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Although I considered joining him, I went to the window to look out over Chicago. “What do you think she’s likely to say?”
“Hard to tell. She really wasn’t interested in another US job only a week ago, but if she hated you entirely, then she wouldn’t have been so kind to you in that article. I’m impressed with the grace she’s handling this with.”
I frowned, knowing there was some unspoken judgment in that statement. All of my friends thought I had been heartless to break up with her so quickly and not give her the benefit of the doubt until I’d had a chance to at least check on Peter and see if he’d achieved anything.
They’d all made it clear I was an idiot, however. I might still be mad at myself, but they appeared to have forgiven me. That didn’t entirely extend to their opinion of whether she should be so understanding. Still, I appreciated their help.
“I think breaking yourself with anxiety isn’t going to help, no matter what she decides.” Henry sighed like it was exhausting him just to watch me.
“Would you be calm in this situation?”
Henry tilted his head to one side, thinking about my snappy question, despite the anger it was delivered with. “No. I guess I wouldn’t be. Matters of the heart are rarely logical.”
Although I felt understood and as if I now had permission to pace, I stopped and joined him at my desk. As soon as I opened the bagel bag, I found he’d also bought me my favorite brownie.
“You’re far too good a PA. Remind me that you need a raise.”
“Can you afford to pay me more when you’re risking so much money on this?”
“Don’t tell the investors, but I’m not really risking much of mine and a lot of theirs. Kit doesn’t get paid if they don’t either.”
“And you only get paid if she decides to take pity on you?”
I shrugged, not sure I wanted to think about that part right now. But he had a point. If I did win Kit back, this might impact me very little. Unlike the hope I would get Kit back, I didn’t feel like I needed the money. I would be okay. And maybe if I let go of the financial situation more this time, she’d understand I didn’t want to be used but I didn’t care about money otherwise.
“Want me to message Sarai or Stacy and see what’s taking so long?” Henry asked only a few minutes after he’d eaten.
“Now you sound like you’re the nervous one,” I replied, still slowly eating my bagel. My appetite wasn’t entirely here.
“I won’t deny that I’d like some closure as well. If nothing else than to know what my next few weeks are actually going to look like.
I let out a wry chuckle. He knew he would end up being there for me if I fell apart. Or we would be busy on a new project while I tried to figure out if it gave me a chance to properly apologize to Kit and show her how I felt.
Although I watched him tap out his message and knew he was writing on my behalf, I found myself wanting to be the one to write it. I fought the urge. It would sound less desperate from him.
Within a few seconds he had a response and I stopped chewing mid-bite, unable to continue. It felt like my heart wasnever going to beat again, and I couldn’t even inhale while I waited for him to read it.
“All right,” Henry said, looking up at me. “She said yes, but she has some conditions.”
CHAPTER NINETY-SIX
Kit
It had been a strange two weeks as I went back to England, saw my family for a short while, gave Sarai and Daniel time to get the new project more under control, Richard up and running in charge of the vacation park, and did anything else that needed doing.
The conditions I’d made had also played a part. I’d insisted I not take such a huge cut from Lukas, especially after getting an idea of what it could entail financially. My friends had thought I was being too kind at that point. But I didn’t want to feel like I owed him as much.
On top of that, I recognized this needed to work. If he was getting paid at least something, then he was more likely to do a good job no matter what happened between us. I didn’t doubt some of what I was offered was intended to make me happy to take him back, and I just didn’t want to be put in that position.
I wanted to have the freedom to bring on a PA for myself as well. Someone paid to assist me in replicating everything and who knew the area we would be working in.
This whole project would have to get going sooner, and apparently reuse a few designs we already had for buildingexteriors and restaurants. It was going to be easier on Lukas in that regard. And I would be able to reuse some elements as well.
Of course, I couldn’t buy hundreds more of the same furniture without knowing where it could be sourced.
That had dictated the rest of my time in the UK. I had been looking at some very British items of furniture, including a supplier for kettles and other elements of the British life that people in the US might not have. It would serve two purposes. Give someone from the UK somewhere to go that felt like home, but also to give anyone from other cultures a more genuine British experience.
With this list and some estimates of other elements, I was due to talk to the investors in about ten minutes.
