together…it would remain one of her favorite memories.

  She rooted through the box, removing a toy car, a signed baseball, and a soft, worn t-shirt that had been washed so many times it had turned from black to gray. My lucky exam t-shirt, the sticky note accompanying it informed her, which I wore to EVERY exam I took in college.

  Each item gave her a small sliver of an insight into Sebastian’s past, showed her another glimpse of this fascinating, beautiful man.

  A ticket to a Green Day concert from his high school days, a Lego figurine keychain with a missing leg that he’d gotten in Denmark, and a beat-up copy of The Hobbit. And finally, a white, official-looking envelope with her name printed on it in that same strong, bold script. She tore it open with trembling fingers and pulled out the letter.

  Dear Lorelei,

  I’m going to start by apologizing for using your home address to have this delivered. It was in the file my private investigators compiled on you. I didn’t have your new phone number—or your landline. I could have asked them to get either one of those, I guess, but I didn’t want to invade your privacy any further. I also didn’t want to show up on your doorstep without warning, because I’m not at all sure whether you’d chase me off with a broom or not.

  Now I have to apologize for the second time. I’m sorry for not believing you. For ordering the background check in the first place, of course, but also for being too stubborn to see your side of the issue.

  I didn’t invade your privacy lightly. My life has been full of people who lie and cheat with the goal of getting close to me or my family—I’ve been raised to be cautious, and this same carefulness has served me well in the past.

  I get that it has also limited my ability to see the good in people, which is the core of our problem. You’ve done nothing wrong, and I’m sorry for ever insinuating you had. I never came completely clean with you, so I had no right to expect that of you.

  If you look through the documents in the folder I enclosed, you’ll get a good idea of just how complicated my current situation is. My father left behind a mess of a company that I’ve been trying to unpick—now, my family has stepped in to help, which makes me incredibly grateful.

  You’ll also find some personal items that might better tell you WHO, not WHAT I am. I’d like to chat about it one day if you think you’re up for it. My phone number is in the file if you need it.

  Love,

  Sebastian

  Lori was still staring at the paper when Hannah returned, poking her head around the door, her eyes round with interest.

  “So, what’s in the box?”

  Lori pointed mutely at the pile of items on the desk.

  Hannah frowned, coming closer and examining The Hobbit. “Is this supposed to make sense to you?”

  Lori nodded, because it did make sense. And it cracked her heart wide open. Sebastian was an intensely private man, yet he’d shared all this with her, trusting that she wouldn’t, say, sell the information on his father’s company to the press. The expression of trust implied in his gesture was immense.

  “I have to go to Washington.” Those weren’t the first words she’d expected to utter after going through Sebastian’s box of memorabilia, but they were true.

  Hannah lifted her eyebrows, still holding the lacrosse trophy. “Now?”

  Lori glanced at the kitchen clock and groaned. “No, not now. Tomorrow, I guess. I’m taking the train.” She looked at her friend, chewing her lip. “Or should I rent a car?”

  Hannah set down the trophy and took Lori by the hands. “Deep breaths,” she instructed.

  Lori obeyed, calming slightly. “I’m fine,” she said, both to convince Hannah and herself. “I just need to talk to Sebastian.”

  She needed to kiss him, too. But that would come later.

  “Don’t you have his phone number?” Hannah asked, riffling through the papers on the table. “That might save you half a day of travel.”

  Lori shook her head. “No, I have to, um, return his things.”

  Hannah smirked. “All right. I see this is a very important situation.”

  Groaning, Lori stood and walked to the kitchen window. “I’m jumping in headfirst again, right? This is stupid. I should just mail the box back to him and then maybe call him after…” She trailed off, staring out into the overgrown backyard.

  Hannah came to stand beside her. “Is that what you want to do?”

  “No.” Lori’s heart was pulling her toward DC, as if a thin, invisible line connected her to Sebastian.

  “Then do what you want to do.” Hannah’s gaze turned fierce. “You had the guts to go to Vienna. To quit your job and start a huge new project. Now you maybe get to have your happily-ever-after, so you should take that chance.”

  Lori studied her friend for a moment. “When did you get so wise? And I thought you wanted to bust Sebastian’s kneecaps.”

  “Pfft.” Hannah tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I’ve always been wise. As for Sebastian…” She leveled Lori with a honest look. “When you called me from V
ienna, you sounded happy for the first time in years, Lori. And just now, after whatever you read in that letter, you’re sort of glowing.”

  “Glowing?” Lori patted her cheeks. “Is that good or bad?”

  “Good. It’s very good,” said Hannah. “Now pack this all up so you can leave first thing in the morning.”

  Just then, the doorbell rang. Lori’s heart thudded against her ribs, and she glanced at Hannah, unsure of what to do.

  “Will you go open the door for me?” she asked in a small voice. She didn’t dare hope it was Sebastian, yet a painful twist of her stomach told her how much she wanted it to be him, after all.

  Hannah scurried to the door while Lori clutched the kitchen counter, trying to breathe and eavesdrop at the same time.

  However, their visitor was a woman, judging by her voice. Lori heard Hannah’s laugh, then some low conversation, and then the front door closed again.

  Hannah came into the kitchen, carrying an enormous bouquet of perfect pink peonies.

  Lori gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

  “There’s a note,” Hannah said, handing her the small envelope.

  This note was printed out, likely because Sebastian had ordered the flowers from a local shop.

  Lorelei, just one more thing: in case I wasn’t perfectly clear in my box/letter, I wanted you to know that I really, really hope you’ll call. I hope I didn’t scare you away for good.

  I’ll wait. For days, weeks, months, it doesn’t matter. But if you’d rather not hear from me again, I’ll understand that, too.

  Love,

  Sebastian

  “Wow, he’s good,” Hannah whispered, who had been reading over Lori’s shoulder. “But don’t worry. I’ll tell Terrence you have the plague. I’ll lay it on real thick.”

  Lori sent her a look, then went to put the flowers in a vase. It was a shame she wouldn’t be home to enjoy them.

  Nineteen

  Sebastian