Chapter 4
four
. . .
Emilia
“Cheers to you, Em! What a day you’ve had,” Henley said with a big smile on her face.
“I’m just glad I could come back to celebrate with you,” Eloise said, holding up her glass of wine.
Lulu raised her glass. “It’s not every day a girl gets her business license and takes a lie detector test.”
Laughter erupted around the table as we all clinked our glasses. Jazzy set some appetizers down in the middle of the table for us, telling us to let her know if we needed anything else. We’d come to Booze and Brews to celebrate.
It had been a big day.
“Yeah, never thought I’d be at a police station taking a polygraph, but here we are.” I smirked as I reached for a chicken finger and set it on my plate.
“And I’d just made the trip here to celebrate you getting Vintage Interiors opened, and I get the bonus of being here for a polygraph, too,” Eloise said, leaning her shoulder against mine. “I think you’ve gone above and beyond to prove you’re not the author of ‘The Taylor Tea.’”
“Girl, it’s impressive. Taking things this far to prove your point. I’m here for it,” Lulu said with a laugh. “I can’t wait to see Bridger’s face when you hand him the results.”
“I mean, his face is sort of unwavering,” Henley said. “It shows very little emotion at all times, so I wouldn’t have high expectations for a big expressive display of gratitude. But I think an apology is in order. And I love the big grump, but he owes you that.”
“He really is misunderstood,” Lulu said, her gaze locking with mine, like she was hoping to convince me that he wasn’t as bad as he seemed. “He has a big heart under all that broody grumpiness.”
“Hey, I’m not the one who has the problem. It’s all him. I’ve tried being nice, up until he made a public scene and got my store egged and affected my business.” I sighed. “We don’t have to be friends, but I just want all the anger and accusations to stop.”
“That’s fair. I think you’ll get it,” Eloise said. “He’s a businessman, and you took the steps to prove your innocence, so at the very least, you are due an apology.” She paused and added, “So let’s talk about the new business. I am so proud of you for taking this step and chasing your dreams.”
I’d gone to school to be an interior designer.
My grandmother had gotten sick during my last year of college, and my parents urged me to come back to Rosewood River after I graduated so I could take over the Vintage Rose.
But I was ready for something more. I could start this side business slowly, and once I got a client or two, I could hire more staff to help me at the floral shop; then I could shift over to my design business full-time once it was able to support me.
This had been a long time coming, and my girls had given me the push to do it.
So, I’d applied for a business license, and today it had been approved.
I was the official owner of Vintage Interiors.
I loved that I’d tied the name to the floral shop.
My goal was to give my clients their dream homes, and restore the old while maintaining the charm and character that already existed there.
It was my thing. And I couldn’t wait to find my first client and get started.
“I’m so ready. It feels like a new chapter. I have the website up and going as of this morning, and I’m working on the marketing material, but I have business cards.” I reached in my purse and gave them each a card. “So it’s all really happening.”
Lulu squealed. “This is so amazing. You freaking did it. Now we need to find you clients.”
“I’ll start advertising, and it’s okay if it’s slow at the beginning. I need to balance the flower shop with the design company until I can transition to doing this full-time. So if I just find one client for now, it’ll get the ball rolling, you know?”
“Yes. You’ve totally got this. And you’re so freaking talented,” Eloise said.
“I have one hundred percent faith in you.” Henley reached for some nachos and put them on her plate.
We spent the next hour talking about all my plans to get things going, and I showed them my new Pinterest inspiration board. Jazzy came by, and we closed out our bill. We all slipped our coats on to head home.
“Okay, I have to ask before we leave,” Lulu said, leaning in. “How are you going to show Bridger the results of the polygraph?”
“It’s going down tomorrow. I’ll be heading over to his home, and I’ll knock on the door and personally hand him the paperwork before requesting my apology.” I zipped my coat up.
Henley chuckled. “You have to text us to let us know how it goes.”
“I can’t actually picture Bridger apologizing.” Eloise shrugged. “But I will just be happy if he stops being a giant asshole to you.”
“Oh, he’s going to apologize. It’s all I want.
He’s accused me of something that I consistently told him I didn’t do, and he’s convinced half the town that I did it, and he owes me a big fat apology,” I said, my voice unwavering.
I’d found this inner strength that had given me the courage to start my business—which I’d soon need to tell my parents about—and I was ready to take charge of my life.
Part of that included standing up to people who were unfair to me.
And there were a few.
The first one being Bridger Chadwick.
And I wasn’t leaving without an apology.
“You go, girl!” Lulu wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
“Yes. You set your mind to clear your name, you had me call the police station and arrange the polygraph, and you accomplished what you set out to do. So the apology is the final piece. I get it.” Henley pulled a hat over her ears.
“And I know it’s a big ask, but you can’t tell your men about this, because I don’t want Bridger to have time to be prepared for me. I want to catch him off guard tomorrow. I think that’s the way I’ll get the apology that I want. He won’t see this coming.”
“My lips are sealed,” Eloise said. “Clark knows you’re upset about what Bridger did, obviously.
And he knew you wanted to file a defamation suit against him.
” She paused, and we all shared a laugh.
I was ready to sue the jackass when he’d first made the scene at my store, but Henley had calmed me down.
We came up with another solution, and I felt good about it.
“He just thinks I’m here celebrating your business, which I am. But the polygraph is a bonus.”
Everyone agreed to keep my secret until tomorrow.
