WITH THE SUMMER MONTHS now in full swing in New York, it's hard to believe a full year of college is now over.

After such a rocky start, the happiness I now felt at listening to my sister and my friends to enjoy a summer off instead of forcing myself into summer classes was now helping me feel vaguely normal for the first time in a long time. Having caught up my credits by taking extra classes in Spring semester, I was back on track, so I decided to take some to allow myself to be a normal kid for once. Well, normal for me.

Since that football game almost five months ago, things are different. I'm embracing life, and for the first time, I'm actually allowing myself to move forward. Classes start up again in two weeks time - despite it still being the middle of August in New York City and as hot as hell - and I decided I didn't want to spend a year alone in my apartment.

After what Ollie told me about his dad and his family, I knew I'd found a friend, so when he let slip he was still trying to find a place to live for his second year, I offered him my spare room.

With Ollie being Ollie, he pretended to take a moment to think about it, but I wasn't surprised when he called me an hour later to say he'd move in. That was a week ago, and so far he'd kept his promise about what he'd said about being clean. He was anally so... with one example of me catching him cleaning the toilet bowl with a toothbrush. But I didn't mind. I mean I told him he didn't need to do that - at which he was relieved - but now that we're both settled, the two of us feel like we can take on the world.

He had bad news over summer. His girlfriend Aurora got offered a dance scholarship to CalArts - right across the country - so the two of them had decided they should take a break. Ollie had assured me he was fine, but every now and again I catch him looking at pictures of her, or writing a text to her before deleting it.

I knew how he feels. Ollie and Aurora had been together since they were fifteen, and had been through so much, and there's no way a person can switch off that many emotions just like that. Hell, it was coming up to nearly two years since Matt died, two years since I left, and I still have those moments. It's tough, but I now know not to shut people out. And I wasn't letting him give up altogether either.

"Hey, I was going to go meet Lara for a coffee later if you want to join?" I ask, grabbing my keys and zipping them into my running vest.

He's still in his pyjamas, but now that I know it's just an Ollie thing and not an Aurora-related thing, I'm not so worried. The man is always in pyjamas, sometimes even in class.

He looks up from his phone but shakes his head. "I'm actually going to see a movie," he answers. "The great thing about living in the actual city now is the Art cinemas."

"Okay cool. Well just text me if you change your mind okay. I'll be back in a bit."

He nods and waves as I head out the door, ready to go on my daily run in the sweltering heat.

Most people think I'm crazy waiting for the hottest time of the day, but I find the routine helps. As my feet hit the pavement to the beat swelling in my headphones, I run out all the frustrations and thoughts I have swirling around my head. It helps, because by the time I get back home, my thoughts are always clear.

Nearly an hour later, my chest is heaving as I open the building door, and Alex gets up when he sees me.

"I never understand the crazy people who run in the sun," he tells me.

I shrug. "Streets are emptier when it's hot," I tell him.

"Whatever you say Boss," he laughs. "Erm, I'm really sorry, but there was someone that came by to see you while you were out a couple of days ago. I only just remembered."

"That's okay. Was it Lara? I can call her when I get upstairs."

He shakes his head. "No, it was some kind of lawyer I think. He left this with me to give to you, and said he would try again in a few days. Again I'm really sorry about forgetting... it sounds important."

"Lawyer?" I look at the card, trying to understand what a lawyer would want with me. "Did he say anything else?"

Alex shrugs. "No, just that he'd try again in a couple of days."

I nod as I walk past him to the lift, clicking the button. "Thanks Alex." I nod my head as the doors close.

"Peter Wilson," I say to myself quietly in the lift, trying to remember where and when I'd heard that name before.

When I get back into the apartment, Ollie is nowhere to be seen, so he must have gone out for his film, and to be honest I'm glad. As I make my way through the apartment, still wracking my brain, my phone starts buzzing and I answer automatically, thinking it could only be Millie ringing about her trip in a couple of weeks.

"Hey Mils, before you ask, yes Pete and Ollie will be h-"

I stop when a female voice I don't recognise interrupts me.

"Is this Archie Wall?" she asks.

I pull the phone away from my ear for a second to see the number. It's not one I recognise.

"Yes?" I respond, which is probably bordering on rude, but I don't know who this lady is.

"Hi Archie, my name is Lisa Trevors and I'm calling on behalf of Peter Wilson, our Head of Legal at WEH, New York."

My jaw drops at the sudden realisation of where I'd heard the name. That realisation is then followed close behind by fear, not knowing what they wanted and why they were getting in touch now... right when I was finally getting my life back on track.

"Archie? Are you okay?" Lisa asks. I've obviously been quiet while my mind starts to spiral.

