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“What do you mean, run away from home?”
“Just that, and you helped me to see and have given me the perfect opportunity to do it.”
Slowly, I stood up and looked at Mac. A cold dread had gone down my spine as I realized what he was saying and what he was getting at. I wasn’t sure how he had found out about Berlin, but I didn’t like where the conversation was going.
“What are you talking about?”
“Cole came to see me earlier today and told me all about your fellowship. I was a little annoyed at first that I heard about it from him and not you. After talking to him, I got why you did it. I don’t blame you and I want you to know that I support you going. I want you to go and I’m going to go with you.
“Hear me out before you freak out or say I shouldn’t. I thought it over, I’ve worked long and hard in my life and I deserve to have a little break. A little time for myself. I’ve always wanted to see the world and I just never did. Either because I was too young, too busy with work, or didn’t have someone to share it with. I don’t have any of those problems now.
“I talked to Walker and he’s fine with me taking a temporary leave of absence. I will still be a part of the company and help out as need be, but I’m going to take a step back. By doing that, I freed myself up to go with you to Berlin. We can get a place together. I was thinking of getting a nice little house or apartment in the city. One that was close to the school but also to all the sites.
“While you’re working, I can go and see things, do things I don’t know, write my own book or something. I’ll figure it out. All I know is that I want to go with you to Berlin. I can’t imagine not going with you or you going without me, or you not going because of me and what we have. What we have is incredible and while I never want to hinder your ability to live your dreams, I know that my dream is to be with you. So, I will go with you, and we can both have our dreams,” he said.
Mac smiled at me as he finished his speech. I stood in front of him dumbfounded. I couldn’t comprehend what he had said or all the decisions that he had made for us. I wanted to kill Cole for telling Mac about my fellowship and Mac for thinking that he could just decide something for me, for us, and for thinking that I would be okay with it.
Anger had me speaking before thinking, but I knew it was the right thing to say. Mac might have everything figured out for him, but that didn’t mean it was what I wanted, and I certainly didn’t like him thinking it was.
“I’m so glad you have everything figured out. I’m happy for you. I haven’t decided if I’m going to Berlin. If I do, it certainly wouldn’t be with you tagging along.”
Chapter 27
Mac
“You aren’t one to drink alone and certainly not in the middle of the day,” JD said as he walked into his office to see me sitting at his desk with a drink in my hand.
“Shut up. It isn’t the middle of the day,” I muttered and looked at my drink.
It was early, barely five o’clock, and with my normal work hours it felt like it was the middle of the day. I had been sitting at my desk all day, doing as much work as I could, but when I realized I had been looking at the same email for forty-five minutes and I snapped at my assistant for the third time that day, I knew I had to get out of the office and go get a drink or something.
It had been two days since I had talked to Hope, or that Hope had kicked me out of her place and I think her life. I wasn’t sure. The whole conversation was still a bit fuzzy, and I was trying to figure out exactly where I went wrong.
“Maybe not, but it isn’t the middle of the day for some, but it is for you. I thought you would be planning your next romantic evening with your lady love, not sitting here crying into a drink,” JD said.
“I no longer have a lady love, as you like to call her. Or any love. Hope left me, told me to leave her alone, she kicked me out of her life, all of that. None of that, I don’t know.”
JD didn’t say anything but took out another glass and poured himself a drink and then sat down in front of the desk. I didn’t look at him as he refilled my drink but quickly downed what he had put in.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Don’t you have a restaurant to run?” I asked as I put the glass down.
“I do and I have plenty of staff to take care of that. Part of the perks for being the boss. If you didn’t want to talk, you wouldn’t have come to my restaurant. Walker’s on his way. Do you want to tell me what’s going on, or stew and wait until he gets here?”
“You called Walker?” I asked and stared at him.
“Damn right I did. If you’ve come to drink your sorrows, I will gladly let you, but you aren’t doing it alone,” JD said as he refilled my glass.
“And if I want to be left alone?” I asked.
“Then you would have gone home, or to a bar, or gone anywhere else but here. You might know me, but I know you too, brother. You may think you don’t want to talk but I can tell you do. So back to my original question. Do you want to tell me what’s going on or wait until Walker shows up?”
“Cole Ashton came into my office the other day,” I started.
I proceeded to tell JD what had happened with Cole, the decision I made, and how I told Walker I would take a leave of absence. I was finishing up when Walker showed up. He immediately sat down next to JD and took the glass he gave him.
“Didn’t go well, did it?” Walker asked as he lifted his glass to me.
