All of My Soul (6 page)

He fell to the side of me, and his arms
circled around me, holding me close and softly humming into my ear.
Neither of us said anything as we lay there drifting into
unconsciousness. My heart swelled with how much I loved this man
and how completely wonderful we felt together.

Chapter Four

Two weeks later we still had no leads as to
who had thrown the rock with my picture through Lincoln’s window.
Mackenzie had been questioned as to her whereabouts on Valentine’s
night, but she had a solid alibi. Hundreds of people had seen her
at a cocktail party at a restaurant in downtown Chicago. The police
reported that she was concerned, helpful, and answered all their
questions, but as Lincoln pointed out, she was a good actress. I
still wasn’t convinced it was her. I wouldn’t put it past her to do
something like this, but it just seemed too obvious.

Lincoln called Detective Murray every day
asking for an update and urging them to keep close tabs on
Mackenzie. Every time he called, the detective would remind him
that she had an alibi and she hadn’t violated the restraining
order, so there was nothing they could do unless they found some
hard evidence.

It was easy to see how frustrated Lincoln was
getting. Slashing my tires had been a nuisance, but the picture
with my eyes crossed out and my neck slit was a serious threat.
Neither of us understood why someone would target me, but Lincoln
made me promise not to go anywhere alone. I couldn’t even argue
since I was the one saying it wasn’t Mackenzie who did this. If I
was right and this wasn’t her, then there was a random nut job
threatening to hurt me, and that was ten times scarier than if it
was my old roommate.

Lincoln drove me to and from work as often as
possible. When he dropped me off in the GenChem parking lot the
Friday before my internship ended I was a nervous wreck.

“It’s going to be fine, Princess,” Lincoln
reassured me.

“What if they don’t offer me a job?” My knees
bounced up and down nervously as I looked across the parking lot
with dread. Today was the last day to hear if I would remain
employed at GenChem.

“They will.”

“But what if they don’t?”

He reached across the center console and
clasped my hand, causing me to look over at him. “They will,” he
said, looking me in the eyes with a serious and confident
expression.

I inhaled a calming breath before slowly
letting it out and nodding my head at him. He offered his lips to
me, and I pushed up to kiss him good-bye. We remained entwined with
each other for longer than usual before I finally broke our embrace
and stepped out of his SUV. Lincoln would be leaving for an away
game while I was at work and wouldn’t be back until Sunday
evening.

“Miss you already,” he said before I closed
my door.

“Miss you back.”

He gave me a small, encouraging smile as I
shut the car door and walked away from him into work.

Despite all Lincoln’s faith in me, I was a
ball of nerves the entire day at work. I could not remember what I
had done from one skin cell culture to the next and had to
double-check every test result. By the end of the day, I just
wanted it to be over. Regardless of whether or not I got the job, I
just wanted an answer. So when my boss, Scott, walked into my lab
area near the end of the day, I jumped and almost dropped a tray of
petri dishes.

“Hey, Jillian. You got a minute?”

I nodded, unable to vocalize an answer.

He turned over a legal-sized white envelope
in his hand. “I… um… just need to give you this.”

I swallowed hard and took the envelope from
his hand. He wouldn’t make eye contact with me, and I took that as
a bad sign.

Wedging my finger under the flap, I ripped
the seal and pulled out the official letter. GenChem’s blue and
black company logo was printed in the upper left corner. I’m pretty
sure my heart had stopped.

Dear Ms. Thompson,

We appreciate your hard work and dedication
during your internship, and we thank you for your interest in
extending your employment with us. We would be honored to have
someone of your caliber working for us. However, our board of
directors is, currently not interested in investing in your area of
research and your funding will be terminated on Friday, March 16th
of this year.

If you are in need of a recommendation for
other employment, please do not hesitate to ask. We wish you the
best in your future ventures.

Thank you again.

Regards,

Yada, yada, yada.

“I’m so sorry, Jillian,” Scott said as I
collapsed on my chair.

I pinched my eyes shut and tried to maintain
my composure. “I understand,” I said softly.

