“It’s non-negotiable,” he said, drumming his fingertips against his desk as he glanced at the pile of work that he still needed to get through before he could call it a night only to smile when his gaze landed on the framed picture that he’d taken of Joey last week. She’d looked so fucking adorable curled up in his office, lost in another book, that he hadn’t been able to help himself.
“Well, it’s just that I have a bachelor’s degree in education and an associate’s in history. So, I just feel that with my qualifications that I should be earning more than what you’re offering,” she said, not bothering to look up from her phone.
“How much more were you thinking?” he asked absently, thinking about last week and just how much he’d needed it. It had been too damn long since he’d taken a day off and relaxed. It had probably been the best week of his life and it had everything to do with the woman that he’d realized that he couldn’t live without.
“At least ten thousand dollars,” she said, making his eyebrows arch.
“The woman currently filling this position has two Ph.D.’s, is published, and is a world-renowned professor at an ivy league university,” he said, wishing that he could offer the job to Joey since it would make things easier. But he’d never be able to offer her anything close to what she was worth, which meant that he was going to have to settle for one of the unqualified applicants making his life a living hell.
“What about five?” she asked, barely looking up from her phone to frown at him only to find himself drawn to the window to his left just in time to see Joey rush over to the table, yank up the tablecloth and-
“Get out.”
“What?” the woman that was never coming near his school again, said, barely looking up from her phone to frown at him.
“Thank you for coming,” he said, pushing away from his desk.
“Wait, the interview’s over? But we didn’t discuss my work history,” she said, sighing heavily as he headed for the door.
“Do you have any?” he asked absently as he opened the door and realized that Joey was already gone.
“Well, no, but-”
“Then it was nice meeting you,” he threw over his shoulder as he walked past his secretary trying to get his attention and the unqualified applicants filling the waiting area and decided to find out why Joey was bleeding.
---
“This can’t be happening,” Joey said, worrying her bottom lip as she did her best not to panic, but given the situation she actually felt that panicking was an acceptable response.
What the hell was she going to do? she couldn’t help but wonder as she pushed the door open and stepped outside. One thing was clear, Reed was going to kill her when he found out, she thought as she absently wiped the blood off her eyebrow. Not that this was her fault, she reminded herself as she headed towards the teachers’ parking lot. She should have-
“He’s over here!” Jen yelled, waving her hands in the air to draw Joey’s attention to the old oak tree that she’d hid in a time or two when she’d needed a few extra minutes to prepare herself for the bus ride home with angry hormonal teenagers.
“Oh, thank god,” Joey said, sighing with relief as she quickly made her way through the small parking lot and headed in their direction.
“Look, I’m really sorry, but it was an accident. I never would have done it if I’d known that Shawn was going to open the door,” Jen said, licking her lips nervously as she wrung her hands together. “But he’s fine and I already called my uncle to get him down.”
“Then why’s he in a tree?” Joey asked as she handed the mask that had sent poor Shawn running, back to Jen before she reached up and grabbed hold of a branch and pulled herself up.
It took a lot longer than she’d expected, but she eventually made her way to Shawn and realized that the tree was a lot bigger than she remembered. Trying not to think about how high up they were, she settled herself on the branch next to Shawn and-
“Why can’t I be like everyone else?” he asked, glancing at her.
“What do you mean?” she asked as she glanced down, wondering how she was going to get him down from here without breaking their necks.
“You know what I mean.”
“I really don’t,” Joey said, shaking her head as she leaned back against the trunk with a sigh because Reed was definitely going to kill her.
“I ran,” he said, shaking his head as he reached up and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands.
“And if I didn’t need to lose at least twenty pounds I would have run, too,” she promised him, making his lips twitch.
“But, you’re not autistic,” he said weakly as he stared off towards the school.
“True,” she murmured in agreement, “but that’s what makes you special,” she said, repeating the same words that her grandmother used to make her feel better whenever she complained about being the only twelve-year-old in high school.
“I don’t want to be special.”
“Then what do you want to be?”
“I want to be like everyone else,” he said, absently toying with a small twig.
“Then you wouldn’t be Shawn,” she said, reaching over and brushing his hair out of his face.
“I could be someone else,” he mumbled with a shrug.
“And who would you be?” she asked, her heart breaking for him.
“I don’t know. Maybe someone like Mr. Bradford,” he said with a shrug, making her smile.
“So, you want to be incredibly handsome, smart, kind, and funny?” she asked with a teasing smile.
When he nodded, she said, “You already are, Shawn,” making him smile.
“You are an incredibly kind, sweet, funny, and very handsome boy, who still owes me a second castle with an ocean view,” she said, making his eyes narrow.
“We didn’t discuss a second castle.”
“Well, we’re discussing it now,” she said, making his lips twitch.
“Fine, but you’re only getting one moat,” he said, sighing heavily as he grabbed hold of her branch and started climbing down.
“That’s just not going to work for me,” she said, watching him as he quickly made his way down the tree.
“I’m still working on your town,” Shawn said when he safely reached the ground.
“Village, Shawn. We’ve discussed this. It’s a village and I’m going to need another one for my new castle,” Joey said, slowly exhaling as she reached over and grabbed onto the branch across from her, telling herself that this was a piece of cake.
She should have told herself something else, she realized a few seconds later when she misjudged the distance to the branch beneath her, slipped, and—
Decided that she was actually okay where she was at the moment.
“Are you okay?” Jen yelled up.
“Couldn’t be better,” she said, tightening her hold around the tree even as she decided that it would probably be for the best if she squeezed her eyes shut so that she wouldn’t have to see the ground rushing up towards her if the branch that she was currently straddling decided to give out.
“That’s definitely going to leave a mark,” she said with a sigh, deciding to add climbing trees to the list of the things that she was better off avoiding.
“It’s good to see that you haven’t changed, Joey,” someone said, making her frown as she risked opening her eyes to find a somewhat familiar looking man wearing a fireman’s uniform pulling himself up beside her.
“Do I know you?” she couldn’t help but ask only to decide that it was time to close her eyes again when the branch that was keeping her from falling to what promised to be a very painful death, shook.
“Aaron Gordon,” he said as she felt him examine the small cut on her eyebrow before he dropped his hand away. “We went to school together.”
“Oh,” she said lamely, really hoping that he wasn’t the type of man to hold a grudge, but just in case…
“I’m sorry,” she said, deciding that it would probably be for the best if she skipped the normal social pleasantries and got right to that five-step apology process and hope for the best.
“For what?” he asked as her branch continued to shake.
“Many things, but mainly for the unfortunate incident that caused the school to close for a week and-”
“That was you?” he asked, chuckling, which she took as a good sign that he wasn’t about to get revenge.
“Yes, yes, it was,” she said, tightening her hold on the tree trunk when more jostling ensued, threatening to make this a memorable reunion.