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“Congratulations!” His eyes widened with supportive excitement for her, even though she knew the reality show wasn’t his thing. “That’s amazing. Why don’t you seem more excited?” He reached for a bottle of vodka and poured a double shot over ice, sliding it toward her. Then he leaned across the bar to kiss her.

Neither the drink nor the kiss made her feel better.

“I missed delivering the pitch. Scott did it,” she said, draining the contents of the glass.

“What? Why?”

She explained the visit at Rejuvenation, feeling worse the more she talked about it.

“Shit, Whitney. You should have called. I could have met you out there.” He reached over and took her hands in his. “You don’t have to make these decisions alone. I’m here.”

“You have the bar to run. You can’t just close up shop anytime.”

“I can and I will,” he said, studying her. “You get that, right? That I’d do anything for you. Anytime.”

She did, but right now she didn’t want support or reassurance, she just wanted to wallow. “I should probably head home before I drink an entire bottle of that stuff,” she said, nodding toward her empty glass. She should be heading back into the office, congratulating Scott on delivering a great pitch, celebrate the success with her coworker, then launch into the never-ending to-do list she still had on her plate, but she lacked all motivation and energy and she didn’t want to kill Scott’s high regarding the win.

“Go home…take a bath, get some rest,” Trent said gently, touching her hand on the bar. “And try to see the contract as a good thing. Mayor Rodale knows it was you who made this happen.”

She nodded. She wasn’t so sure about that. “I’ll see you at home.”

“I’m proud of you,” he said, walking her to the door.

She wished the words made her feel better.


Enough was enough.

Trent couldn’t stand to see Whitney this way. For weeks, things had been tense. He’d thought they were turning a corner around Halloween when she’d eased up a little and had seemed more like her old self, but then things had quickly returned to the fast pace business at the office as the pitch had drawn closer.

And today she’d hit an all-time low. Stress of the job, stress about her mom and the additional funding Rejuvenation was requiring for a private nurse to help with her mom, had reached its breaking point. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her so down. Busy, preoccupied, yes, but never so depressed.

She was struggling, and Trent couldn’t just sit by and watch the woman he loved deal with all of this on her own. That wasn’t a partnership. All this time he’d been pushing and insisting on Whitney accepting help from him, and he’d allowed her to refuse. Allowed her to take on the heavy financial burden on her own because he hadn’t wanted her to feel bad or as if she was indebted to him in any way.

Not anymore.

As her fiancé and someone she planned to spend her life with, he was allowed to make an executive decision in helping her. And he’d do it in a way where she couldn’t prevent his help.

Picking up his cell phone, he dialed Meredith’s number at the Blau real estate office, hoping it wasn’t too late. He paced behind the bar as the call connected.

“Hey, my favorite client!” she answered on the second ring.

She probably wouldn’t feel that way in a minute.

“Hey, Meredith. Unfortunately, I have some bad news.” He paused, but there was no hesitation in this decision. He knew what he had to do. “I’m not going to be able to go through with the purchase on the new location.”

She was silent for a moment, then, “Why the change of heart, darlin’? Was it the price? Because I’m sure with some haggling, I can get the sellers to come down another few thousand.”

“No, that’s not it. Well, I guess technically it is the money. Something else came up that I need to redirect those funds toward.”

“Ah, okay…”

“Sorry about this. I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear.” He truly was apologetic. He wasn’t someone to back out of a commitment or a contract, but sometimes unexpected things happened, and Trent knew he had to back out of this opportunity. It just wasn’t the right timing. His motivation to expand had always been about having the ability to help Whitney more and provide the security he thought she needed in order to slow down her own pace, but he got it now. Whitney never would. This was who she was, and he loved her drive and ambition.

He just wanted to take away some external pressure.

“It happens,” Meredith said with a sigh. “No worries.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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