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Chapter Twenty-Five
I barged into the penthouse condo Silas shared with Max without knocking. His concierge had told him I was coming but I couldn’t wait for more niceties. Silas had been out of town for weeks, testifying before Congress on the severity of the opioid epidemic, and his luggage was still by the door. Max must’ve been at work, because Silas was alone; I found him sitting at his baby grand piano, playing some insanely complicated piece of classical music.
He saw me out of his periphery and stopped, turned on the bench to face me.
“Faith, hey…”
“What is this?” I thrust him the velvet box I’d been clutching in my hand for almost twenty-four solid hours.
Silas stared. “You haven’t opened it?”
“Not so much as a peek. Because if it is what I think it is, this is not how I want to see it for the first time.” I swallowed hard. “Is it what I think it is?”
He nodded, his voice low. “Yeah, it is.”
“Oh God…” I moved to the couch and sank down, my knees giving out.
Asher was going to propose to me. He wants to marry me.
“Wantedto marry me,” I muttered, tears stinging my eyes. “Past tense. Now it’s all ruined.”
“Nothing’s ruined, Faith.” Silas sat down beside me, the ring box in his hand. “Hey. Did you hear me? Nothing’s ruined. It’s just…terrible timing. The worst ever.”
“He doesn’t want to see me, Si,” I cried. “He doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
“I beg to differ.” Silas held up the box. “Exhibit A.”
“That was before. Now it’s too late.”
Silas pulled me to him and wrapped his arm around my shaking shoulders. “It’s not.”
“How can you keep saying that? You don’t know…” I lifted my head and studied his face through my tears. “Wait. You didn’t seem all that surprised to see that box. How do you know what’s in it?”
“Because I’ve seen it before.”
I jerked away. “Youwhat?”
Silas blew out a sigh, cheeks puffing, and ran a hand through his golden hair. “Asher came to me a few days before your awards ceremony.”
“When you two arranged to swap places.”
He nodded. “He was going to ask you to marry him, and he wanted my blessing.”
“Your blessing? Why?”
“I don’t know. Since your dad is MIA, I guess Asher figured I was the next best thing.” Silas’s expression turned grave. “He was going to move to Seattle. For you.”
I stared, the implications sinking deeper, rooting me to the couch. “He…he was?”
“I hate telling you like this. It was all going to be so fucking perfect until he got that call.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He asked me not to. He was grieving and I felt I should honor his wishes and not interfere. And then I got called to DC and was wrapped up in the Congressional hearings…”
“A likely story,” I sniffed.
Silas smiled but it faded fast. “But I didn’t like keeping it from you. I just didn’t know what my place was in all this. But in D.C. my silence kept eating at me.My placeis being your friend. I guess a part of me thought once the worst pain let go of him, he’d come around. I didn’t want to spoil that. But he hasn’t—yet—and I’m sorry for keeping it from you.”
