Chapter 49
Eliza
We wake to banging at the front door. I’m still naked and wrapped in Mac’s arm and groan when he moves.
“Ignore it,” I murmur and try to burrow deeper into him.
The banging comes again, and Mac leaves the bed, leaving me groaning again. I crack an eye just enough to see Mac slip into a pair of shorts.
“Go back to sleep, love. I’ll be right back.”
I close my eyes and listen as he heads to the front door and pulls it open.
“Father, what are you doing here?”
“We have things to discuss with your takeover.”
“Can’t this wait?”
“No, we need to get on it. I want this all done before the end of the fiscal year, which means we need to get on it. We also need to figure out the details of your move back to London.”
That has my ears straining to listen. I shuffle to the edge of the bed, trying to get closer.
“Eliza is still asleep. Can we at least take this somewhere else?”
I hear some more murmurs before the sound of the front door opening and closing.
Mac’s moving back to London? I should have expected this.
I should have known his father was going to want him here to run the company, especially so he could look over his shoulder and make sure he’s doing everything up to his standards.
What hurts the most, though, is that I just asked him if he’s thought about moving back.
He could have said something then, or even last night when Harry brought up the topic in what I thought at the time was a weird question.
We ended last night with everything feeling perfect, like we had both fallen into place, and I was ready to tell him I wanted this to be real, that for me it already was.
I had gotten my hopes up all for them to come crashing down at once.
He had all these chances and never mentioned anything.
I need space. I need space from Mac and everything that reminds me of him. He’s been given the position so he doesn’t need me anymore, and he’s moving back here anyways, so he’s gotten everything he needed out of this arrangement.
Tears stream down my face as I throw all of my stuff into my suitcase, not caring if it’s packed nicely, just shoving it all in and practically sitting on it to zip it closed.
I take one last look at the apartment before grabbing my purse from the kitchen counter and leaving.
I grab a taxi and open my phone, finding the first flight to Vancouver.
I don’t care how much the ticket is, I need to leave.
I’m lucky there’s one in two and a half hours.
I can hopefully make it through security and onto the flight, and it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg.
Security is slow, of course, because the one time I want to rush, everything has to go wrong.
I make it to the gate just as they call my boarding group.
I find my seat near the back of the plane, and I immediately notice how they’re not as nice as the seats Mac booked us for our trips.
I’ve never flown by myself before. In fact, I’ve only ever flown with Mac, and as I do my seatbelt, I feel anxiety creeping in.
I want to hold Mac’s hand or talk to him or just feel his presence next to me, but I can’t.
I stare out the window, wiping away my tears as they fall.
I knew this was all going to end, I just never thought it would be thousands of kilometres away from my own apartment and my best friends.
The flight feels longer than it did last time.
It feels like torture. Every time I pick up my Kindle to read, I can’t get into the book.
I keep rereading the same page over and over, comprehending nothing.
When I try to play a game on my phone, I find myself just staring at it, not doing anything.
Music is no help, and even my favourite comfort shows are doing nothing.
I feel like a zombie when we finally land and I grab my bags.
I order an Uber, but instead of inputting my own address, I input Hannah’s.
I drag my bags up their front steps and knock, hoping Hannah’s off today.
When she pulls open the front door, still in her pyjamas, I fall into her arms, crying, and she holds me, running her hands over my hair.
I notice Grayson as he grabs my bags off the porch and Hannah leads me to the couch.
She doesn’t say or ask anything, she just holds me and lets me cry it out.
I don’t think I’ve ever cried like this with her.
I’ve never felt as desolate as I do now.
I don’t see how I’m supposed to just move on.
How am I supposed to continue with my life as though I didn’t just lose the only man I think I’ll ever love.
Grayson places a couple glasses of water on the table and kisses the top of Hannah’s head as he tells her he’s going to head out.
When my tears stop, I stay with my head in her lap, just staring into the distance.
I don’t know how long I stay like that when I hear the front door open and the rest of the girls filter in.
The second I see them, I burst into tears again.
A heavily pregnant Olivia takes a seat at the end of the couch by my feet while Zoey and Bailey kneel in front of me.
Being surrounded by my friends makes me feel better and worse all at the same time.
I feel all of their love, but I also know how each of them have found their person and I had, too, the difference is I don’t get to keep mine.
