Forever - Java’s Version of Evergreen

By Aurelia Jask

Meet Javi Cordero, a lawyer who has never really felt that thing you're supposed to feel. You know; the butterflies in your stomach, the all-consuming desire to be in someone's orbit. Never, that is, until he meets Maury Robinson, the daughter of one of the senior partners at the law firm. But things with Maury are complicated and Javi resigns himself to just being friends… 

 

…Until one rainy night, when things change for both of them.

 

"Forever" is a story about love, loss, and keeping promises. "Forever" is the companion novel to "Evergreen"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Warrioress Publishing
• Release date: Feb 14, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224200467

Book preview

Aurelia Jask

Forever

Evergreen As Told By Javi

First published by Warrioress Publishing 2023

Copyright © 2023 by Aurelia Jask

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Aurelia Jask asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Aurelia Jask has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.

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Publisher Logo

To my husband Dayne -

Forever.

And to J -

Always.

Contents

Acknowledgement

Prologue

One: When It Don’t Come Easy

Two: Figure You Out

Three: I’m With You

Four: Extraordinary

Five: The Promise

Six: I Really Like You

Seven: Everything I Need

Eight: Dreamer

Nine: Unpack Your Heart

Ten: It’ll All Work Out

Eleven: Forever

Epilogue

About the Author

Also by Aurelia Jask

Acknowledgement

No one achieves anything alone.

Leslie Knope, Parks & Recreation

Forever tells the other side of Evergreen; the events from Javi’s point of view, so much credit must go to my husband Dayne. Thank you for giving Javi a voice, and always listening to me, even into the wee hours of morning. Thank you for your support and your help, no matter how strange the request. Thank you for always believing in me. I love you here, there, and everywhere.

To my very best friends:

Aurora, thank you for sending so many good vibes and energy into the universe for me. Thank you for manifesting the best and brightest outcome for me, for loving me, and for being my soul sister.

Tyler, thank you for always humoring me, putting up with shenanigans, for being the planner and the doer, for holding my hand at the tattoo parlor and during every other scary thing. Thank you for your unwavering support and your joy during this process.

Michelle, thank you for doing as much as you can whenever you can. For your love, your thoughtfulness, and your belief in me. Thank you for making space when you can.

- and -

To the Clam Club, this is all your fault. I hope you’re happy with yourselves. Because I am, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. Thank you for giving me my platform, for supporting me, for cheering me through this, for believing that poor Marcus Pike deserved better, and for loving Javi and Maury as much as I do.

To the Hype Squad - Colin, Elise and Joe. Thank you for your support, your love, and your tolerance of my insanity. You three have stuck by me, believed in me, and encouraged me through this crazy journey. Thank you so much for that.

To Kenisha, thank you for being a hype woman these last few months, for always being quick with a joke when I need a laugh, and being an all around great work bestie.

To Elaine, thank you for being a Photoshop wiz and an even better listener. Thank you for the cat pictures and the empathy.

To the fabulously talented Kiki Wilder, thank you for the music, the encouragement and the friendship.

To Amanda, thank you for being a cheerleader, a friend, and proofreader.

To my furbabies - Gustav, Luci and Mr. Moose. Thank you for always reminding me to talk time for the really important things in life: snacks, naps and love.

And of course, to Pedro Pascal; thank you for continuing to be hot and an all around nice human.

Prologue

It was late when I heard a soft knock at the door to my office. I looked up and saw Jack Robinson, one of the founding partners at the firm, standing in my doorway. A tall man, about 55 or so with sandy hair that was graying at his temples, and a friendly smile. He had taken off his jacket and his sleeves were rolled up.

Javi, it’s Valentine’s Day, he said with a smile. Shouldn’t you be out with some young lady, painting the town red?

Maybe next year, I grinned ruefully.

Well, I’m glad I caught you. I wanted to chat with you about a couple of things.

Fire away.

He took a seat in one of the chairs opposite me.

