Chapter Thirty-Four

Skylar could agree that she had found her home in Sanders, Conrad, & Associates. It was a small law firm compared to the other big-name firms in the city, but the attorneys she met there were honest people. They weren't in it for the money, there were in it for the justice. For the help they could offer the ones who didn't really have a voice in the world. She'd learned that her dream of being a top-notch corporate lawyer wasn't really her dream after all. She was happy defending the ones looked down upon by overly-rich and greedy. It was satisfactory knowing that she could make a difference.

After finishing up her first year of law school at the University of Chicago, she went on to apply to several law firms for internship positions. Many accepted her. Only one got her. It was the firm that offered her an unpaid position, the one with the least luxurious office space, but with the most hard-working people she had ever met. The attorneys that worked there had attended prestigious schools like Harvard, Yale, even Stanford, and they could have worked anywhere they wanted, but they chose to work at a small law firm that did most of its work pro bono. She knew those were the lawyers she aspired to be. The ones who did it for the correct justice. For what was truly right.

She learned a lot in the months she spent under the mentorship of those amazing lawyers. In fact, she was quite sure she was finally coming to the realization of who she was truly meant to be. She was happy. For the first time in her life, she was truly happy. No insecurities. No second thoughts. No overthinking. She just went with the flow.

Of course she'd be lying if she said she didn't miss Ian. How could she not? He was her first true love. And she still loved him. He was such a great man. He'd had such a great impact on her. While their relationship had not been perfect, it had still been amazing. She didn't regret anything. But she felt emotionally better. She was free to be herself and find her true aspirations in life. Not that Ian had been holding her back, but he had been a part of a dark time in her life. She needed time. Whether they ever saw each other again, well, that wasn't up to her. She was starting to learn to love whatever life threw in her path.

"You need to take a break," Nate, a new friend, said over coffee. "With school and your internship, you already have a lot going for you. Why do you want to go to South America?"

Nate was older than her, he was an architect and also one of Kyle's friends. They'd met at one of Kyle's parties. And, yes, at first they thought there was a bit more than friendly chemistry between them. Enough for them to go on a couple of dates together. But she'd quickly realized that she was still stuck on Ian. Nate was nice, but he definitely wasn't the man she wanted to be with. He understood, even admitted to her that he had his own romance troubles. They tried to help each other out. Inevitably, they ended up becoming close friends.

"It's a volunteer trip," she explained. "They build houses and plant gardens for people in need."

"That sounds nice," he said, rolling his eyes. "You're a good person, I get it. But you also need a little break. Instead of South America, go to Europe!"

"Aren't you South American?" she pointed out.

"Yes. My mother is from Argentina. Dad's Canadian." He sighed exasperated. "Aren't I an exotic man?"

She laughed. "You know, that Valerie girl you always talk about, is missing out. You're a great guy."

"A great exotic guy?" he teased.

"You're still Canadian, so not really."

They both laughed.

And that was pretty much how she spent her days. She went to school, her internship, hung out with one of her friends, and then did whatever else she could do. And, yes, she did end up going to a very poor country of South America where she learned that there were people living in conditions that she could have never imagined. It made her wonder why she ever wanted to take her own life. There were people who had it worse, but they weren't trying to take the easy way out.

When she went back to Chicago, she was confronted with a welcomed surprise.

"Jason!" she exclaimed as she ran into her friend's arms.

Jason hugged her tight and said, "Glad to see you're good."

"It's not just him," Kyle explained. "Sarah tagged along too."

When she pulled away from Jason she found Sarah standing there with a smile on her face. It didn't take long for the two to embrace each other. She hadn't realized just how much she had missed her two friends.

"You guys don't know how happy I am right now," she said.

And, really, she was. After having spent almost two years without seeing them, it felt really good to see familiar faces. She actually felt like crying, and she hadn't cried in a long time.

She spent some time catching up with her friends. There was so much that had happened in the time since she had left California. Apparently, Jason and Sarah had given each other a chance just to realize that they were better off as friends. Sarah was at the top of her class back at Stanford. And from what her friends told her, Micah was still a pretentious asshole. She knew that already though. Weirdly enough, she and Micah had kept touch. He was a pretentious asshole, but he wasn't that bad once you got to know him.

Micah had kept her up to date on what was going on back Ian's firm. Apparently Ian's firm was doing better than ever. He was serious about his job and made sure that his associates were just as serious. And there was no other woman in his life, as far Micah was concerned, at least. She didn't want to care or feel jealous, but she felt happy knowing that tiny fact.

For the months that followed, she went through the same routine. She went to her classes, then her internship, and then back to her place to study. That's all she did in her free time: study. Skylar was on a mission to graduate law school with honors and get offered a position right out of school. She wasn't going to get that if she didn't focus on what truly mattered to her at the moment. No distractions. The only person she hung out with was Kyle, sometimes Nate when he took a break from his own job at an architecture firm.

Skylar knew that giving up most of her social life during law school had been worth it when Sanders, Conrad, & Associates offered her a full-time position as a real attorney. No longer was she an intern to them. Of course that was all she wanted and quickly went on to accept the offer. She would finally be able to help the ones that needed help the most. Not the rich, greedy, powerful, or privileged. The common folk.

She and Sarah had kept touch as well. In fact, Sarah came to Chicago a lot. And out of those visits, a new romance was born. One between Sarah and Kyle. She had not expected that considering how their first encounter had gone. But Kyle changed his ways for her. He became a different person. He was still her best friend, but he changed for the better. Into someone romantically reliable, someone that finally believed in love. She was proud.

