40. Rosie
40
ROSIE
S tepping out of the car at the private airport, the driver tells me he will take my bags to the aircraft. I’m greeted by the flight attendant who hands me a glass of champagne. This is the life. I walk up the stairs, and when I look into the luxurious plane, I can see Ivy and all her friends.
“Girls’ trip,” Camryn, Ivy’s sister calls out when she sees me.
“You made it,” Ivy greets me warmly, getting up from her seat and hugging me. “You remember everyone, my sister Camryn, her business partner Kimberly, Lauren, Eloise, and Olivia.”
“Hi,” I say, waving to them, feeling a little awkward.
“Hey, Rosie, how are things going with that hot Frenchie?” Camryn asks. Everything in me stills. Then I turn to where Ivy is standing. I can see she is making gestures to her sister to tell her to cut it out, and the next thing I know, I’m in tears. Georgia was the only person I could talk to about Daniel. Emily is in love with his brother, and she’s team them. Ava is too busy living her life in New York, and the time zones suck, but now Georgia is living in Paris, and I haven’t been able to talk about what happened with Daniel when he surprised me on my doorstep with flowers and his declaration that he’s fallen in love with me. I was so happy when I saw him, and then I remembered the way he left me. He then had the audacity to ask me if I felt the same, and I didn’t want to tell him that I did. I’m moving halfway across the world, the damage had already been done, so I cut the cord.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” she says, rushing toward me. I wave her off.
“Come sit,” Ivy says, directing me to one of the lounges which is apparently a seat as it has a seat belt. This is a whole other level of luxury I’ve never experienced before. “Look, I’m going to be honest, I’ve only heard Daniel’s side.” Shit. I’m fired. She is friends with him and there is no way she is siding with me.
“But we want to hear your side because men are dumbasses,” Lauren adds. I give her a small smile. I look to these amazing women and wonder if I should tell them.
“Let us help,” Ivy says, reaching out and touching my knee, and I can see it on her face that she empathizes with me. And so, I do. I confess to the girls everything that has happened between us. I tell them about him ghosting me and then how the other week he showed up on my doorstep, declaring his feelings, as if he hadn’t hurt me by leaving me and partying with models in Greece. I tell them that I lied to him when I said that I hadn’t fallen in love with him to protect myself. That I am starting anew in Dubai and that it is for the best. By the time I finish my story, we are already in the air.
“Can I just say, I get it, we all do. We have been in your position before with our significant others. You might not know, but my husband owns some of the top sex clubs in the world,” Camryn explains.
Wait, what did she say? Sex clubs? Daniel mentioned something about that. He goes to their sex clubs. My mind is blown. Wait, does Ivy know about this? I turn and look at the other women who don’t register anything at Camryn’s confession.
“My ex assaulted me there, and when I got free, I tried to find Nate and found him in bed with his staff.” I gasp. “I was devastated, but later found out he was drugged thanks to my ex, and the women thought they were doing their job and didn’t realize he was drugged, anyway. I ran. I ran to the other side of the world for months. Nate didn’t give up, when he eventually found me, he told me how in love with me he was, but I couldn’t, I wasn’t ready, and I was scared. Handing your heart over to someone is one of the hardest things you can do, but as much as I pushed him away because we both needed to heal, as soon as I saw him again, I knew. There was no one else for me,” Camryn explains.
“I left Axel to marry someone else, thinking I was saving my family. Then I left the guy I was supposed to marry at the altar because he was sleeping with my sister,” Olivia explains. I gasp which makes her smile. “It was shocking, but I never loved my fiancé. I was only marrying him as I thought it would save my family’s business. I also wasn’t expecting to fall in love with a rock star. Finding out about my fiancé and sister was like a switch flicked. I knew that Axel had my heart, and he was the one, but I had a lot of groveling to do because I left him to marry someone else. That was kind of brutal, but it worked out in the end.” She grins.
“Like you, I left Alistair and moved halfway across the world because my goal of opening the bakery was my main priority. I ghosted him. I thought it was the right thing to do because the feelings I had for that man scared me, and I didn’t want him to derail my plans. You see, my family was rich, they kicked me out of their home when I wouldn’t conform to what they had planned for my life. They cut me off and I had to make it on my own,” Eloise explains.
“That’s how she met me.” Lauren grins.
“Yeah, she saved me, helped make my dreams a reality. Then Alistair came into my life like a freaking bulldozer, and I was scared. I had been working for so long on this dream, and I was so close to getting it, and I didn’t want any distractions, and he was a huge one.”
