Page 95 of Eleanor & Grey
“But Daddy! I made—”
“Not. Now!” he hissed, sounding more annoyed than ever. He locked his stare with mine, and there was such a look of anger there that I took a step back. He looked at me as if silently commanding me to do my job before I no longer had a job to do. He then turned his back to us and returned to his call. “No, my apologies. It’s nothing.”
No, Greyson, it is something.
It’s everything.
I moved over to Lorelai and placed comforting hands on her shoulders. “We should come back after he’s done working.”
“But he’s always working.” She sighed, shaking her head. She then bounced up and down, still hopeful. “Daddy, I made you these pictures!” she exclaimed.
Her hopefulness made me sad.
I used to hold out that same kind of hope for my own father.
“Lorelai, I am not kidding! Now is not the time!” Greyson snapped, immediately dissolving his daughter’s joy.
Her shoulders rounded forward, and her eyes watered over. “But Daddy, the pictures...”
Greyson mumbled and turned his back once more. “Leave it on the desk.”
Lorelai was completely defeated. She no longer danced when she moved, and her smile had faded. With slow steps, she moved toward her father’s desk and laid down the art project she’d been working on with so much care. Then she turned and walked out of the room, completely heartbroken and scarred.
Wow.
There was seriously no way I could bite my tongue in that moment.
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let that slide. Lorelai was the sweetest girl alive, and the fact that her father had just treated her in such a disgusting way made my blood boil.
So it would be best if Greyson quickly hung up that phone, because I wasn’t going to leave until I’d given him every piece of my mind.
“Are you kidding me?” I hissed, still standing firmly in his office. He looked my way, his stare completely baffled.
He glanced once more before going back to his phone call. “I will have to call you back in a bit, Mr.Waken. Yes, I know, and I do truly apologize. There is a disruption I must handle immediately.”
“Yes, Greyson,” I stated, my arms crossed. “Handle this.”
And just like that, we hit episode six of the Greyson and Eleanor show: “The Fallout.”
He hung up the phone and narrowed his eyes as he turned to me. “What in the world do you think you are doing?”
“What am I doing? No, what areyoudoing?”
“Working, unlike some people around here. How dare youlet Lorelai barge into my office? Do you know how important that phone call was?” he barked.
“Do you know how important that artwork was?” I barked right back, not backing down. I was done backing down. Greyson was lost and stuck and hurting and pained, but in all that, he was allowing himself to hurt the ones who meant the most to him. He was hurting his girls.
He huffed. “Eleanor, please leave my office.”
“No.”
“What?”
“I said no.I’m not leaving, because you have to hear me.” I swallowed hard, nervous but intent on getting my point across. “I get that it’s hard for you.”
“What?”
“I said I get it. I get that some days are tougher than others, but the way you just treated Lorelai is unacceptable.”