“I just want you to know this decision had
nothing to do with you or your work ethic. This was solely a
funding issue. We just can’t support every area of research.”

I nodded. That did make me feel slightly
better. I had known from the beginning that GenChem didn’t have a
strong area of medical research. I could have chosen a different
internship, one that had more potential for long-term employment,
but they would have wanted more control of my research and GenChem
was willing to give me pretty much free rein over my experiments,
and that was worth it to me. Now, however, it seemed like a
mistake.

I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
“Thank you for the opportunity, Scott. I’ve learned a lot
here.”

“I will write you an outstanding letter of
recommendation. Just let me know.”

I nodded again, trying not to look too
defeated.

“Why don’t you take off early? I’ll see you
Monday.”

I had one week of my internship left, but it
all kind of seemed pointless right now. I sighed, knowing I would
be back here bright and early on Monday morning even if it was the
last thing I wanted to do.

After packing up my lab area, I left GenChem,
only remembering after I reached the parking lot that I didn’t have
my car. Shit, what was I going to do? Kennedy was supposed to pick
me up, but since Scott let me go early, she wasn’t here.

“Ms. Thompson?” A deep voice came from the
end of the lot.

I turned and saw a man dressed in a dark suit
with a long trench coat approaching me. A black sedan with tinted
windows sat idling near the entrance to the parking lot.

“Yes?” I asked with caution as I took a small
step back.

“Mr. Monaghan hired me to drive you home.” He
gave me a reassuring smile.

“He—he did?”

The man nodded and waved his arm toward the
vehicle. It was just like the one Lincoln and I had in Boston.

“How did you know I would be off work
early?”

“I’ve been here since this morning. Mr.
Monaghan hired me to wait for you all day in case you needed
anything.”

Oh. Hmm…

I turned my phone on as the man escorted me
to the car, and I slowly walked behind him, slightly leery.

“
Did you hire a driver for me?”

“
Yes,”
Lincoln texted back
immediately.
“I’m sorry I forgot to tell you. His name is Brody.
He’ll take you anywhere you need to go. Please don’t go anywhere
alone while I’m gone.”

A wave of relief washed through me. I was
being overparanoid.

My phone beeped again.
“Can’t wait to hear
about your new job, baby. Love you.”

His unfailing confidence in me made my heart
hurt. Even though I knew it was only a funding issue, I still felt
like a failure. I was disappointed and upset with myself, and I
cried silently in the backseat the entire way home.

Tabitha’s bus wasn’t due for another hour and
a half, and when I walked into our house the dead silence was
eerily comforting. I was so tired. I lay down on the couch with my
coat and shoes still on and allowed myself a moment of grief.

I woke to a small hand patting the side of my
face.

“Auntie Jilly Bean, are you sick?”

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. “Mm… Tabby
Cat. Did you just get home from school?”

“Yeah! Want to see the picture I drew?” She
ran back to the entryway.

My head throbbed as I sat up on the couch.
Falling asleep while crying had given me a headache. Ugh. I needed
some aspirin.

Tabitha ran back into the living room and
jumped onto the couch next to me, holding out a picture. There were
three tall stick figures and one shorter one standing in front of a
house. A giant rainbow and puffy blue clouds filled the sky, and a
yellow sun sat in the corner of the paper.

“Oh, it’s beautiful, Tabitha. Tell me about
it.”

She pointed to one of the stick figures.
“This is Mommy.” She moved her finger to the smaller stick figure.
“This is me,” she said, and then moved her finger to the last two
stick figures that were holding hands. “And this is you and Mr.
Lincoln.”

My heart swelled as I realized Tabitha now
included Lincoln in our family. “You did such a good job, Tabitha!
Should we hang it on the refrigerator for Mommy to see when she
comes home?”

“Yeah!” she exclaimed and ran to the
kitchen.

I sighed as I checked my phone. I needed to
talk to Lincoln. But instead of calling him, I typed a quick text.
“Call me when you have a minute, please.”

“Can I have apples and peanut butter?”
Tabitha asked as I joined her in the kitchen.