So Sarah made plans to move to Chicago after graduation. It was great knowing that there would be another female in their home. Maybe now she would have someone to shop with. But she also didn't want to think about what was going on behind their closed bedroom door. It made her feel uncomfortable, and kind of jealous.

Yeah, she had not had any action since Ian. Two years. No Action. She wondered how she was getting by. Sure, she liked being independent, not relying on any man to make her feel good, but she still craved intimacy. The touch and kisses of a certain Mr. Ian Rinaldi.

Two months after her graduation, and exposure to the real working world, she was still living with Kyle – and now Sarah! She didn't mind, but their lovey-dovey interactions were getting to her. Depressingly enough for her to admit, she'd made a Tinder account. Chatted with a few guys and realized that all of them just wanted a hook up. It didn't take long for her to wonder if maybe a quick hook would be healthy for her.

And so she accepted to meet Vince Dawson, a 28-year old graphic designer. He was handsome from what she could tell in his pictures. Dark hair and a beard, with dazzling blue eyes. According to him, he was 6'5. That was pretty tall, and she did love tall me. So they agreed to meet at a Starbucks two blocks away from his apartment.

In person, he really was as tall as he said he was. And judging by all the muscle he showed off, he worked out a lot.

"Skylar," he said, flashing her a toothy grin. "Wow, you are even more beautiful in person."

She gave him a smile and said, "Well, you're not too bad yourself."

"So do you wanna get something here first, or just go to my place now?"

She gulped. Wow. She'd never really done the whole casual hook up thing. She had not been expecting for him to be so forward, or for things to just move so quickly to the bed. What happened to nice dates before sex?

"Uh, yeah, sure," she said, standing up and grabbing her purse.

And soon enough, they were back at his place with his tongue shoved down her throat. He was a good kisser, and he was very attractive. She tried to focus on him and nothing else. That was turning out to be a challenge.

"You seem nervous," he said, pulling back.

"I've just never really done the whole casual sex thing," she admitted.

"When was the last time you had sex?"

"Hmm...Two years..."

He laughed at her. "Two years, huh."

"Yup."

"Why?"

"I was kind of taking some time off to myself, you know."

"Bad break up?"

"I just missed him a lot."

"Well, you still wanna do this?"

Skylar thought about it. The only man she could think of sleeping with was Ian. Doing it with someone else just didn't feel right. "No. I'm so sorry."

He sighed. "It's fine. I'm also not gonna force you to do anything."

"You are so sweet, and I am so sorry. Have a good day!"

So she definitely was not good with casual hook ups. She made sure to steer clear of them, and uninstalled the app. Tinder just wasn't for her.

And that had been it for her attempts at connecting with someone of the opposite sex that wasn't a friend of hers. Maybe it just wasn't the right time just yet.

Whatever the case, she decided not to try any of that anymore. Whatever was meant to happen would happen. No need to rush things. No need to force anything that she wasn't comfortable with. Maybe she needed another two years to get over Ian.

Ian had spent the last two years focusing on his firm and his daughter. No distractions for him. According to Peter, he was becoming an antisocial freak. He didn't care though. No matter how many blind dates Peter tried to set him on, nothing would work. There was only one woman for him and she was far away in Chicago doing her own thing. In fact, he was quite sure that she had found someone else by now. No man would be stupid enough not to pursue her. Surely out of all of them one must have been better than him, good enough for her to give that poor bastard a chance to take her heart. He'd had his chance, and then he blew it.

Christina had even found a guy. Some guy that worked for some oil company. They were engaged already. He'd proposed four months after being together. According to Emily, he was a nice guy that bought her a lot of toys. He didn't like the guy. Not because he was jealous, but because there was no room for another father figure in his daughter's life. He could buy her toys. All the toys she wanted. What right did that guy have? It was petty of him, of course.

He wondered how Skylar was doing. She'd graduated from law school already, and probably gone on to be hired by a top firm in Chicago. According to Kyle, she was doing well. She'd even stopped taking her meds because she knew that she was strong enough to not depend on medication to feel happy. He knew it. His Skylar was a beautiful, strong woman.

Ian would be lying if he didn't admit to a moment of weakness. A year into being away from Skylar, he was going through a tough time. He'd started to doubt everything he had done in his life. He missed her so much. He didn't think he was a good enough father. Everyone around him seemed so much happier, why couldn't he feel a little bit of it? So he gave in to approached of his receptionist. Not completely, he'd stopped half-way into getting naked. But he had given in in some way. He wasn't proud of it. He wished he could go back and stop himself. He didn't know why, but he felt like he had betrayed Skylar in doing so. They weren't even together, but he'd promised himself he would wait however long he needed to for Skylar to go back to him. Maybe it would never happen, but he could only hope.

It was September when Kyle and Sarah announced that they were engaged. And Skylar had cried. Cried because she was happy for her best friend. He'd found true love in Sarah, and their love would live on. But she also cried because she realized just how much she craved that moment with someone special. She was twenty-four and had no romantic prospects in sight. Her days were dedicated to her work. There was no one special in her life. The only person she would love to share a moment like that with was Ian.

She also hadn't realized just how nervous she was to see Ian again after years of being apart. That was until Kyle let her know that Ian was going to be his best man at the wedding, and Skylar the maid of honor. There was no way to avoid seeing him.

I had planned on this being the last chapter, then realized that I couldn't do that. So there will be one more chapter and then an epilogue. Thanks for reading. Please vote and leave a comment!

Also, PLEASE CHECK OUT IS THIS HAPPINESS I JUST ADDED A NEW CHAPTER AND THAT IS THE NEW STORY I WILL BE FOCUSING ON AFTER TSE IS OVER. IN MY OPINION, IT'S BETTER THAN TSE.