“That’s how I feel. I’ve been working so hard to be one of the best designers and I got this Dubai opportunity. Then he comes into my life, and I wasn’t expecting to fall for him, but …”
“It’s always the way.” Eloise smiles. “The universe had other plans and put him right in my path again months later after I ghosted him. I thought it was the right thing to do, and when he saw me again, I realized it wasn’t. The feelings I had been stuffing down bubbled to the surface, but I had hurt him so badly that it took a bit of convincing to get him back. But I did and I couldn’t be happier.”
“If you think Daniel wouldn’t cross the world for you, you’d be wrong,” Ivy adds. I turn and look at her. “We’ve all known Daniel for years. And I’m sure you know about his family life, with his father, mother, and Louis.” I nod because he spoke to me about it. “Daniel keeps a wall up when it comes to his heart. His father disappointed him his entire life, and then his mother betrayed him by keeping Louis a secret. So, he’s guarded, that’s not an excuse for what he did, but I get why he freaked out. That man loves you so much, and I think it’s scared him as he never thought he was capable of love. Under those designer suits and hard exterior is a good man. Why do you think us girls want nothing but the best for him? Because he’s a good guy, and we aren’t being biased because I’ve met some of Alex’s friends, and I would not want to set them up with any of my friends.” She giggles.
“You could tell every time you were together thinking you were being sneaky, but you can’t hide chemistry. That man’s face lit up every time you were around,” Lauren adds.
“We aren’t trying to convince you to give Daniel a second chance. If this is truly what you want and you don’t feel the same way about him as he does for you, then we won’t push you on the subject. But if you are only pushing him away because you will be living in Dubai and he will be in London, and you don’t think it will work, then I think that might be a mistake,” Ivy states.
“You know Daniel is rich and owns his own plane, so the commute between Dubai and London is easy.” Camryn smirks. My eyes widen at her comment, and the girls all burst out laughing.
“I’m not from this world. I would never fit in,” I confess.
“We are all successful women. I’m successful enough that I can hire a private plane but not own one,” Ivy states.
“Same for me. My fiancé can, and it is another level of success that comes with negatives as well as positives,” Camryn adds, and all the other girls nod in agreement.
“We do well for ourselves, but it does take a little time getting used to what the boys have,” Ivy adds.
“Don’t let the private planes be the reason to deny yourself love. At least we know you’re not a gold digger. You’re pushing him away because he’s too rich and you want to earn your own money,” Lauren teases.
“Take everything out of it. What do you truly feel for Daniel?” Olivia asks.
“I’ve never been happier.” The confession hitches in my throat as if the realization hits me suddenly. I’m madly in love with this man, and there’s a chance I’ve lost him forever. A sob falls from my lips and the girls all comfort me. “What have I done?” I ask them.
“You protected yourself. You didn’t do anything wrong. Daniel ran first, and he hurt you. You didn’t want to hurt like that ever again and thought you were doing the right thing,” Ivy says. I nod because that is exactly it. “If you don’t want to move to Dubai and you want to stay in London and give you and Daniel a go, I understand,” Ivy says.
I shake my head. “I want Dubai. You have made my dreams come true with this promotion.”
Ivy’s eyes glisten. “Urgh, I love you, girl,” she says hugging me tightly. “We will sort this Daniel thing out, okay.” I nod.
We land in Dubai six hours later after many tears and many more bottles of champagne. We are whisked off to a luxury hotel on an island designed like a palm. My face is glued to the window of the limousine as we drive through the streets. Seeing the towering buildings and desert is mind-blowing. We head out of the main area and over the bridge to the palms area. I can’t believe this was all manmade, it is incredible and the fact that they can create whatever they desire is so exciting for me as a designer. We pass this huge, towering, iconic pink building before moving onto a more modern luxurious building next door. On one side it’s towering buildings, and on the other side is nothing but ocean and blue skies, there isn’t even one cloud in the sky.
We arrive at a building that looks like blocks put together and are driven through to a private entrance. The staff are there waiting for us, it seems like a lot for how many of us there are.