I am glad you want to take the initiative for pro bono work, but unfortunately, the firm doesn’t have anything for you right now. However, he had a strange, self satisfied smirk on his face. I was just talking with Kevin Rossiter. He runs a charity that I’m rather fond of, and he could use some help with a few legal items. Usually I handle it myself for him, but I think this would be a good opportunity for you.

That would be amazing, Jack. Thank you.

I’m thinking about having a little get together next weekend, to do a little fundraising for him anyway. Just 10 or 12 people at my house. I’ll see if Maury can come down, Maury - short for Maureen - was Jack’s adult daughter. Though I’d never met her, I felt like I knew her. Jack loved to talk about her; she was his pride and joy. She’s usually good at charming people into opening their wallets. You should come, and I’ll introduce you to Kevin.

Wow, thank you, I said. I’d love to.

Good, good… And now the other thing. Do you remember when I told you I was thinking about my retirement?

Yes. A few years prior, I helped Jack set up a bunch of documents for said retirement, as well as trusts in the event he needed end of life care. His will had been written years before, but I helped him with a living will, giving his daughter power of attorney, so on and so forth.

Well, Roger, Richard and I have put the wheels in motion on opening a secondary practice, down in Rehoboth, and I will ease into retirement down there. Roger and Richard eventually will, too. We’ve got a decent client base there as well.

Roger and Richard were the other two founding partners of the firm. All three of them had second homes in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and they all spent the summers there. Jack had even invited me to his sprawling beach home once.

I want you to come run it with me, and eventually take it over when I do retire, he went on. I know you like working with our clients in that area, and they seem to like you a lot, too.

I blinked.

Wow, really?

Yes, really, Jack was looking at me over the top of his glasses. I’m very fond of you, I think you’re a brilliant young man, I’ve been very honored to work alongside you, Javi.

Jack, you’re going to make me cry, I said softly. Thank you so much.

Don’t thank me yet, it’s going to be hard work… and you know Richard isn’t onboard with you running it, yet. We’ll have to convince him.

Fat chance of that, I said, but I smiled anyway. Jack stood up.

I’m going to get going, don’t stay here too late. You’ll wind up like me if you keep pulling these late nights, grumpy and alone.

I could do worse, I said, but I stood up and walked down to the elevator with him.

Once in the elevator, his phone dinged. He opened it and smiled, then he held the phone out to me. I could see it was Instagram. He had push notifications on for his daughter, and that made me smile. I looked at the picture. It looked like a party of some sort with a group of people. She was quite pretty; about 29 or 30, with long dark hair, olive skin and big green eyes. She must take after her mother, I thought. Next to her was a tall, blonde guy who looked like he spent his time at the gym, not at a desk.

I don’t know what she sees in that meathead.

I glanced back at the photo and surmised I could probably guess what she saw in said meathead, but I didn’t think it was something acceptable to say to her father, so instead I shrugged.

She’s a bright girl most of the time, Jack went on.

I think we’re all a little bit foolish when we’re in love, I offered.

Jack considered this, and then nodded, the corners of his mouth turned downward. We rode the rest of the way down to the lobby in silence.

Have a good night Javi, Jack said as we parted ways.

You too, I called after him. I went home and changed out of my suit before I settled back in my bed. I pulled out my phone and dialed my best friend, Liza Dannon. We chatted almost daily in some form or another, but it had been a while since I picked up the phone and called her. Belatedly as the line began to ring, I thought she might be out with her wife, but she answered.

Happy Valentine’s, I greeted her.

And to you.

Did you and Heather do anything fun?

No, one of the goblins is sick and we couldn’t in good conscience do that to a babysitter, she sighed. Daycare man, it’s a petri dish.

Bummer, I replied. I was bursting to tell her the news.

How are you? she asked. You sound… off.

I’m fine. Better than fine, actually. I had a really good chat with Jack Robinson tonight, I replied. I’ll finally get the opportunity to give back, too. He’s going to set me up with the guy who runs a charity, so an opportunity for pro bono.We talked about my future, and my career. He said has plans for me.