“Yeah. Get an apple, and I’ll cut it up for
you. Then we’ll do your vocabulary worksheet, okay?”

“All right…” Tabitha grumbled.

Lincoln’s ringtone sounded from where I left
my phone in the living room. Miley Cyrus’s “Adore You” played as I
ran to answer Lincoln’s call.

“Hello?” I said into my phone.

“Princess.”

“Hey… aren’t you busy with hockey stuff?” He
had a game in a few hours.

“I was waiting for you to call. What
happened?”

Fresh tears threatened to spill over as I
sniffled a few times.

“Jillian?” Lincoln prompted me.

“I didn’t get the job,” I finally said in a
shaky voice.

“What? Why not?”

“They said they didn’t have the funding.”

“Oh, Princess. It’ll be okay. You’ll find
something else. Something better.”

I sniffled again.

“They’re going to regret ever letting you go,
baby. You’re going to be amazing, and you’re going to do great
things with your research.”

I exhaled sharply into the phone. “Thank you,
Lincoln. I needed to hear that.”

“It’s the truth.” I heard him sigh. “God, I
wish I was there to hold you.”

I inhaled deeply and steadied myself. “I’ll
be okay. You’re right. This isn’t the end of the world.”

“You’re so smart, baby. You’ll find something
soon.” He had such confidence in me.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. So much. Are you going to be
okay?”

“Yeah. I’ll be better when you get back.”

He sighed again. “Princess. I’d be there
right now if I could.”

“I know, baby. It’s okay. Go play.”

“Are you going to watch?”

I turned back to Tabitha. “Tabitha, Rebecca,
and I are going to watch your game and paint our nails.”

Tabitha popped her head out of the kitchen
and shouted, “I’m going to paint mine green!”

Lincoln laughed through the phone.

“Did you hear that?” I asked him.

He laughed again. “Yeah,” he said. “Try to
convince her to do Blackhawks colors.”

I laughed. “I should! I’ll send you a
picture.”

“Sounds good, Princess. I’ll talk to you
later, hmm?”

“Okay, baby. Be safe!”

~~~~~~~~

The last week of my internship was brutal.
This was my last opportunity to accumulate any additional research
I might need for my thesis. My two sisters and mother took turns
watching Tabitha after school so I could stay in the lab later. I
was working long hours and skipping lunch breaks. By the time
Friday rolled around, I was mentally and physically exhausted, but
I had gotten everything accomplished to the best of my abilities. I
was proud of myself, and for the first time in a week, I had
confidence that I would be able to continue my research elsewhere.
Now I just had to compile my data, finish my thesis, and find a lab
that would allow me to continue my research.

That’s all,
I thought with a tone of
sarcasm.

Lincoln hired Brody to take me to and from
work all week since I was working such unpredictable hours and he
didn’t want me leaving work alone late at night. So when I left
GenChem labs for the last time on Friday afternoon I was surprised
to find Lincoln sitting in the backseat of the hired car looking so
handsome in a tailored gray suit.

Without saying a word, I crawled into his lap
and hugged him tightly. He had had several away games this week,
and I had missed him.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he rubbed my
back. I’m sure he thought I would be upset on my last day.

“I am. I’m fine.”

He looked at me dubiously.

“No, really. I’m proud of myself. I just
kicked ass at an extremely challenging internship. My research went
well. I have a lot of data to analyze, and now I have eighty-four
days until my thesis is due to focus on it and my job hunt. And,” I
added with a smile, “I have the best boyfriend in the whole city of
Chicago.”

“Well, damn. I was shooting for best
boyfriend in the whole state of Illinois.”

I laughed and kissed him. “Well, that
too.”

“And this best boyfriend doesn’t have an away
game until a week from tomorrow.”

My smile grew even wider. “Now that is music
to my ears. What are we going to do with all this free time?”

Lincoln pushed my hair behind my ear and off
my shoulder. “Well, tonight we are going out to dinner to celebrate
you rocking your internship.”

“Mm… that sounds nice.”