When my tears die down again and I sit up, Hannah says, “So, ice cream for breakfast?”
I wipe at my eyes. “I’ve already been up for almost twelve hours,” I say.
“And I’m assuming you haven’t eaten anything.”
I nod and hug a pillow to my chest. Hannah returns with two large containers of ice cream and five spoons. We each take a spoon and pass the ice cream tubs around.
“Okay, babe, we’ve given you some time, but we need to know why you turned up at my front door in tears when you’re supposed to be in London with your boyfriend.”
I shake my head. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“What happened?” Zoey asks.
I chuckle in a self-deprecating way. “He never was. It was fake from the beginning.”
Hannah’s spoon hovers in front of her open mouth, and she stares at me. She doesn’t do anything until a drop of ice cream drips off her spoon and hits the top of her boobs. “Did you just admit to entering into a fake dating situation, like one of our books?”
I nod and shovel a huge bite of ice cream into my mouth.
“Huh, never thought I’d hear that,” Bailey says.
“Wait, those are usually tit-for-tat, so what did you get from it?” Liv asks.
My face immediately heats, and I quickly shove another bite of ice cream into my mouth.
“Oh, this must be good,” Hannah says, leaning forward in the chair she moved to.
“So, um...” I play with my spoon and Zoey, the brat, takes the tub of ice cream from me. I know it’s so I don’t use it as a buffer, but damn it, I need the buffer right now. Plus, I didn’t realize how hungry I was because I quite frankly didn’t want to eat earlier.
“So? What?” Liv pushes.
“So, I may have been a virgin before and now I’m not.” I shrug, and all of them look at me with open mouths.
“How did we not know this?” Hannah asks.
“Because I’ve never been big on discussing my sex life or anything about sex.”
“But you told Mac?” Zoey asks.
“No. No, no, no, no. I didn’t tell him. Really, this is all your fault if you think about it.”
“Mine? What did I do?”
“You made us write stupid manifestations down for New Year's and I did and Mac saw it and then made me this offer, pretend to be his serious girlfriend so his father will give him the promotion to CEO when he retires and he’ll help me achieve my manifestation. Once he got the position, it would all be over.”
They all look at me stunned, but nod in acknowledgement.
“He got the position last night, and I thought we’d end things peacefully when we got back, but then his dad showed up this morning, banging on the door and said he wanted to start everything for the transition and asked when Mac is moving back to London.
I don’t know, I spiralled. Him moving back to London made it all real that we were really ending.
” I wipe at my tears and look up at the ceiling. “God, why am I such an idiot?”
“You fell in love with him, didn’t you?” Bailey asks.
I nod. “Like an idiot. I knew it was temporary, and I let him burrow himself into my heart anyway. I was at least smart enough to make sure we spent most of our time at his apartment so I don’t have too many memories of him at mine, but there are still some.
How am I supposed to go back? Plus, I have so much stuff at his apartment.
” I duck my head into the pillow I’m squeezing as hard as possible against my chest.
“When’s he moving?” Liv asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know and don’t know if I care. His dad said he wants this all finalized before the end of the fiscal year, which Mac’s mentioned is the end of July. So sometime in the next month.”
“Did he ask you to go with him?” Hannah asks, and I swing my head to her so fast I almost get dizzy.
“Why would he? This was all fake, why would he ask me to move with him? Also, why would I go when my entire life is here. My friends, my family, my job, all of it is here.”
“Because we do crazy things for the people we love,” Liv says.
“I love him, but he doesn’t love me, that’s the part you’re missing.”
“From the way he looks at you and watches you when you’re not looking at him, I think you might be wrong, babe. I definitely think he’s in love with you. There’s no faking that look,” Zoey says.
I shake my head and wipe at my fresh tears. “Nope. We’re not doing this. We are not doing the ’give Eliza hope’ thing. I came here to drink with my best friend and cry and maybe eat all the worst possible food for me.”
“We wouldn’t be your best friends if we didn’t give you a little tough love,” Hannah says. “You did the same with all of us, so now it’s our turn. Don’t give up yet.”
I shake my head. “I can’t do hope right now. Can you please just sit and wallow with me, at least for today?”
The girls all exchange looks before looking back at me and nodding.