“Welcome, Ms. Starr. Let us take you up to the royal penthouse,” the manager explains. My eyes widen at that news. We take the private elevator all the way up to the top. “We have the royal suite. You have your own butler, use of the royal lounge where you have complimentary breakfast, afternoon tea, drinks, or of course, we can set things up for you in your suite.” He walks us in and we all gasp. This is beyond anything I have ever seen before. How is this my life? The foyer into the penthouse is made with white and gold-hued marble, there are two one-hundred-year-old olive trees on either side of the entrance. The ceilings are as tall as the sky, and there are windows everywhere, letting sunlight into the room. The manager explains to Ivy about all the inclusions in more depth, someone is waiting for us with fresh, cool towels and glasses of champagne and juices. There is a welcome platter on one of the tables. I am so blown away by the sheer size of the hotel room that I don’t notice the view until the girls gasp and rush toward the balcony, which has an infinity-style pool that looks out over the ocean and back toward the center of Dubai. This is beyond luxury. There is a large dining table beside the pool that looks like it could seat twelve people, perfect for dinner and drinks at nighttime. We are then taken back into the living room with its large cream lounges, glossy gold coffee tables, plush carpet, and white marble on the walls with wooden accents. There is a large chandelier, larger than a car tire, with circular lights in all different sizes. The wall is glass sliding doors all the way to the ceiling and overlooks the pool and out to the city. There’s an indoor dining room set for twelve with again white and gold marble with wood accents. There is another chandelier, and it looks like icicles hanging above us. The penthouse is two levels with the bedrooms upstairs and the living and entertainment downstairs.
“Olivia and I will be sharing a room, and Cam and Kim will be sharing a room. Lauren and Eloise, your room has two queen beds and, Rosie, you have your own king bed,” Ivy explains.
“I don’t need my own room, I’m happy to share,” I say.
Ivy smirks. “The beds are huge, and the rooms are larger, we are certainly not inconvenienced by sharing the room, so don’t stress.” I nod, but I still feel bad.
One of the staff takes me up to my room to show me around and I die. The entire bedroom is double the size of my flat at home. The king bed is huge, it’s like a supersized king bed. I have a sofa and television, a desk, my own private balcony with views back over the palm. Then I move into my bathroom, and I have the largest egg-shaped bath I’ve ever seen which overlooks the palm and the city. The entire bathroom is again white marble, with luxury designer beauty products. There’s a shower that could fit all of us in, and then I notice a walk in wardrobe off the bathroom. I didn’t bring enough clothes for this.
“Miss, would you like me to unpack for you?” the staff member asks. Huh? They unpack for me? “I can hang and steam your clothes for you.”
“Um, sure just um … not my, you know …” She smiles, acknowledging that she won’t touch my underwear because that is weird. Is this how the other half travels? This is kind of insane. I get my phone out and quickly snap pictures and send them off to the group chat.
Emily: OMG
Ava: Fuck me
Georgia: Are you staying in a palace?
I quickly find the link to the hotel and send it to the girls.
Ava: You are living every influencer’s dream right now at that hotel.
Georgia: It’s $100k a night.
What the hell? Who the hell has that kind of money? Ivy and her friends it would seem. Don’t forget this is the level of rich Daniel is.
Shit.
Then those intrusive thoughts hit, and I wonder what he sees in me. I’m not sophisticated enough for all this.
“Do you like your room?” Ivy asks, making me jump as I’m lost in my thoughts.
“How could I not, this is insane.”
“What are your thoughts so far on Dubai?”
“It’s not at all what I thought it would be, but it looks spectacular from the tiny slither I’ve seen.” I smile at her.
Ivy indicates for me to take a seat in my sitting area. “Do you mind if we have a quick chat?” she asks. I shake my head. “I wanted to check in on you, make sure we weren’t pressuring you about Daniel. We all love him, but we only know him as a friend and not as a partner. Also, I know you were worried that I would be upset that something happened between the two of you, and I wanted to reassure you that if you are not giving him a chance because of me, please don’t. I think you are perfect for him. I would have set you up earlier, but honestly, selfishly, I didn’t want to because if he broke your heart, you might leave the company, and I honestly don’t want to lose you. You’re so freakin good at your job,” she confesses.
Oh.
That was not at all what I thought she was going to say.
“And now I feel bad because maybe if I had pushed the two of you together then you wouldn’t be in the situation you are now. I’m so sorry, Rosie.”
“What! You have nothing to be sorry for. We’re both adults. I feel bad that I’ve been lying to you. I should have told you that there was something going on, but honestly, I was too scared. Daniel chose to run instead of talking to me, that was his decision. That’s why we are where we are.”
“I wouldn’t have cared if you told him about Dubai.”
“I assumed that if you wanted him to know, you would have told him, and when he never brought it up, I didn’t want to say anything,” I explain to her.
“Shit, I wasn’t keeping it from him on purpose. He was never around to tell him about it. I’ve been so busy that it slipped my mind when we caught up,” she explains. “What are your thoughts?”
I shrug. “Honestly, I don’t know.”
“Do you have feelings for him or is it done?”
“I’m confused.”
Ivy nods. “Does he have a chance?”
“I hurt him the other day so I’m not sure I have a chance.”
“I know he still loves you, but I also know he thinks there’s no hope,” she explains.
“Guess we need to talk when I get back. We’ve hurt each other, and now that what we were is out in the open, maybe we can be honest with each other and see where we are after that.”