Chapter 41
Olivia
As the doorbell rings, my mother, father and I all exchange a confused look. Who in the world would be outside our door this close to midnight on New Year’s Eve? It’s past eleven.
Then, when my father answers the door, I hear his voice.
My heart lurches, and I spring to my feet. Ever the protective father, my dad is already trying to turn him away. The gesture fills me with gratitude, but the desperation in Reed’s tone is infectious.
I know I have to see him. If I don’t see him tonight, I’ll regret it for months or years to come.
So I run past the couch, nearly tripping on the blanket around my shoulders as it trails on the floor.
“Dad, wait,” I say.
My father turns to me, misgivings in his eyes. “If you want me to chase him away, just say the word, and he’s gone.”
I shake my head. “No, it’s okay. We can talk.” I pause, then add, “Can you give us a minute?” I want this conversation to be private. I have no idea what to expect, and I definitely don’t want my parents to be listening.
My father steps aside with a last glare at Reed, and I take his place.
Reed is simultaneously the last person I want to see, and a sight for sore eyes. He’s dressed in a suit, but the tie is loosened, like he gave up on looking proper. His eyes light up when he sees me, which makes my heart ache.
It’s chilly out on the front porch, but not freezing; I’m fine with just the blanket around my shoulders. I look up at him, and he gazes back at me, emotions burning in his eyes.
After several seconds of silence, I ask, “What do you want?”
He opens his mouth to speak, then closes it again, like he’s been made speechless by my presence.
“What are you doing here, Reed?”
“You didn’t take the money,” he says.
I frown, my brow furrowing. “What are you talking about? Of course I didn’t.”
“I—” He shakes his head. “I thought that you took the money. I thought that you took that check and left.”
My eyes widen. “No! Why would you think that?”
“Well… you left.”
The conversation I overheard in the Eastwood Hotel building comes rushing back to me, and I swallow hard. “Of course I left.”
“What do you mean, ‘of course?’”
“I heard you,” I confess. “Talking to your father, in your office that morning. He… he came by the penthouse, offering me ten million dollars to walk out of your life.”
“I know,” he says. “He told me. But… I thought you took it.”
“No!” I shake my head, staring at him. “Of course I didn’t take it! I tried to come straight to your office to talk to you, but you were already talking to him. And I heard you say…” I pause, taking a breath, then blurt out, “I heard you agree with him that I wasn’t wife material.”
He lets out a quick breath that might be a startled laugh. “Oh, Olivia… no, this is all a misunderstanding.”
“How? How could it possibly be?”
“I was telling my father that I love you,” he says earnestly. “That I don’t care about anything else. That I don’t care about status, or wealth, or what other people would think of our relationship.”
He reaches out a tentative hand to lay it on my upper arm, and I let him. His touch is as electric as ever, and it makes me feel warm and wide awake, despite the cold and the hour.
“I tried to call you. I wanted to talk to you as soon as he got out of my office. But you didn’t answer, so I went straight home… and you were gone.”
His hand drops.
“My father had told me about the money he offered you. I assumed you’d taken it. I couldn’t believe it.”
“No,” I say quickly, breathless. “No. I would never.”
“I found the check in your room tonight.” He reaches into his pocket, pulling out the two slips of blue-gray paper. “I knew you hadn’t. And I came straight here.”
My hand rises to cover my mouth, to hide my sudden smile. Reed never said what I thought he said to his father. It was all Lionel, trying to push us apart.
He reaches for me again, pulling me into his arms, and gazes down at me. “I want to be with you,” he says softly. “There’s no one else I want to spend my life with. I mean it.”
He leans down, and I rise to meet him. We share a kiss, gentle, tender, and quiet.
When we break apart, there are tears running down my cheeks, and I can’t put my finger on why until he speaks again.
“I want you to come back,” he says. “Please. I want you to move in with me again.”
My heart feels like it’s cracking.
“I can’t.”
Reed
I stare at her in silence for several seconds, crushed. What?
But I don’t say that. I wait for her to explain.
“From the very beginning, we’ve been from different worlds.
” Her eyes glisten with unshed tears as she gazes up at me, her face illuminated by the soft glow of the porch light.
“It won’t work between us. You have different expectations from your family, and I’ll never be able to win their approval.
The fact that your father was willing to pay so much to get rid of me makes that pretty clear, don’t you think? ”
I open my mouth to protest, but she cuts me off.
“You would lose everything if you decided to be with me, and I don’t think our relationship would survive that. It just wasn’t meant to be. We tried, but there are too many reasons why this won’t work.”
“Olivia—”
“You were right,” she says, wiping at her eyes. “On paper, we’re not a good fit. I’m not… I’m not good wife material for you. Other people are always going to see it that way.”
I try to respond, but I can’t find the words. She stretches up to kiss me again. Her lips taste like salt.
“I love you,” she whispers. “I just wish that was enough.”
She slips her hand into her pocket, fumbling with something small that she nestles into my palm—the ring, with its perfect, beautiful stone. The last thing she has from me.
Without another word, she goes back inside. I hear the lock click behind her.
I stand on the porch, staring at the door, for several minutes, an empty chasm opening in my chest. I don’t even feel the cold as it bites at my skin.
I lost her.