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He swiped his brow, nervous for the first time in a very long time. Facing a live tiger while nude in the jungle would be less frightening.
“Great. I’ll just...get started unless anything has changed in the week I’ve been gone?” She hesitated, giving him an opening, but the timing was off, so he addressed her question.
“Peg probably left you a pile of emails to sort through. And I answered some of them personally.”
“You didn’t.” Addi’s lips pulled down at the sides. “I’ll have to do damage control.”
She was joking. She was here. She was back. It was everything he thought he wanted. Only now that he’d quieted down to give his heart room to talk, he realized he didn’t want her like this. He wanted everything she’d give him. He wanted the original vision of him in his head. He wanted to be the one to propose. To give a speech. To profess his love for her.
The phone on her desk rang and she answered it, lowering into her chair as she did. She hung up a moment later, having already slid back into her efficient pre-sleeping-with-him self.
“Did you want to review your schedule for the week?”
“Actually, there’s something I have to do. Can we postpone?” What was a few more minutes when soon, if she agreed, they’d have the rest of their lives?
“No problem.”
She began reorganizing her desk and he headed back to his office and shut the door. On his desk sat his watch. He’d had every intention of having the words she’d engraved onto it filed off, and then selling it to the jeweler. Thank God he hadn’t.
Now a different impulse came. One that was risky and bold—every bit as brave as what Addison had done.
Or stupid.
He’d nearly proposed once before and narrowly avoided the mistake of his life. But now... He watched out of his window as Addi picked up the phone and held it to her ear. She sent him a professional smile and quickly averted her eyes.
Now he was going to propose to the right woman.
He could only pray that what he had in mind would be enough to win her back. If not...
Well, if not, he’d keep trying. The future mattered as much as the moment. The mistakes made had been his and had brought them here, to a future he didn’t want.
When she hung up, he pressed the intercom button on his phone.
“Yes?” she answered.
“Let’s catch up on what you missed over dinner. I was thinking Pestle & Pepper if that’s okay with you?”
“Uh—okay.”
“I’ll have to meet you there. I have a lot to do today—none of which is on your calendar.” What he had to do didn’t exist until he’d seen her at the office. Before then, his goal this week had been to try her again on the phone. To text her. To deliver flowers personally and then serenade her from her front stoop if he had to.
Now that he was looking at his watch, he had a better idea. A bigger idea. And it’d better work. For both their sakes.
For the future.
For their forever.
She deserved no less.
