Chapter 16 #2
But as I pulled myself away, Waylon cleared his throat, bringing us back to the business at hand.
The contracts were laid out in front of us on my coffee table.
Waylon walked us through them. They were standard, for the most part, dissolving the previous contracts and ending any joint ventures the companies had in motion.
Ephraim asked the occasional question, clarifying a few minor details about the timing, but overall it was a simple set of papers.
It took a while. It was a lot to read over.
The legal language was clear, but the jargon took time to parse through.
I had never paid more attention to papers I didn’t need to sign myself.
Somehow, knowing that Corrine had tried to supplant me made me all the more interested in seeing this dissolution take place.
When it was finally time to put pen to paper, I felt the urge to do it myself.
I glanced up at Ephraim. He didn’t say anything, just held the pen, ready to sign.
The next move was his. I was powerless in all of this, but I appreciated the transparency.
He had never done anything like this before.
The business side of things were always held behind closed doors, a place where the men gathered and talked through everything while I stood to the side as the good-looking face on display when needed.
This was better. I knew how to handle being involved, even if it was only symbolic in this case.
With a steady hand, Ephraim signed the final document.
We both waited for the ink to dry before he shuffled all the papers together.
Waylon put them into an envelope, assuring Ephraim he would get everything filed right away.
It was official. There was no going back now.
There was no more threat from Corrine to Ephraim, or me, or Holt Enterprises.
And somehow, that felt like the smallest sliver of safety from a threat I had been too oblivious to see.
Maybe that was part of the reason I was keeping him at arm’s length, still uncertain of him and this new person he was becoming, even though he was showing me his true intentions.
“Well, Waylon, I’d offer to let you stay for dinner, but this isn’t exactly a good place to host.”
“It was good enough for this,” Waylon pointed out.
“But don’t worry, I’ve got to be on my way anyway.
I promised the board I would call in with updates.
” He stood and reached over, patting Ephraim on the shoulder.
“It will all work out.” He looked over to me.
“You can reach me if you need anything at all, Larkin.”
“I will,” I assured him, though I really had no reason to. “And you’re welcome any time. Thanks for coming out today.”
Waylon and Ephraim headed down the stairs together.
I picked up their empty cups and plates, cleaning up my apartment.
When the front door finally opened and closed again, Ephraim walked back up the stairs and found me in the kitchen, running hot water to wash up.
He watched me, quiet and waiting. I felt his eyes on me and turned to look at him.
There were no more excuses now to keep us in the apartment.
There was no reason for us to be together at all except that neither one of us had moved to create distance.
“It’s done, then,” he finally said.
“Yes, it’s done.”
“Thank you for letting us intrude on you like this. But I wanted it to be clear that your opinion is valuable and important. You may not be an active member of Holt Enterprises anymore, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t keep you in the loop.”
“I get it.”
We both fell silent, and the space between us felt heavy again.
I knew we were both thinking of the moment on the couch when he had reached out and touched me.
I hadn’t invited that, but I didn’t stop him from doing it again.
We were dancing around it now, not knowing where we were or how we should act.
There were no labels, no names for this moment.
But it still felt like something was coming.
“I should go,” he finally said. “There’s work to do in the barn, and I’ve kept you up here long enough.”
“See you down there, then.” I wasn’t sure what to say that wouldn’t lead me right into the hole I wanted to stay away from.
I wanted to acknowledge everything I had witnessed, the changes in him, the effort I could clearly see he was making.
But it was too soon to be his cheerleader when I didn’t really know if it would all fade away at some point.
Ephraim walked to the door. His steps were heavy with an emotion I wasn’t quite able to identify.
He had one hand on the door, looking like he wanted to say more but was unsure about how to say it.
His eyes were on mine, a question there, a hope, and a desire.
It would be easy for me to offer him what he was asking for.
One small gesture from me and he wouldn’t have to go down these stairs alone.
Instead, I stood in my kitchen, my hands in soapy water, my heart racing for no reason except that my husband and I were learning to exist in the same spaces again after five years of comfortable distance between us.
There was a moment when it seemed like he wasn’t going to leave, his hand still on the door, his eyes pleading with me for something to give way, but then he nodded and opened the door.
He stepped out without a word and walked down the stairs.
The moment he was gone, I turned the sink off and wiped my hands, reaching for the last travel mug of cold coffee and draining it, the bitter drink waking me back up to reality.
I wasn’t ready for us yet. There was so much more to this new dynamic we were navigating, and it scared me more than I wanted it to.
It wasn’t that I wanted to go back to the distance of before, I was just not ready to take another leap with the man who had let me down for so long, even if he was making the right decisions now.
We needed more time. Or I did, anyway. And as I headed back down the stairs myself, I tried not to wonder what I would say if he tried to bring it up again today. I hoped he wouldn’t try. Not today.
But deep down, I was starting to know I was ready for him to keep trying.
And as scared as that was, I found some hope there too.
There had been a shift in my thinking and in our relationship.
We had more to talk about and a lot of time to spend working alongside each other before we found the new version of us, the one that was willing to be in it together, side by side, even if our hands didn’t always reach for each other.
I headed out the door, ready to go about my day. Today, there was work to be done, and Ephraim and I were going to do it. That was enough for now.