Series: Like Us Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 241
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
I am.
More than he knows, maybe.
“What’s the big thing you need to tell me?” I ask.
Uncle Stokes shoots another tight look at my dad. Clearly, he didn’t want to divulge this, but he must’ve promised him. “My health—the reason I’ll one day need to step down as CEO, which won’t be anytime soon. I’ll hopefully be training you for years. A full decade, at least. But my health has taken a toll due to the stress and demands of this job.”
“The stress,” Dad emphasizes behind me. “The demands.”
“I hear him,” I mutter, thinking. It’s not the stress that’s worrisome. It’s something else entirely. “I plan to publish a comic book—”
“With your boyfriend,” Uncle Stokes says. “Human Him, Cosmic Her.”
“You know?”
“Your dad has already informed me, and I’ve already had multiple meetings with the board. If what you said was true about confirming your relationship to benefit Fizzle, they would like to leverage the comic book in Fizzle’s favor. We can cross promote. And all in all, they believe whatever you create with Donnelly will only help your public image, and I have to agree after your dad sent me a draft.”
He’s read the comic book?!
I’m a shocked Pikachu.
And I check to see if my boyfriend is okay with this. “It’s up to you too.”
“Boss babe, you tell me.”
I smile wider. “You wanna cross promote with me?”
“I’ll crisscross applesauce anything with you.”
I laugh with him, and we’re nodding to each other. Okay. Okay. This is starting to feel real.
Uncle Stokes seems a little more relieved, but he’s still caging some breath. That can’t be good for his health. Maybe he should take up meditation. Or get a fish.
“So,” Uncle Stokes says gently, “you can continue writing for Halway Comics. Your dad has helmed two companies at once, and I think he’ll be able to guide you on how to manage it.”
“Only if you want to work for Fizzle,” Dad says sharply.
Multiple paths.
It’s twice the workload, but it’s also twice the opportunities. It sounds way more exhilarating to have both rather than only having one clear-cut defined line.
I’m a messy timeline. I guess it’s only fitting if the multiversal me has multi-roads to take. Plus, I’ll have a long time to really understand the role and responsibilities of a CEO. I’m not being thrown into the position at twenty-one.
Until then, I can learn.
I like learning. Which brings me to… “What about college?” I ask.
“You’ll need to graduate. Your majors—Business and Marketing—are absolutely perfect. The board might want you to go for an MBA, but I can talk them out of it if it’s not in your plans.”
My plans. Little does he know, they’ve been morphing from a blob-of-a-person to full-blown Power Ranger right now. Taking shape. Taking flight, hopefully.
I scoot forward on the couch. Anxious sweat building at the next question, but I need to pose it now. “And what if I don’t graduate from Penn?”
I choose to only focus on Uncle Stokes, but his eyes flicker behind me. I can see he’s reading the confusion in the room.
Because I’ve never brought this up to anyone.
Not even Donnelly.
“What college are you considering then?”
“Somewhere in New York.”
“Wait, really?” Xander twists to me, on the cusp of a smile. Like he’s trying not to get his hopes up.
Uncle Stokes winces. “Fizzle headquarters are in Philadelphia, Luna. It’s easier if you’re here.”
A knot tightens in my throat. “I know…” But Donnelly. I want to be with him physically. Every night when I go to bed. Every morning when I wake up.
“You should stay where you are,” Uncle Stokes says. “Stay the course. Graduate from Penn.” He asks if I have any other questions, but this last one has swollen my esophagus. I’ll email him anything else I can think of, and he shakes my hand more like I’m his protégé, less like I’m his niece.
I’m liking the idea of being the Iron Man to variant Captain America.
But right now, I really need to talk to Donnelly.
“He never said I couldn’t go to school in New York,” I tell my boyfriend on the front porch stoop. Nighttime crickets chirp in the dark, and lightning bugs flicker across the lawn. I’m sitting on the railing, and he has a hand on my thigh.
He brings his other hand to his lips, smoking a cigarette. “He said it’d be easier if you were here though.” He blows smoke upward. “And it’s Philly. You’re meant to be in this city.”
I stare so deeply into him. “You are Philly to me. You are where I’m meant to be. You’re the real destination, Donnelly. You always have been.”
He looks overwhelmed. And he places an affectionate hand on my head. It slips down to my back, until he draws me closer to his chest. I hug him around the waist. His heart beats hard against me.