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When I went through Cranbury, I prayed it wasn’t too late, and by the time I merged onto the 195, I realized that if she would let me, I would spend the rest of my life making up for the mistakes I had made. All she had to do was give me a chance. I would prove that I could be a man worthy of her love.
I wanted to be a better man for her.
When I finally arrived, I alerted my security team and ran into the park.
“Where is she?” I asked when a man in dark glasses and a black suit approached me at the entrance. Inconspicuous he was not. Fuck it, it didn’t matter.
“I left her sitting by the lake. Looking at a sculpture of some people in the park. She has been there for the last hour, not speaking to anyone or doing anything, just sitting.”
He handed me the map, and when he pointed out the area she was in, I immediately knew which sculpture she had been sitting with. The way she had talked about that Manet painting at the Met, the different things seeing that naked woman in the park made her feel, there was no other choice. She had to be there.
She loved that painting, and if she was leaving me, leaving the life she was born into, it made sense that was the painting she would want to think on.
I sprinted all the way across the park in the blistering heat and suffocating humidity, dodging hanging purple flowers, insects, and aimlessly wandering tourists. This place was hellish, but if she liked it, then it was my new favorite place. I would bring her here every fucking weekend.
When I found the sculpture, she was gone. The only sign she had ever been there was a small dent in the grass where she must have sat.
“Amelia!” I called out.
A few random people milling about looked at me, but none were her.
I removed the map from my pocket and searched for other sculptures she might head toward. The muses on the lake seemed like something an artist would want to see, so I went in that direction.
With every step, I scanned the groups of sweaty tourists in their cheap shirts and denim shorts until I spotted my goddess standing in the middle of the field. She looked amazing in her red dress, as she just stopped and stared at a sculpture. She was so absorbed in her thoughts, she hadn’t even noticed the group of men gawking at her.
One of them took a few steps toward her, like he was going to start up a conversation. I signaled for the security team, who stepped in and handled it before she even had any idea that they were there.
Her lack of awareness of her surroundings was somewhat concerning, but that was a problem for later. What was important now was that I had found her.
She was staring up at a massive bronze statue of two people sitting next to each other, embracing.
My heart stopped as I observed her, taking in the way she studied the art with pain in her eyes—pain I’d put there, pain I would spend the rest of my life trying to erase.
I called out to her, and she looked up at me, the expressionless mask sliding over her features. I hated that mask. The few times I had seen her without it had been the most real. With it, I couldn’t tell what she was thinking or how she was feeling.
“Amelia, come home.”
I reached for her hand, and she took a step back.
“Amelia, let’s go home. We will take the weekend to talk everything over and make a plan for the wedding. Just come home.”
“No. I can’t.”
“You can. Every night can be like last night. We can get married, and everything will settle down. Just come home with me.”
That wasn’t living. “Leave me alone.”
“Amelia, you have to listen to me,” I pleaded as I grabbed her hands in both of mine. I had never begged anyone for anything, but for her, I would fall to my knees.
“I really don’t, Luc. I heard everything.” She tried to pull her hands from mine. I tightened my grip. I wasn’t ready to let her go.
“Tell me what you think you heard?”
“I heard why you want to marry me. Look, I’m not stupid. I knew from the beginning this was about business, but then you pretended to care for me, and I fell for it. And you know what? That’s fine. I’m not mad at you. I’m not even mad at myself anymore. You just made me realize a few things.”
“What’s that?” I pulled her into my body. I needed to feel her. I needed to know she was back in my arms, safe where she belonged.
“It made me realize I’m not okay with a loveless marriage. I don’t want my life to be part of some merger. I’m not the cherry on top of a bottom line, or a signing bonus.”
