Chapter Twenty-Six
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Josie had never done anything like this. Risked everything on love. Odds were that Malcolm’s plane would have taken off by the time she got there. If so, she had her passport with her and a credit card. She’d buy a ticket on the next flight. That’s what she’d do.
If he didn’t feel the same way, she’d cope. On the way to the airport, she called Mari and explained the situation. “Mathilda said she could run one day of the reading retreat if you could do the others. I just really need to tell Malcolm how much I love him and that he needs to choose me over New Zealand.”
But while the odds didn’t seem to be in her favor, she’d never be able to live with herself if she didn’t at least try. Try to show him how much he meant to her. That he had come, in such a short amount of time, to mean absolutely everything. Yes, she’d find a way to move on with her life if he didn’t feel the same way. But her love for him would always be front and center. She knew that with utter certainty.
There would be no forgetting Malcolm Sullivan. Not even the slightest chance.
Tom dropped her off at Departures and wished her luck. She nodded, too choked up to speak, then ran into the terminal.
Please let it not be too late.
She tried to call Malcolm, but his phone was off. No doubt he was already on the plane, flying away from her.
* * *
Malcolm felt the delay of his flight like a reprieve. For two more hours, he’d be in the same country as Josie. Even as he tried to refocus, he saw Genevieve quietly typing away. She’d created most of the slide deck with little input from him.
The words of Thoreau floated back to him. Things do not change; we change. The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.
Everything Josie had been trying to tell him was right there. How much of his life had he exchanged for money, power, prestige, write-ups in the Financial Times ? And how much was he going to keep giving away? Including Josie?
A sudden urgency bloomed in his chest. He’d hurt Josie this morning—he knew that. At the first test, he’d done what he’d vowed not to do. He’d run away from her. From them .
“Genevieve,” he said, startling her. “I’m not going with you to New Zealand.”
Her brows rose in understandable surprise, seeing as they were waiting for their flight to board.
“You’re the one who’s been managing this project,” he said. “You can do this. You can see it through.”
She looked gratified, but reminded him, “Kieran’s expecting you.”
“But when I tell him that you’re the one who’s been doing all the work on this, and when he sees your presentation at the board meeting, he’ll know you’re the better person for the job.” He paused. “Is there anything I could say that would make you stay in New Zealand for a year?”
She gazed at him for a moment. “Make me an equity partner.”
Just like that, he knew she was ready to take on the lead role in his business. She’d played a winning card and done it at exactly the right moment. He was proud of her.
“Done. We’ll get the lawyers to work out an agreement.” He held out his hand. “Partner.”
She shook his firmly, keeping her smile in check. “Partner.”
“Now I really have to go.”
He jumped up and headed into the main terminal. He couldn’t wait for his driver. He’d get a cab back to Elderflower Island. He couldn’t wait to see Josie’s face. He only hoped she didn’t slap his.
He was racing through the airport when a bookshop caught his eye, and he detoured inside.
* * *
Josie didn’t know what to do. The Departures display said that Malcolm’s flight was boarding, and he still had his phone off. She’d been too late to buy a ticket for the flight. She’d have to buy a ticket for the next one. She might have her passport and credit card, but no way was she going to sit for hours on a plane without a book. She headed for the WHSmith and then stopped, gaping, as she nearly bumped into the man coming out of the bookstore.
“Malcolm?” she cried. Her mind must be playing tricks.
“Josie!” He looked as stunned as she felt.
“What are you doing here?” they both said at the same time.
“Coming to find you.” Again, they spoke in unison.
She shook her head. “Let me go first. Otherwise, I’m afraid I might never get the chance to say what I need to say to you.”
* * *
He stared into her eyes, drinking in the sight of her. The luminosity of her skin, the fullness of her lips. Every last inch of her was so beautiful. He nodded, and she took a deep breath, so deep that he could practically feel it in his own chest.
“I wasn’t honest with you earlier,” she said. “I didn’t tell you the truth about how much I wished you would stay. I don’t want a year of long-distance. There’s already been so much time lost for us, all those years between high school and now. And I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. I love you with everything I am, with everything I was and will be. I love you for your past, your present, and your future. And I want so badly to be able to see you every morning and every night. To let our love continue to deepen. To learn everything there is to know about you, from your childhood to the things that you’re proud of as an adult, and even the things that you’re not. I can’t stand the thought of you resenting me for pulling you away from a world and a deal that has always meant so much to you, but I have to be honest. I love you, and please, don’t go to New Zealand for a year. Please stay in England. Be my boyfriend. My proper relationship. And I promise you won’t regret it. I’ll never let you regret it.”
At last, she seemed to run out of breath. As soon as she did, he had to kiss her. Had to capture her beautiful mouth, had to draw her lovely body against his and hold her tight. He kissed her as though it had been a year instead of a few hours since the last time.
Finally, he drew back to look into her eyes. “Do you know what I just did? I handed the deal over to Genevieve. It’s hers now, and she’s willing to stay in New Zealand for a year.”
Josie’s eyes widened. “But what if the CEO won’t take the trade and insists on you?”
“I’m pretty sure Genevieve can handle him. And if not?” He stopped to imagine losing House in a Box. And he knew. “I really don’t care.”
“I’m so glad.”
“I should never have said yes to it. You and what we’re building between us mean so much more to me than any business deal ever could. The only project I’m interested in right now is you and me together, in London, as a proper couple.”
“You’re doing that for me?”
“For us . You don’t know how much I admire you for coming here and being so honest. Honest in a way that I have not been with anyone since I was seventeen. I’ve always been too afraid of how they might respond to the truth inside me. To my fears. To my weaknesses. But you, Josie—you’re not afraid of anything. I look at you and I know this is such a big part of why I couldn’t help but fall in love with you. Because you’re so damned brave. And yet, your heart is right there on your sleeve for everyone to see. I want to learn from you. Maybe after twenty or thirty years with you, I will no longer be afraid to be who I really am.”
“You’re amazing,” she told him. “And you have never given yourself enough credit for that. The way your family loves you—that’s not just because of blood ties. It’s because of the man you are. And I hope it doesn’t take twenty or thirty years for me to convince you that you are lovable exactly as you are.”
This time, she was the one kissing him. Stealing his breath in the same way that she had completely stolen his heart.
“I love you, Josie. And I promise you I won’t ever do this to you again. I won’t run, even if everything inside of me is telling me that it’s the safest thing to do. I’m going to count on you to help me face and deal with that voice inside me that tells me it’s too risky to love. That it’s too dangerous to devote myself to something I’m passionate about. And to know that it will be okay if something ever hurts me the way my father was hurt all those years ago.”
“Anything you need from me, I want to give to you. And just like you, I know you will always support me when that little voice inside my head tries to tell me that I’m not good enough. That I’m not special enough.”
“You are the most special, wonderful woman alive. I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure that you never, ever forget that. Oh, and I bought you something.”
He handed her a bag with a book inside. She pulled it out. “ Pride and Prejudice ,” she said aloud. Then she glanced up, puzzled. “How did you know this is my favorite book?”
“I didn’t. But I remembered Mari saying it was about a man who had to let go of his pride in order to win the woman of his dreams. It seemed appropriate.”
She hugged him to her. “It’s perfect, and so are you.”