Very nice, what does the future hold for Mr. Javier Cordero, esquire?

Potentially moving to Rehoboth.

Shut up, really? Liza, her wife and kids lived a few miles south of Rehoboth. Like, we might actually be able to get together on a random Tuesday and have a drink like two normal adults?

Maybe so, Jack is trying to get Richard on board with it, but they want to open another branch down there, and I’d help run it, eventually taking over when Jack retires.

The dream, you get out of the city finally, and have your own practice, Liza was a lawyer herself, and practiced predominately real estate law at a firm she didn’t particularly care for. Lucky duck.

It won’t be mine, and I won’t be running it for a long time, I corrected. But yes, that would be the dream.

We chatted for a while longer before Liza bid me goodnight, and went to spend the remainder of the evening with her wife. After we hung up I pulled my guitar off of its stand and plucked at the strings for a while, but I quickly grew bored with it. I scrolled Instagram instead. I wasn’t looking for her, but after a while a post from my ex-girlfriend Kara showed up in my feed. It was a picture of her at some sunny cafe in Italy -where she now lived- wearing big sunglasses. She’d cut her hair short since I had last seen a post from her.

We had broken up 5 years earlier, but had tried to remain friends. It was now basically just following each other on Instagram and never interacting with one another beyond that. I should have felt sad, but like most things in my relationship with Kara, it would have been just going through the motions.

After some internal debate, I clicked on her profile to unfollow her. I noticed that she had already unfollowed me. It didn’t hurt, it just felt like another sign that we had never been quite right for each other. I unfollowed her, and then closed the app. I wondered when she had done it. Did she think I was pathetic for still liking her posts? I had only been doing it out of politeness.

Kara was a pretty driven sales executive for a cosmetic company. We’d met in college, but we hadn’t started dating until after graduation. We were getting to the point where things should probably be getting serious when Kara was offered a job in Italy. I had just gotten the job at Robinson, Santos & Wagner, and I didn’t want to give it up. We tried long distance, but eventually, she broke it off. I hadn’t been sad about it. I felt … relieved? I supposed she had saved me the trouble of coming to the realization on my own that we weren’t the right fit a few more months down the line.

Kara was the only woman I’d ever really dated long term, and I idly wondered if maybe I just wasn’t cut out for relationships. I tended to do well when dating casually, but the minute things started to get serious, I would pull back. My toxic trait, I suppose.

I never had trouble meeting women. I don’t have any illusions about myself: I’m nearly 6’4", and despite my large, sharp nose, I’m fairly handsome. I’m in shape, and I have good hair. I also have a little bit of an accent despite the fact that I left Venezuela more than three decades ago… Though if I’m being honest, it is a little bit of an affectation. I think I hang on to it as a way to keep my mother with me. She had a thick accent. I miss it, and I miss her.

I scrolled a while longer, until my eyelids started to feel heavy. I put the phone aside and laid in bed for a while. I thought I would fall asleep right away, but it was nearly 2 before I finally felt myself drifting off.

The following morning, I was still up early, despite the late hours the night before. I decided that I would go to the gym, something I had not done in several months, and then showered before heading to the office.

I had been at my desk for a few hours, reading through a brief when there was a light tap at my door. Sylvia Viner, Jack’s assistant, and Roger Santos stood in the doorway.

Javi, will you come with me, please? Roger asked. We went to his office. Have a seat, he said, gesturing for me to sit. Sylvia took the chair on the other side of me. Something about his somber tone unsettled me. Roger and Sylvia were both usually jovial, boisterous people, but Sylvia looked as if someone had struck her across the face. It was a haunted, shell shocked expression that I had never seen before.

There’s no easy way to say this, Roger said. Jack’s had some kind of stroke or something, he’s in the hospital having emergency surgery. Maury’s on her way down from New York, and we’ll know more when she gets here.

Oh my god, I said. I just saw him last night, he looked perfectly fine, I can’t…I can’t believe…

Me either, Roger said