Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
G abe held the résumé at a forty-five-degree angle to his desk, appearing to anyone who looked into his office—Darlene, mainly—to be evaluating yet another candidate for the park’s entertainment director. But the type blurred in his vision. What was Sunny doing right now? It was early on the West Coast, so she was probably still in bed, her red-gold hair fanned out over her pillow the way he’d seen it those days in Vegas.
After today, he’d know the board’s decision, whether he’d be staying to run the park or leaving. Whether he’d be shackled to Beach Island for the rest of his working life or they’d sell, and the freedom he’d tasted during the road trip would be his forever.
Whether he’d get the chance to find Sunny, ask her to give him another chance, or be stuck at his desk, two thousand miles separating him from his own heart.
A knock on the doorframe startled him. Darlene’s eyebrows hovered low over her eyes, her smile turning over. “Are you okay?”
He set down the résumé. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Besides the fact that the woman he loved was three time zones away, and if things went well today, he’d never see her again.
“Because you miss her.”
“Miss…her?” He hadn’t told Darlene about Sunny. She’d have told him to do something reckless, like get on another airplane—he suppressed a shudder—and track her down. Beg her to give him another chance. Even calling her would be reckless. What would he say? He couldn’t make any promises until he knew the outcome of the board meeting. Gabe Armstrong was steady, dependable, predictable. He’d already used up his quota of reckless acts, if not for his entire life, at least for this fiscal quarter.
She folded her arms and leaned a hip against the doorframe. “Riley. It’s Valentine’s Day, and you’re not with anyone. Holidays can make you miss people, even if they’re not right for you.”
Was that what was happening? He supposed in the back of his mind he knew it was Valentine’s Day as he’d glanced at the giant bouquet of blood-red roses that had appeared on Darlene’s desk sometime that morning. Maybe that’s what had dredged up all these distracting thoughts of Sunny.
No. He’d been thinking about Sunny since the moment she’d slammed the hotel door in his face, through that pointless roller coaster ride, through the white-knuckling airplane ride, and the three days since. He’d snugged the stolen hotel pillowcase over his pillow to recapture her scent, the feeling of being with her, the calm that’d let him sleep so well in Vegas. It had only reminded him of what he’d lost.
Darlene’s phone rang, and with one last, concerned look at him, she walked back to her desk. Gabe returned his attention to the résumé. The candidate worked in a high school theater program like the one Sunny had told him about. Had she reconnected with old friends? Had they helped her through the reunion with her parents? He was sure it had been fraught.
“Gabe?” Darlene was back at his door. “There’s been a security issue. Someone climbed the employee entrance gate.”
Kids did that at least once a week in summer. The only unusual thing about the incident was that it was February. Security usually escorted the kid out with a warning that they’d press charges next time. “And?”
“She asked to see you. Insisted on it, actually. Her name’s Sunny?—”
Gabe bolted upright, sending his chair spinning behind him to crash into the credenza. “Sunny’s here?”
Darlene’s eyes narrowed. “You know her?”
“Bring her in. Please.” What did it mean? She was supposed to be in Los Angeles. Going to that audition. Getting her career back on track. Why was she in Ohio?
Darlene returned to her desk. Gabe glanced behind him at the chair and considered sitting down. They could be calm, civilized. She’d sit in the guest chair on the other side of his desk. They’d start with small talk, and then he’d ask her why she’d come.
No.
Gabe paced around his desk, glanced through the open door, and paced to the window. He repeated the circuit like a lion at a zoo, pausing each time he passed the door to gaze out. Darlene remained in her chair, watching him as if he made one more out-of-character move, she’d call 911. He must look like he’d been body-snatched. He ran his fingers through his hair, tugging at the roots.
Four minutes later, the office building’s door clanged shut. Gabe strode to the doorway but froze like it had a yellow caution line painted in front of it.
Two uniformed Beach Island guards flanked Sunny. Her long hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she wore her puffy pink coat over dark jeans and sneakers.
She took in Darlene at her desk before her gaze arrowed to him. “Gabe.” Her eyes lit up in radiant blue.
Gabe didn’t realize he’d moved until she was folded in his arms, the familiar scent of orange blossoms surrounding him. He breathed in, and his eyes nearly rolled back in his head. Sunny had come to him. She hadn’t abandoned him, after all.
He nodded at the guards. “Thank you.” He grasped Sunny’s hand and pulled her into his office, shutting the door behind them.
She stood before him, her cheeks pink, but her smile faded. “I’m sorry I caused a commotion. I didn’t think anyone would watch the gate in the off-season.”
“Why—” Why had she come? Why hadn’t she called? Why had she tried to sneak in instead of walking up to the guard at the front gate? The questions blocked his throat like too many people trying to crowd through a narrow doorway.
“I wanted to see you. Not just hear your voice on the phone. Be with you today if you needed me.” She gazed down at the carpet, at the tip of her pink sneaker. “I’m sorry. Sorry I told Brandon your secret. Sorry I ran away from you. Sorry I didn’t tell you I—I?—”
He stepped closer. “What didn’t you tell me?”
“That you’re the only person I regret leaving. That I wish I’d stayed and we’d talked. But I was scared. Scared of what I felt for you. Scared that we’d turn into my parents.” Her eyes burned into his. “I’m still a little afraid I’ll be like them. But I have confidence in you, that you’ll stop me. That you’ll remind me what’s important. Do you think you can do that?”
His chest clenched. Love and family were important. And Sunny knew that deep inside, or she wouldn’t have raced across the country when her parents called. She wouldn’t have stayed in Vegas until he’d reconciled with his siblings. And she wouldn’t have come back to Ohio to be with him.
“I can. Sunny, I—” He stopped himself. He couldn’t tell her he loved her. She’d feel obligated to, if not reciprocate, say more, do more, than she wanted. He couldn’t put that on her.
