61. Chloe
61
CHLOE
I n the next hour, I talked to Tess from my room, filling her in on what had happened, before I took a quick shower.
I needed to meet Sean, but first, I had to do something else.
Something just for me.
I went to my closet and found one of my nicer dresses.
Slipping it on and paying attention to my hair and styling it, I stepped out of my room.
When I’d told Henry where I was going, he’d refused to accompany me, telling me he had other ideas.
I was disappointed, but I didn’t let it change my plans.
Henry stayed in his room, and I knew he could take care of himself for the rest of the evening.
He didn’t need me anymore.
Before I could step out, there was a knock on the door, and I opened it to find Greg.
“Hello,” Greg said, holding out balloons that said Congrats!
I could hear the surprise in my voice when I said, “Come on in!”
Greg took one hesitant step in.
“I heard Henry was graduating soon …” His voice trailed off as he stared at me.
“Are you headed out somewhere?”
I grinned as I nodded.
“Yes. I passed the PMP exam, and there’s a small, informal event where I’ll finally get my certificate,” I announced.
“If you’d like to speak to Henry, he’s in his room.”
Greg gave me a thumbs-up and stepped back, making room for me to walk out the door.
“Go, go,” he said.
“Bye, Greg. I’ll be back soon!” I promised, stepping around him.
“Here,” Greg said after a moment’s hesitation.
He took out one balloon and handed it to me.
“I think you deserve it too.”
I grinned, taking it.
“Thank you.”
In my dress and with my balloon in hand, I took the subway to the college where I’d taken my PMP certification course.
I got a few curious looks from the passengers as I got out of the train with my balloon, and as I skipped up the steps into the sunlight, I took a deep breath.
I was learning to stand up for myself, and it felt oddly liberating.
It was a few minutes before six p.m. when I finally reached the college auditorium.
About a hundred fold-out chairs occupied the center of the auditorium, almost filled with students and their partners.
The auditorium was huge, and I looked around it with some awe.
At the far end of the auditorium was the university banner in gold and blue.
And a podium for the speakers.
My classmates waited in one line, and I walked toward them.
All around me was the excited chatter of my fellow students and their proud families.
It was a mid-sized room that the program coordinators had gotten for us and other continuing education students who were here to mingle and meet one last time.
Our certificates would be mailed to us, so there really wasn’t much to do here, but another classmate had informed me that the dean would still show up and call each of us on the stage briefly just to acknowledge our achievement.
Everyone was all smiles, and I spent the first half an hour laughing and talking just as the lights dimmed and the dean prepared to come onto the stage.
I was still holding on to my balloon when the man I was talking to drew in his breath and asked, “Who is that?”
He inclined his head toward the double doors of the auditorium, and I turned.
What I saw made my heart leap.
Wearing his trademark frown, one that was not as intense as it had been in the past, Sean swept into the room.
Next to him, in his wheelchair, was Henry.
That scoundrel. This was what he’d been planning all along.
Henry had a grin on his face as he scanned the room.
Tall and authoritative, Sean stood by the door, and his deep voice reached me as he spoke to some people next to him.
One month—it had only been one month since we had last met, but seeing him here sent me reeling with shock.
His face was serious, and he was dressed in his familiar navy-blue suit.
I controlled the nerves that spread like fire in my belly.
“No way,” I breathed out while people shifted in the line next to me.
What is Sean doing here?
His deep brown hair was thick and slicked back, and he looked arrestingly handsome.
Going by how a few other women were giving him looks over their shoulders, he wasn’t missing out on any attention.
He scoured the crowd, his gaze searching, when Henry tapped him on the arm and pointed to a line of students.
My line.
I turned around before Sean could spot me, my heart hammering in my chest. To my right, I saw an abrupt movement as the dean finally made an appearance.
He walked up to Sean with an outstretched hand, looking surprised by his presence.
Sean gave the dean a brief nod before clapping him on the back and muttering a few words before walking right over to me.
The dean stared, open-mouthed, at Sean’s back, at his abrupt dismissal as Sean approached me.
He strode up, and his cologne, intense and musky, reached me.
The man in front of me coughed and made room as Sean approached.
“Chloe,” Sean said when he came to a stop next to me.
I let the balloon go, and it floated up to the roof.
“You’re here?” I asked, putting my hand out on the wall next to us as I steadied myself.
I’d thought I was prepared to see him, but it still felt unreal.
I wasn’t seeing things.
It really was him.
“Henry told me you passed your exam,” he said.
He looked around the room decorated in the college’s colors.
“And that you finally had a reason to celebrate your hard work. So, of course, I’d be here.”
I nodded, feeling overwhelmed by his concern for me even though we’d broken up.
He truly was a good person.
“Thank you, Sean,” I said, my hand clasping his.
“But …” I chanced a look at Henry, who stayed back but gave me a cheeky grin.
“Did the two of you get here together?”
Sean’s face broke into a half smile.
“Henry and I took the bus,” he said.
The image of Sean on public transportation was too good to let go.
“I’m going to have to see that for myself to believe it,” I said, while Sean’s eyes lit up.
“You mean you’ll spend time with me again?” he asked immediately.
I hesitated, shooting a look around us.
It was a fairly noisy environment, but I was still aware of people whispering near us.
“I appreciate you being here, Sean. You didn’t have to do this. Supporting me and my success.”
“I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. Just like I didn’t have to hire you, but I wanted to.”
His gaze burned into mine, reminding me of our meeting at Tassater Inc.
when his phone beeped.
Sean checked it briefly, and when he turned to me, there was an honest to goodness twinkle in his eye.
“Besides, Henry and I are not the only ones supporting you,” Sean said, angling his body as he looked back at the doors.
I followed his gaze, and in a moment, I saw two more of my favorite people.