I smile as I remember how kind Lisa was, when Dad was still in the picture. She was Dad's PA, and she would always give us chocolate or lollies whenever we visited his office when we were little.

I nod even though she can't see me. I am okay. I'm determined to be okay and remain that way.

"I'm okay," I repeat out loud. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. It's been a long time," she says, and I can feel the warmness in her voice, setting me at ease.

"Yeah it has."

"How are you?" she asks, and her tone of voice helps me understand she knows exactly what's happened over the last two years. But I also know she's giving me the opportunity to show the world I am not the broken boy I was two years ago. That I'm stronger than that.

"I'm getting there," I admit truthfully.

"That's good. That's really good."

There's a short pause when both of us try to think of things to say. But before I have to ask her about the weather or something, she obviously remembers what she is calling about, and her voice takes on a more business-like tone.

"Archie, I'm calling on behalf of Peter Wilson," she says again. "I was wondering if we could find a convenient time for yourself and Millie to come in and see us? I gather you are now living in New York?"

"Erm. Yeah, I do." I wonder vaguely how she had heard that, but I bet people at WEH have been keeping tabs. It wouldn't surprise me. "But Millie isn't here with me," I add quickly, hoping to use it as an excuse not to come in. "She's in London."

"Do you know when Millie will next be in the city?" she asks, hearing her typing in the background.

I nod. I knew, but I didn't want them to know. But then I also know in the back of my mind that they wouldn't be getting in touch if it wasn't important. As strange as this seemingly out of the blue contact was, it was still my dad's company.

"Next week actually." I shake my head, realising that was wrong. "Sorry, week after that. Her flight gets in nineteenth of July."

Another a flourish of typing keys. "That's fine. Peter has asked me to clear his schedule for whatever day you want to come in. Do you think you could come in to the office on the twenty-first or twenty-second? We can send a car for you."

My mouth drops open for the second time in five minutes. It must be urgent if they want us to come in that quickly, and my mind suddenly flicks back to what Tab had told me about Tanner Communication's potential hostile takeover. I'd googled it, and it didn't seem as imminent as Tab had been suggested, but maybe now something had changed.

"Yeah. Either is fine. Twenty-first maybe," I stammer.

Maybe something had happened to Dad?

My whole body goes cold at the thought and I quickly push the thought out of my brain.

"That's great," she says and I hear a few more taps on her keyboard. "I've put you in for the whole afternoon on the twenty-first, and we look forward to seeing you both again."

I'm about to ask what it is that has happened when it seems Lisa reads my mind.

"Peter will be sending you an email soon, regarding the subject matter of the meeting... Something has happened to your dad, but I will leave Peter to explain."

So I was right. Something had happened to Dad. But what?

"We look forward to seeing you, Archie. I bet you've grown into a strong and handsome young man."

Before I can say anything else, she offers me her goodbyes and the line clicks off, leaving me staring dumbfounded at my phone.

"What the fuck?" I say to myself once the shock has worn off enough for me to be able to speak.

I feel like the world starts to go black as the enormity of what might have happened falls down on top of me. I start to wobble on my feet so I sit down on the floor in the hallway, dropping my head into my hands, feeling like everything is tumbling down around me.

A ping comes from the phone clutched tightly in my hand and I can see they're shaking harder than they ever had done.

That ping was an email, but I don't want to open it. I can see it's from Peter Wilson, explaining, exactly like Lisa said he would.

"You should open it."

I look up sharply as a voice I hadn't heard in months suddenly comes out of the fog surrounding my senses. That voice.

"I don't want to know," I whisper, my chest heaving. "I don't want to know."

She shakes her head, the sunlight from the window shining through her, giving her that same aura I always saw in my dreams.

"Do it for you, Archie. You can't move on until you do."

I look up at her, her hand on my arm, hating that she was right.

"For me?"

She nods, pushing my phone towards me before she starts to fade.

"For you," she whispers.

I take a deep breath before clicking on the email from Peter, my eyes scanning the words he's written.

There is only one word that sticks out to me, and that word is 'dying'. The worst fears had been realised, and now it seems the company sees Millie and me as the only choice they have.

But when I read on, the email takes on a different spin, a much more positive spin.

Peter goes on to talk about a new age for the company, a new world and a new era. He talks about a new, fresh look on things, a new lease of life for WEH, knowing that would be what we would all want. And even though I wanted to deny it, saying I wanted to let the company die... in truth, same as Dad when my Grandad left it to him, I know that I have no other choice but to hear their ideas out.

I couldn't believe they thought we were the company's last chance, but Millie and I owed it to ourselves to at least see what they wanted. As Tessa said, I couldn't move on until I found out all I could. As much as I say I wanted to leave this all in the past, he's a part of me. Hell, the company was a part of me. To be honest I was just hoping they didn't need us to run it, given I had zero skills when it came to running any kind of business, let alone a multi-billion dollar one.