She swallowed, the long column of her throat clenching. “I’m sorry I left you stranded in Vegas. How’d you get back to Ohio?”
“Mary gave me some nice drugs, and Rafe put me on a plane. It wasn’t terrible.” Except the taking-off part. And the landing part, especially when he was groggy and disoriented. “And I rode the roller coaster before I left. I thought you—” No. He wouldn’t tell her about his pathetic search for her. “Maybe I can ride that one this summer.” He nodded out the window toward Twister of Terror.
“You’re the strongest man I know. You can do anything you set your mind to.” An expression flitted over her face. Regret? Disappointment? Had she only come to apologize again, and this was the moment she told him goodbye?
No. He’d stall. “What happened with your mother’s project?”
Her lips twisted. “Funny story, that. They’re doing a reality show. Except none of it was real. They had a fake boyfriend for me. And a fake”—she gulped—“a fake brother.”
He closed his eyes to shut out the pain on her face. “Maybe that was fake, but I’m sure their love for you is real.”
“Not as real as what you feel—felt—for me. Or what I feel for you.”
“What do you feel for me?” He held his breath.
Her gaze flicked to the window. “Life is short. Precarious. And I want to fill mine with joy and with love. Like your parents did. I love you. I want you in my life. I don’t really know how to do this, and I can’t promise I won’t screw it up. I might hurt you again. I’ll probably hurt myself. Still, I want to try. Can you trust that I’ll try? That I love you?”
She’d closed the distance between them, and she picked up his hand, twining her fingers with his. Gabe was sandwiched between her and the door. His chest heaved. She loved him. He didn’t know what it all meant, what she was offering. But he knew he couldn’t take it.
“I can’t.” His heart ripped when he eased around her. Gently, he untangled his fingers from hers. He set his palms on his desk and leaned on it, his back toward her.
“You can’t?” Her voice trembled. He was glad he couldn’t see her face.
He’d been here before. Right here, in his dad’s office. Mere days after his parents’ deaths, his heart had been broken—like it was now—and the family had asked him to step into Luke Armstrong’s role as CEO. He’d put others’ needs ahead of his own. And today, he was doing it again.
“At the board meeting today, I’m going to try my hardest to keep Beach Island independent and to remain as the CEO. Maybe they’ll vote me down, but if not, I’m going to protect my parents’ legacy. Do what they tasked me to do. Make Beach Island a safe place where families can come and make memories together. Our employees and guests need me.”
He sucked in a deep breath. “You said you needed love and joy. And acting gives you joy. You have to go back to California. And I can’t go with you.”
* * *
Gabe’s back was a slab of navy wool gabardine. Only his heaving breaths gave away the fact that there was a living human inside that suit coat.
Sunny had come all this way, risked falling and spraining something or else being arrested for climbing that gate, laid her heart out there on the faded office carpet, and he’d rejected her.
She deserved it. She’d broken his heart, and now he was breaking hers. He’d said, “I can’t,” and it was like that time she’d played Juliet and they’d put her inside the shroud. Her hearing was muffled, and although her eyes were open, her vision was limited to Gabe’s back when he turned away from her.
This was why she ran. She’d never wanted to feel the rip in her chest, the sawing of her breath, the ringing in her ears. Had those guys she’d left felt this way? Had tears burned in Cade’s eyes when she’d hurled his ugly necklace into the ocean? If so, it served her right.
“Sunny?” Her name came to her like a candle through fog. “Sunny?”
Gabe had turned so her unfocused eyes hit the buttoned front of his suit coat. “Did you hear me?”
“I heard you. You don’t love me back.” Maybe he hadn’t meant it that night she’d pretended to be asleep. Or maybe he had, and now he couldn’t get past the pain she’d caused.
“No.” He laid his hands on the sleeves of her coat. She wished it wasn’t so thick and that she could feel the warmth from his palms. “I do love you. But we can’t be together. Not if the board sides with me and lets me stay. Not unless you’d be open to long-distance?” Hope shone in his brown eyes.
“No.” She was nervous enough about starting a relationship without a three-month expiration date. She’d be sure to screw it up if she saw him only a couple weekends a month.
His broad shoulders drooped. “No?”
“No, I mean, I’ll move here. I’ll figure something out. Find a way to act and still wake up next to you every morning. I missed you, Gabe. I don’t want to miss you anymore.”
“You’d give up your dreams for me?”
“No, but I’ll change them. For me. All I want is to perform, to make people happy for a couple hours. You were right. Mary, too. I was happiest singing karaoke with you. Singing at that piano bar made me feel more alive than I ever did on New York Bomb Squad .
“I need to be where you are. I can figure out the rest. As long as you’re okay with having a girlfriend who isn’t on TV.”
“I’m very okay with that.” His lips descended on hers, soft and strong, like Gabe himself. It was a closed-mouth kiss, yet it was infused with two days’ worth of longing. And love. Every brush of his lips told her he loved her, and he’d love her as long as his heart continued to beat.
Her heart gave an answering thud. She wasn’t sure about forever, but she was exactly where she wanted to be.
Still, she pulled back. “Hey, I believe you have some business to attend to.”
“Yes. I do.” He nuzzled under her ear at the spot that made shivers race across her skin.
With a laugh, she pushed him away. She’d do nothing but laugh with Gabe now that they were together. “Not that kind of business. You’re supposed to be protecting your family’s legacy.”
“Right.” His smile dimmed.
She knew exactly what he needed. She twined her fingers with his. “Remember how I told you family was important?”
“Yeah. The day you knocked on my door like a lunatic.” But his mouth crept up at the corners.
“We’re family now. And we’re doing this. Together.” Like she’d been doing since they met, she led him out the door and nudged him toward his future.