Chapter 93
MONTHS BEFORE
A bout an hour into my work, I realized I had to get some documentation we kept in a file downstairs for security reasons. Without a care, I locked my computer, exited my cubicle, and made haste to the basement files, through which I’d have to pass through the lobby.
All seemed normal.
And then I saw her.
Layla Taylor.
I didn’t even have to think to remember her name.
Someone as magnetic as her, you remembered everything about after a single visit.
Of course, it probably helped that the only thing I knew of her was that she was the CEO’s daughter, her name, and her goddamn impressive physical beauty…
but even still, she could have given me a novel of her life and I would have read it over twice.
Sarah Hill was a distant, fading memory compared to the glittering gold that was Layla.
Present Day
“New York City, it’s been real,” I said as I looked out the window from my apartment. “But it’s time for me to go after what I want.”
I turned around and saw Morgan, who had taken off work early, to come and see me. He had his arms crossed, a bemused smile on his face, and an expression that couldn’t believe what the fuck I was about to do.
“So, let me get this straight,” he said. “You’re going to get a rental car, follow Layla to Chicago, and then… you two are going to make it work?”
“Yes,” I said, as confidently as I had ever said anything in my life.
“I know that Layla may find this crazy. But I truly believe that she thinks my words are shallow right now, or, rather, she needs something deeper to believe I’m serious about making it work.
I know Sarah will miss me in New York, but honestly, she’s the furthest thing from my mind right now.
I’ll tell her to come to Chicago if she needs to see me that bad.
I’m just ready and willing to show, not tell, Layla that I love her. ”
“Goddamn,” Morgan said with a laugh. “Buddy, I told you I didn’t like her at first, but if you’re willing to move to Chicago to try and make it work, then I’m not going to question your decision. You know the board will expect you to resign.”
“Oh, about that,” I said with a smile. “I already sent an email to everyone. I’m surprised you didn’t see it. I’m resigning effective immediately.”
“Goddamn!” Morgan repeated with emphasis, leading us both to laugh. “What are you going to do for work?”
Interestingly enough, I already knew the answer to that much more firmly than I knew the answer to if Layla and I were going to work out.
“I’m going to start doing service work for orphans,” I said.
“I saw my real parents on Monday. I never knew my biological mother was also an orphan until then. I’ve been lucky to land in the spot with you guys; she didn’t have such luck.
I know that not everyone is going to wind up in a billionaire family.
But if they can just land in a stable setting, well, I’ll do what I can to help.
Besides, I don’t need to do shit for money. I need to do shit to help the world.”
“Good enough,” Morgan said. “Well, brother, I am not going to hold you up any longer. You’ve got a woman you need to go and get back, and I’m only in the way. So bring it in.”
I smiled, headed over to him, and embraced him in a tight hug.
“Thank you for everything, man,” I said. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Chance,” he said, pulling back and patting my chest right where my heart was. “Although, I do figure I’ll see you real soon?”
“Yeah, probably going to have to make a return trip to either rent out the place or just move back,” I said. “But I’m leaving with the intent of only coming back to move my shit.”
“I hear ya,” he said. “Don’t forget us Yankees, now.”
“You know I never will,” I said with a smile. “I’d never abandon you.”
With that, I grabbed my luggage with one week’s worth of clothes, walked out the door, and left Morgan to take care of grabbing whatever he wanted for himself. I headed down the elevator, smiling at myself.
This might have been the most audacious, boldest move I had made yet. It was the greatest risk I’d taken yet.
But it was the chance I needed to take.
Half an hour later, I was in a small Prius vehicle, one almost too small for my size, driving across the George Washington Bridge and toward Chicago.
I had no idea how far removed I was from Layla; she had only told me that she had left around ten in the morning and that she wished me well.
I pretended that I was wishing her goodbye, but I wasn’t that far behind.
It was only eleven, and I was willing to speed.
I also had the advantage of the day needing to take two days, unless Layla was willing to drive twelve hours, which I somehow found incredibly doubtful.
I just needed to figure out a strategy for catching up to her; it would have really sucked to have not known how far she was or where she was stopping and to overshoot her.
For the first four hours, I just drove down the road, thrilled at the prospect of this audacious move working out.
I was a little scared it might not work out, but I truly, sincerely, honestly believed that this would be a winning decision.
I knew Layla too well; I knew what we’d been through and overcome.
Her taking a job in Chicago was nothing if I was willing to move there and be with her, especially since it really showed what I was willing to do.
Around three in the afternoon, though, I knew that she’d probably stopped to eat.
I suspected that she had only stopped for fast food, maybe even had gone through the drive through window, but if she had chosen to rest her body and her mind by getting something more, I had to know.
Otherwise, I’d make a pit stop in Cleveland when she had only gotten to Pennsylvania.
I took a deep breath and tried to figure out how best I wanted to word this.
At this point, I was just driving down Interstate 80, having passed an exit for some small town named Lewisburg in Pennsylvania.
I found my phone, quickly found her contact, and called her.
Like most things in life, I figured I’d deal with the details as I went along; one could not be both audacious and planning in a situation like this.
“Hey, Chance, what’s going on?”
Layla sounded surprised to hear me. I’d imagine she would be even more surprised when she heard me on the bluetooth of a vehicle.
“Oh, nothing,” I said. “Just wanted to hear how your car ride to Chicago was going. How far along are you?”
“Umm, well, the car ride is good,” she said. “I just stopped for a brief stretching break. Nothing really crazy has happened yet, but I think that’s the goal. Why?”
“Oh?” I said. “And where did you stop for a break?”
