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Hope rose in my chest, and I did my best to beat it back. “Have you changed your mind?” I asked quietly.
He straightened and scrubbed a hand down his face. “I think I’m coming around to the idea.”
Well, that was something, but…it wasn’t enough. If we were going to do this, I needed him to believe in me. Full stop. No caveats, no ifs, ands, or buts. If he wasn’t there yet, what the fuck were we doing? And maybe that wasn’t fair of me, but the agreement was we could end this at any time, and right now was that time.
“This was a mistake,” I said, turning away from him and walking to the door.
“What? No.” He brushed a hand through his hair, the movement so similar to Owen’s own stressed, nervous tic that I nearly laughed. They were really close, weren’t they? And I had no idea, because I didn’t know Cal. Not who he was at his core. That wasn’t what this was, and I needed to get out before I gave him much more of myself—before I let go of pieces of me I couldn’t get back.
I smiled at him softly, sadly, over my shoulder before pulling the door open. “It was…amazing while it lasted,” I said, practically choking on the word.Amazingdidn’t even begin to cover how it felt to welcome him into my body. “But it’s already too complicated. We were supposed to be having fun, remember? It’s not fun anymore. So I’m ending it. No questions asked, right?”
Cal opened his mouth as if to argue, but wisely bit his tongue and gave me a rigid nod. Before I could linger too long and talk myself out of walking away, I shut the door behind me with a soft click.
Then, without a word to my sisters, Logan, or Owen, I walked home alone, with only the stars to witness my tears.
“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” my dad asked.
“I said…the Tigers just called. One of their game hosts tried Delatou & Danvers over Memorial Day weekend and was just raving about it to everyone I guess. One of the higher-ups in their food and beverage department heard about it and requested samples. He just called to offer us an exclusive contract as the official canned cocktail of the team!”
I still couldn’t quite believe it. Even saying the words out loud, and the contract sitting in my email inbox, didn’t feel real. We’d been on the market for a whole twenty days, and we were already signing exclusive deals with one of the oldest franchises in professional baseball.
I leaned back in my chair and pinched myself.
Yep, definitely awake.
“Mar…” my dad trailed off. “I don’t know what to say.”
“How about…congratulations?”
“Of course! Congratulations, sweets. I’m so damn proud of you, and Liam. I knew you could do it.”
“Thanks, Daddy,” I said, smiling wide. There was truly nothing better in the world to me than hearing my father tell me he was proud of me.
And damn, it felt nice to accomplish something big—my first major deal as CEO.
Before I even had a moment to consider what Cal would think of this, the man himself knocked on my open office door.
I held up my finger and said to my dad, “Sorry, Daddy. I’ve got a meeting to head into, but I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Of course, kiddo. I love you, and your mother and I are so damn proud.”
“I love you too.”
When I hung up, Cal said, “Got a sec?”
Word traveled way too fast around here, and I was going to need to have a frank conversation with Cindy about keeping her mouth shut sooner rather than later.
“I guess,” I said with a sigh, nearly protesting when he shut the door behind him.
But I couldn’t let him see how he affected me. It wasn’t his fault the bolt clicking closed was like a gunshot, triggering the memories of our time together here.
Then again, maybe thatwashis fault.
It had been two weeks since I’d cut ties at Owen’s cabin, and being in this office day in and day out was a trust test to my resolve. Every time I sat in this chair—which was all day long—I vividly remembered riding him atop it.
How he walked me outside and kissed my forehead after.
I gave in to an involuntary shiver, and the corner of his mouth twitched knowingly.
