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“He might not.”
“He will.” She snapped off her gloves and leaned her hip against the counter. “He’s already made his mind up. That’s why he told you. He wants you to know that he’s going to sign it so you can make up your mind about dating him.”
I paused. “Noooo.”
“Yes,” she replied slowly. “And the sooner you realize that you’ve been harboring feelings for him for a while, the happier you’ll be. You’ve been crushing on him for ages, but you can’t use Leo as an excuse anymore.”
“When did I use Leo as an excuse?”
“All the time!” She laughed. “I get it, you’re afraid of being hurt, but that’s a risk you run in every relationship. You can’t hide behind him anymore, London.”
Wow. This was going deeper than I thought it would.
“I know you want to protect him, but you have to think about you, too.” Piper came over and touched my upper arms. “If you’re happy, he’s going to be happy. And I’ve seen you with Ollie. You smile a bit brighter than normal, okay? Don’t push him away. He’s not going to do to you what Christopher did.”
“But Leo—”
“He’s not going to do that to Leo either,” she said firmly, releasing me. “So cut that out right now. Leo would love it if you and Ollie were together, and you know it. I’m tired of you using your son as your emotional shield, so cut the crap and admit that you have feelings for Ollie but you’re afraid of them.”
I shifted uncomfortably. “Fine. I’m afraid of the way I feel about him. I’m scared he’ll get too homesick and go back to England.”
“He won’t. It’s a ten-year contract.”
“What?”
“What?” Piper jumped. “Ignore that.”
“No, what did you say?”
“Oh, shit. Dylan told me not to tell you that.” She rubbed her arms. “Dylan helped Seb write it up. He was in here this morning and told me there’s a duration clause. Ten years or if the center closes—whichever one comes first.”
“He didn’t tell me that.”
“Did he read the whole thing yet?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“There you go, then. He probably doesn’t know yet. You’ll have to ask him tonight.”
“Okay, fine. I need to go to the office and get some stuff sorted. I think my boss wants to see my draft of the paper.” I hugged her. “Thank you for listening to my rant. I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. Now go away and throw your dandruff hair net out.”
“Can I have one of these?” I pointed to the iced donuts on the rack.
Piper glared at me. “I’ll pretend I don’t see you taking one.”
“Goodie!” I grabbed a strawberry one and shoved it in my mouth, heading out the back door.
I still had the damn hair net on.
I pulled it off and shoved it in my pocket and headed for the car, eating my stolen treat.
Piper was right. I had used Leo as an emotional shield as far as Ollie was concerned. I was too afraid finding something I thought would be my happily ever after and losing it again, so I blamed it all on my need to protect my son.
And it was wrong.
It didn’t change the fact that I still couldn’t do it unless Ollie told me he was staying. I wasn’t about uncertainty in my life, certainly not in the matters of the heart. I needed to know he was making White Peak his home.
He was certainly making himself at home in my kitchen lately.
Not that I minded if he did the dishes.
It was nice not to have to do them myself.
I got in my car and headed for the newspaper office. I hoped Ebony wasn’t there. I wasn’t in the mood for her crap this morning. I wasn’t ever in the mood for her crap, but today especially.
I was too busy trying to figure out my life.
I pulled up in my space in the parking lot, sighing with relief when I couldn’t see Ebony’s car. I didn’t need to do much more to the first few pages for a basic layout, then I could send it all to Tori and she would pull the whole paper together for me.
I could hardly believe that my project was almost at its end. It really didn’t seem like I’d been working on it for two weeks—it felt both shorter and longer at the same time. The things that had happened personally in that time had been somewhat of a rollercoaster.
It was amazing how quickly your feelings for someone could grow when you spent enough time together.
I went into the office, dipping my head as I walked to my own space. I no longer had need of an assistant, so Mandy had moved back into the intern’s room, which meant the space outside my office was now filled with plants.