We all started walking, since we lived close enough that it wasn’t too far of a walk home. We parted ways at different points and hugged goodbye, after we’d agreed on a new Mafia romance that we were all starting this week for our book club.
We thought it was very fitting, considering I was about to be a mob boss when I confronted Bridger tomorrow.
Trust me, I was not above going gangster on his ass to get the apology I deserved.
I finished up work for the day, put the Closed sign on the front door of the Vintage Rose, and said goodbye to Beatrice as she headed home for the day. I made my way to the little bathroom in the back, where I applied some fresh lipstick and ran my fingers through my hair.
It wasn’t like I wanted to impress the guy. He hated me. But I wanted to feel confident when I wiped that judgmental smirk from his face.
“You’ve got this. You can do this.” I repeated those words a few times and then dropped my lipstick in my purse and pulled on my coat.
Everyone knew where Bridger Chadwick lived, as he had the largest home in Rosewood River. I personally found it to be a bit menacing, sort of like the man who lived inside.
It was all dark colors and dark stone.
Modern and sleek.
Cold and intimidating.
Luckily his home was on the way home for me, and this was a walk I looked forward to making.
I blew out a breath, my heart pounding in my chest as I walked up the longest driveway I’d ever seen.
You’ve got this. You’re clearing your name, once and for all. He owes you the apology.
The two large wood doors had bold iron accents. I reached for the doorbell and pressed.
Maybe he wasn’t here.
Maybe this was a bad idea.
I could do this in a public place. I could send the copy I’d made in the mail to him.
I didn’t need to be here.
I was turning to walk away when the door pulled open.
He wore a pair of gray joggers and a white tee, stretched across his broad shoulders.
His dark gray eyes didn’t hide his surprise that I was standing on his doorstep, and he certainly didn’t look pleased.
He glanced around, I wasn’t sure why, and then glared at me. “Did you walk here at night?”
“Hello to you, too, Bridger,” I said, fumbling for the paperwork in my purse. “I came to deliver something to you.”
“And you couldn’t do it in the daylight?”
“What? Why does it matter what time of day I’m here? It’s not like you were sleeping,” I hissed, because now he was derailing my reason for being here. I shook the paper in front of his face. “Take it.”
He looked at me and reached for the papers in my hand. His fingers grazed the side of my pinky finger, and chills ran up my arms. It was just like the other day, when he’d stopped me from falling on my ass at the pumpkin patch.
I hated that he had such an effect on me.
I couldn’t stand this man, so why did my body react when he touched me?
He stared down at the paper, and I didn’t miss the way his lips turned up just the tiniest bit before straightening again. Most people wouldn’t have noticed, but Bridger Chadwick had been scowling at me for years, so I did.
“You took a polygraph test?” His voice was devoid of all emotion, per usual.
“I sure did. And as you can see, I am not the author of ‘The Taylor Tea,’ as I’ve told you numerous times. But now, it’s time you got that through your thick skull and stop treating me like enemy number one.” Why did my voice sound wobbly? Why were my hands shaking?
Emotion was getting the best of me.
He’d never been nice to me, and I didn’t know why. I also didn’t know why I cared, but I was a people pleaser, and I didn’t like being hated for no reason.
“Well, good to know,” he said, folding his hands over his chest. “I’ll read through this in detail tonight.”
“And I’ll expect a formal apology tomorrow.” I squared my shoulders and met his cold stare head-on.
“Why would I formally apologize to you?”
“Because you’ve been cruel. Because you’ve accused me of a crime I didn’t commit.
Because you’ve had a public outburst in my place of business, which has ultimately cost me business.
I’ve had eggs slammed against my windows, and that obviously doesn’t help business,” I said, my voice louder than I meant it to be.
“For the record, whoever you paid to clean those windows did a shitty job. I saw the remnants of egg still there. I’d get my money back,” he said, his voice calm and smooth.
The thick lump in my throat made it difficult to swallow.
He is never going to apologize, is he?
I took a step back, throwing my hands in the air in frustration. “I didn’t pay anyone to clean the windows, you jackass. I cleaned them myself, and egg is not the easiest thing to get off of windows, so I had to order a special cleaner to remove it, and it’s not here yet.”
“Why the hell did you clean it yourself?” he barked at me.
“Well, let’s see. We aren’t all billionaires.
I’m running a small business, one I never even wanted to run.
” I was full-on shouting now, and I could feel the tears welling in my eyes as I continued to walk backward to get away from him.
I would not cry in front of this man. “But sometimes you do what you have to do. And sometimes that means scraping egg off your place of business because some pompous ass accused you of something you didn’t do, and now half the people in this town are mad at you about it. ”
Was that a sob that just left my throat?
“I see. So this is all my fault?” he asked, the sarcasm thick and impossible to miss.
“Yes. It’s your fault. And until you apologize, you are not welcome in my store.”
“That’s your threat?” he chuckled. The man had zero sense of humor from my experience, so it was clearly a fake laugh.
“My threat?”
“Yes. That’s how you’re going to force me to apologize, by threatening to kick me out of your flower shop? I don’t even like flowers.”
I blew out a breath. “You’re an asshole, Bridger Chadwick.”
“Yeah? Tell me something I don’t know.”
I whipped around and stormed down his driveway, waiting until I was far enough away to let the tears fall.
This hadn’t exactly gone as planned.
He showed no emotion. No remorse.
And I didn’t get my apology, nor did I think one would be coming. When I turned the corner at the end of his ridiculously long driveway, I glanced over my shoulder, and there was a dark shadow twenty feet behind me.
The bastard was following me now.