Erin and Lucas.
I turned back to Sean, happiness filling my chest, as I understood.
Our hands grazed each other’s, but neither of us made a move.
“All of us wanted to be here,” he said as Erin caught up to us, Lucas by her side.
Sean put his arm around either of them before looking at me.
Lucas gestured to Erin.
“Have you met my aunt Erin, Chloe? She has a taxidermy shop—did you know that? Her animals are fiercer than if they were real.”
“I have,” I responded.
“She’s amazing.”
Erin grinned, a bit distracted, as she looked at the groups of families around us.
The dean was calling out people’s names, and people were strolling up to the stage.
“It’s your turn,” she said just after the dean called my name.
Breaking off from Sean, I walked up to the stage slowly, hearing the polite applause from the crowd.
In a second, however, I heard Lucas’s unmistakable voice, joined by Erin and Sean.
“Go, Chloe!” Erin shouted.
“Congratulations!” Lucas shouted.
I saw Sean pumping his fist in the air.
“WAY TO GO, Chloe,” he yelled loudly while Henry clapped and cheered next to them, the widest possible smile on his face.
For a moment, I was stumped as I heard Sean and his family cheer and applaud for me.
I’d been so worried on my way here because I had no one in my corner.
I’d thought I’d be alone today.
But here I was, surrounded by Henry, Sean, and his family, very much not alone and very touched by their love and affection—a love that matched how I felt about them.
My cheeks flushed, and my breath came faster.
I shook hands with the dean and walked off the stage.
On the other side, I met Sean, Henry and the others who had come over to cheer for me.
We found a quiet corner in the room.
“Congratulations, Chloe,” Sean said, his voice low.
“I always knew you could do it.”
His eyes were brimming with pride while Lucas took my hand and gave it a squeeze as Henry looked on in amusement.
“I told Dad you two would make up soon,” Lucas said.
“I was right, wasn’t I? Dad was much happier after he told me we were coming here to meet you.”
A look of shock took over Sean’s face, and he met my gaze.
The two of us laughed awkwardly while Erin stepped in.
“Lucas, I seem to remember you needed the bathroom,” Erin said hastily.
“But I don’t need to go to the bathroom,” Lucas protested while she pulled him away.
“I think you do,” she insisted, while Henry gave us a thumbs up and moved away too.
Their voices faded into the distance while Sean and I looked at each other.
“How are you?” he asked, his gaze roving over my face.
“I … I’ve tried and failed to not think about you in the past few weeks.”
I nodded, feeling my eyes moisten.
“I’ve missed you, Sean.” I hesitated.
“You’re really here for me? Even though we broke up?” I asked.
“Yes, a long time ago, you’d said you skipped your high school graduation because there was no one to cheer for you. Well, this,” he said, “is us showing you that you’ve still got us even if we aren’t together and—” Sean broke off, trying to collect himself.
I nodded, feeling my throat dry up.
We kept our gaze on each other, and I was painfully aware of how much I’d missed every bit of him.
“Sean,” I whispered as people laughed and talked around us, “I’m finally letting Henry go.”
He nodded slowly.
“He told me.”
“I was going to tell you about that too. I wanted to do this one thing first to prove to you and me that I can stand up for myself,” I said and hugged him.
“I feel horrible that Henry is going away. But it’s a small, horrible feeling. Not as big as the horrible feeling I had when I thought I’d lost you.”
He smiled that wonderful smile that lit up his face.
“Sean,” I said, “seven months ago, when Bruce gave up on me, I decided on a few things. One, I would never find a man who could truly care for me. Well, you proved that wrong when you fixed my bed after you saw my bruises. Two, I decided there was no way I could find a man who wouldn’t run when he realized Henry was a part of my life for good. And you didn’t run. You wanted him to move into the same building with us. And the last thing I decided was that there was no way I could find a man who could value me higher than his work.”
My voice shook.
“When you left DC and your meeting with Mark Waldorf to see me, well, I should’ve known then that you were special.
“I love you, Sean.
I’m not perfect. I am nervous and petrified, but I’m here.
I’m here to tell you I’m sorry for bailing on our relationship a month ago.
That it was foolish of me to run away from you when you were so clearly committed.
You’re everything I want in a partner, Sean, and I was stupid to not see it earlier.
To be scared and push you away.
I’m terrible at relationships.
I worry too much and have spent too long having no strong sense of self.
But I love you. So very much.
And I want to be with you, if you still want me.
I want to keep fighting to be together again.
If you’ll forgive me and if you’ll have me back, I want you.
All of you.”
Sean had an impossibly hopeless look on his face.
“I’ve wanted you since I saw you at the café for the very first time, Chloe,” he said with an unusual tenderness in his voice.
“I’ve thought of you since that day, and weeks later, when I saw you at work, I was determined I wouldn’t be around you. Because I knew I couldn’t stay away, couldn’t resist falling for you if you were around me at work. And that’s exactly what happened. I fell for you—hard. A man can’t fall out of love easily when that happens. It’s been a month since we saw each other, but it might as well have been years. Staying away from you has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
He came in closer and put his arms around my waist, drawing me to him.
I stared up at him, my hands slipping up to his shoulders, meeting at the back of his neck.
His eyes never wavered from mine.
“Chloe,” he declared, “I couldn’t be apart from you if I tried. So, my answer is yes, Chloe.” His eyes were soft and loving as he smiled back at me.
“I really, really want to get back together with you.”
In response, I leaned up and kissed him.
We kissed until I heard a voice say, “See, I knew they’d make up soon!” and we broke apart to see Lucas, Erin, and Henry with bright and cheery smiles as they clapped for us.
Sean extended his arm, and Lucas ran and gave us a giant hug, his arms enveloping his dad and me.