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“Yeah.” She paused and shook her head. “Actually, not really.”
His heart thundered in his chest. First Marissa, now Sarah. “What’s going on?”
“The pitch meeting with SmartTech Kids was moved up…to this Friday,” she said, looking disappointed.
“Okay…”
“The same day as parents’ day at camp,” she said.
His chest tightened. “Oh.”
“I’m so sorry, Wes,” she said quickly. “I’m still going to try to make it. My meeting is at nine thirty, so as long as it doesn’t go longer than an hour, I can get back here in time.”
“Hey, if not, it’s okay,” he said reassuringly. They’d just started getting serious; it would be unfair to expect Sarah to choose a camp day over a big pitch meeting she’d been working hard on for months. Her promotion was riding on it.
“No, it’s not. Marissa will be disappointed if I’m not there,” she said. “I promised her.”
Wes kissed her forehead. She looked truly pained by the conflicting schedule, and her concern made him fall that much harder for her. “She will understand,” he said.
Sarah still looked worried. “I really want to be there.”
He nodded. “I know.” He really wanted her to be there, too. “But if you can’t, that’s okay.”
Sarah sighed as she snuggled into his chest. “I’m going to try my best.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The L.A. boardroom was already set up for the meeting that Friday morning when Sarah arrived at the office. SmartTech products sat in the center of the table, and the large flatscreen at the front of the room had Sarah’s presentation slides ready to go. Coffee and a dessert tray were laid out, and Sarah paced the room, flipping through her presentation notes.
She checked her watch. It was just after nine.
Camp parents’ day was scheduled to start at noon. Her meeting started in ten minutes… How fast could she talk? Could she get through this pitch in an hour, then hit the road? It normally took two hours to get to Blue Moon Bay…if there was no traffic. If she drove really fast, she might be able to make it and only be a few minutes late.
She took a deep breath.
She’d never had to juggle her commitments before. She’d only ever had to think about herself. Her own future goals. What she wanted, and it hadn’t affected anyone else if she worked long hours, weekends, pulled all-nighters, and poured all her attention and energy into work.
Now there were others to think about.
The relationship with Wes was new, but she already knew she was in love with him. In love withthem. Her life was already different after the last few weeks, the last few days especially. She felt different.
This was the first real challenge of how they could make a long-distance relationship work. It was a test of sorts for her.
Wes had reassured her again that morning when she’d been reluctant to leave that this was fine. He understood. Marissa would understand if she couldn’t make it. But Sarah was suddenly struggling with what she could only assume other parents faced every day—the internal battle of choosing family over career. Of balancing two desires, lifestyles, to try to make things work.
So far in her career, the only way she’d succeeded was by giving it 100 percent. Could she give it 50 and still achieve her goals? It wouldn’t be fair to Wes and Marissa if she tried to maintain her workaholic pace, putting them last on her priority list. They certainly weren’t there in her heart.
She sighed, then tried to appear completely focused as her boss entered the room.
Donning her usual black power dress—square neck, cinched at the waist, just below the knee—and four-inch red heels, her short white hair slicked back and airbrushed makeup on her thin face, Gail was success personified. For so many years, Sarah had looked up to her mentor. She’d wanted to be just like Gail.
Suddenly, her own suit and heels felt confining. She longed to change into the sundress and sandals in her car.
“You ready?” her boss asked as she checked the monitor cables on the table.
“Absolutely,” Sarah said. This was what she wanted. This was the setting she was comfortable in. This was what she was good at. She needed to push everything else aside and show Gail that she deserved the promotion. Maybe if she was working on her own projects and not having to jump whenever Gail called, she’d have more time for the other things she now knew she wanted in her life.
“Great. Let’s run through it,” Gail said, sitting at the head of the boardroom table. She crossed one leg over the other and folded French-manicured hands on her lap.