“Umm, just at some rest stop in the middle of Pennsylvania.”
I looked up and saw a sign for a rest stop about two miles ahead.
“Let me ask you a question,” I said.
“OK,” Layla said. “You have your flirtatious voice right now, Chance. You have me wondering what’s going on.”
“Oh, just you wait,” I said with a smirk. “Was the rest stop about two miles outside of Lewisburg?”
“Umm… yes…”
I pumped my fist. It was game time. It was time to show Layla how much she meant to me. It was time to prove my love for her. It was time to show that I was serious about leaving everything in my life behind except her so I could be with her.
“Why, Chance?”
I knew she was getting suspicious from the sound of her voice. She had to have a feeling of what I was about to do. I gunned the gas, hitting a hundred miles per hour, slowing down only when the on-ramp for the rest area appeared.
“You know how I like to do bold, audacious things?” I said.
And then I saw her. She was standing just by her car, her keys in her hand. She had a look of confusion etched all over her face. I loved it. I loved every single second of it.
“Look at the Prius approaching you.”
I hung up as she did. She gasped in shock, placing both hands by her mouth, as I parked right next to her and got out of the car. I went over to her and put my hands on her.
“Just let me explain,” I said.
She was too surprised to say or react in any fashion. I couldn’t stop smiling. How fucking crazy was this?!? How fucking amazing was this?!?
“I know that the past week, I’ve made some really bad choices,” I said.
“I should never have gone out with Sarah on Saturday, and I’m sorry.
I should never have sniped at you on Monday, and I’m sorry.
But one thing I have said I would always do was pursue the things that I love and fight for them no matter what it took.
When you said you were moving to Chicago, at first, I thought that was the death kneel of us working out. ”
I laughed for effect, only increasing the confusion for Layla.
“But then I thought, wait, why do I have to stay in New York City? I have the money to go anywhere I want. I can fly back to visit Mom and Morgan any time that I want. I have the freedom of time to do so. So where I stay should reflect what I value most.”
I cleared my throat.
“I saw my mother—my real mother, the woman who gave birth to me—on Tuesday, the day after you said it wouldn’t work out.
And Layla, I have never met a kinder woman.
My birth father, unfortunately, has been gone five years.
But my mother said something about my father.
She said that he was always there for her, even when she tried to push him away.
She said that he was smart enough to recognize when she really just needed space and when she was genuinely upset. ”
Layla’s slow, creeping smile told me that I was on the right path.
“With us, I feel the same way,” I said, trying to make my words as passionate and strong as possible.
“I know you have to take this job. No, scratch that. I know you want to take this job. I want you to take this job too. But I also want us to be together. Think of all the shit we’ve overcome, all the things others have thrown at us, all the nonsense we’ve dealt with.
You think moving to a new city scares me?
It’s nothing compared to Edwin or Craig. ”
“Boy, that’s true,” Layla said with a nervous laugh.
“Exactly!” I said. “Look, I’m a billionaire now with Edwin’s passing. I can fly wherever I want, whenever I want. If I miss Morgan, I can see him in one day and fly back that evening. Distance means nothing. But you know what means everything? Love.”
Now I was starting to become emotional, but I held it in check.
“I love you Layla, and I mean it,” I said.
“I’ve seen what a loveless relationship looks like with Edwin and Melanie.
But I know what a loving relationship looks like from what my birth mother said about her husband, my father.
I know what it sounds like. And I know that we match it.
I know this is sudden and this is fast. I know that this is kind of out of nowhere.
But you know what? You wanted the bold Chance, you got him. ”
I smiled as I took her hands into mine.
“I’m here to say that I want you to be my person, to be my one, Layla,” I said, unable to control my grin.
“I will climb mountains, drive across states, fly to new cities, and do whatever it takes to be with you. I will never give you a reason to doubt who I’m interested in anymore.
I will never do anything other than promise to love you with all my heart and soul from now until the end of time. ”
It was all good to say that. But love was a two-way street. And so…
“So what do you say, Layla?” I said, raising my eyebrows.
“Wow,” she said, left mostly speechless. “Wow. Wow. Umm… wow.”
She laughed, and I laughed. I couldn’t fucking believe I was in Pennsylvania trying to win Layla’s heart! But boy, does it feel right. Does it feel so, so right.
“You’re serious?”
“Hell, I rented a fucking Prius and drove across Pennsylvania to catch up to you!” I said with a laugh. “How much more serious can I be?”
“I don’t know,” she said. Her eyes were watering. “But I know it’s serious enough.”
She collapsed into me, her face into my chest, as she burst into tears of joy. I couldn’t even begin to describe how relieved I felt when that happened; I’m not sure how I could have moved forward if she had rejected me. But now, it seemed like I wouldn’t have to ever worry about that.
“Oh, Chance,” she said. “Yes, I accept you. I’ll be with you. I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said, squeezing her so tightly she had to tap and ask me to pull back.
I kissed her over and over again, holding her as her tears streamed down her cheeks. It was just so perfect; we’d gone through so much hell, so much temptation, that in some ways, I wondered if I even deserved to have her.
But I did have her, and I wasn’t about to question it again.
“I promise to never abandon you,” I said. “I will always be by your side.”
“And I, yours,” she said. “I will never let you go through this life alone.”
I again kissed her, and as I held her close to me, it was like our souls merged across our bodies.
I had the woman of my dreams. I regretted that it took me until now to realize who the actual woman of my dreams was, but I was just grateful to have realized it before it was too late.
I had Layla, and thus I had everything I ever needed. All of the money in the world could never buy what Layla gave me.
Peace, happiness, and love.