Not to mention I didn't want to.

My phone pings again and I see a banner pop up at the top of my screen from Millie, who had clearly just received the email from Peter as well.

What is this????

I abandon the email, knowing I probably won't ever understand it anyway. I half wonder if Millie had received the same one - especially the mention of Dad dying - but I decide not to mention it now. If she had, we can talk when she got here, and if she didn't, then it can only help. The less she knows about all this, the better. She'd been protecting me these last few years, it was time for me to do the same.

They just blindsided me with a call. Are you okay to come in for that meeting? I'm really sorry..!

I figured apologising was the best way to go.

Well it's not as if they've given us a choice...

I laugh at that. Both blindsiding me with a call and making us come in didn't really give us a choice either way to say no.

No I suppose they haven't. But at least we'll be doing it together..?

Again the dots bounce, and I'm wondering what she's typing that is taking so long. But when it finally sends, my shoulders sink and I really feel for her.

I thought all this stuff was behind us xx

My heart sinks, knowing exactly how she feels. I wanted this to be over just as much as she did, more so probably, but yet I wanted to be able to protect my little sister from this.

I know. But I think we owe it to ourselves to listen x

I wait for a response, but the dots don't even bounce. That means she's too mad at me to even respond.

But to be honest I'm mad at me too.

Because I am intrigued.

And I hate that I'm intrigued.

It's only been a few hours, and I can already feel myself being reeled in to what they have to say.

I shake my head and rub my hands roughly over my face.

No matter what these people wanted to say, I couldn't let myself sit on it for two weeks while I waited for Millie to turn up. I had to tell someone.

And I could only think of one person: Lara.

Sitting up quickly, I pick my phone back up from the floor and dial Lara's number. It rings for a few seconds but it clicks pretty quickly.

"Well, hello stranger!" she answers.

I smile. "Hey. I know it's been ages, huh."

I hadn't seen her since the beginning of May. She'd got a job at a bar around the corner from where she now had an apartment across town. Now that her leg was better, she's been working shifts most days and some nights. I'd mostly been texting her, because that's all the time I can get.

"What's up?" she asks. I can hear the clinking of glasses behind her, so I guess she's working again and will most probably say no to me asking for her to come over.

But the only way to know is to ask.

"Are you free tonight?"

"You know what?" she laughs. "Amazingly, I actually am. Why, you want to do something?"

"Am I that transparent?"

She laughs in response. "Maybe. But do you want to do something? To be honest I was just going to go to bed."

"To bed?" I can't help but laugh.

"Yes. To bed. I've worked the last forty days in a row, Arch. Sleep is the dream."

My eyebrows raise. "Forty days? Jeez."

"Okay that might be a slight exaggeration, but  it still feels like it."

"Well, have you got a shift tonight?" I ask.

"Just finished one, yeah."

"Right. Stay where you are and I'm coming to get you. You're taking a week off, staying with me and having some well earned rest."

"Am I now?" she asks, her tone condescending as if she's against me helping her. I'm about to protest when she speaks again. "Arch, that sounds amazing."

I smile. "Okay deal. I'll be there in like half an hour? We'll get take out or something?"

"And then we can talk about whatever it is you want to talk about afterwards..."

My mouth bobs open and closed as I hear her high-pitched tinkle of a giggle down the phone.

"Yes, Archie, you really are that transparent," she says, and I drop my head into my hand. "But I don't mind. I know it's been me who's been busy, these last two months..."

It's one of the things I've truly missed about her. She cuts through the bullshit and just heads straight to the point.

"It's pretty bad huh?" she asks.

I hadn't realised it had been so long since I'd spoken.

I nod with a sigh before taking a deep, shuddery breath. "It's about my dad."

She sighs and I can feel a lump building in my throat as I try to hold it together.

"I'm so sorry, Arch."

I shake my head, putting my phone on speaker as I rub the heels of my hands into my eyes. I didn't want her to be sorry. I just wanted her to listen.

"What time are you coming to get me?"

I sigh, rubbing my eyes as a tear rolls free. "I just need to shower, but I'll be there in like half an hour?"

"Yup, sounds good. I'll see you soon."

I nod before hanging up, dropping the phone on the floor. I slam my fist into hard wood before screaming at the top of my lungs, screaming until my lungs are hoarse.

By the time I'm done, I'm shaking beyond belief. I can't see straight, think straight, or probably even talk straight, but I knew that if I kept this to myself, I'd be worse off in two weeks. I was getting my life on track... and I'd be damned if I was going to let this undo all the hard work of the last few months.