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I hunch up my shoulders and brace myself, but then Evan’s face bursts into a big, beaming smile. “He’s good.” Oh thank God! I can finally relax once I know that the worst hasn’t happened. “He’s actually here, I asked the doctor to wheel you both in the same room so I can watch you both. I didn’t want to leave either of you alone.” I try to twist myself around to see Liam, but it hurts
too much to do so. “Oh don’t worry, you can’t see him from where you are anyway. He’s above your head. Plus, he’s sleeping right now, I think he’s pretty shattered. He needs his rest, I’m sure you get it.”
“Understandable,” I reply with a smile. “It’s been a long day for him.”
“I know.” Finally, Evan moves closer to my bed so I can feel the heat emanating off his body. There’s something so relaxing about feeling Evan’s presence, he really calms me down. “And I just want to say thank you to you again for doing this for him. It’s so kind of you.”
“Oh, I don’t need your thanks,” I reply with a blush. “Of course, I helped Liam. He needed me.”
“I know, you say that like it’s obvious but I don’t think everyone would have helped him without hesitation like you did. You did an incredible thing. You are an amazing person.”
A weird air swirls around us and I don’t quite know what it means. Admittedly all my faculties aren’t intact since I’m still a bit woozy, but even I can tell that something’s happening between me and Evan. Maybe it’s just that incredible bond we share intensifying after we’ve gone through all of these amazing experiences together. The thing with the company, the life changing choices we’ve both made, now this with Liam… it hasn’t all been good, but it’s strengthened what we share.
“I have to tell you something, Katy,” Evan finally says in a voice that’s filled with determination, “I’ve wanted to tell you this for a while now but the timing hasn’t ever been quite right. Well, now it is right, we aren’t going to get a better chance than this.” He grabs onto my hand and stares at me with an intense gaze in his eyes. I wish I could interpret that look, but I just cannot figure it out for the life of me. “Katy Atwater, I love you,” he announces, shocking me to my core. “I know that might come as a surprise and I know you might also think it’s a bit soon which is why I don’t expect you to say it back at all, but I do. So damn much. And I want you to know it.”
“You… love me?” I don’t know what to say to that, it feels a bit much. I’m overwhelmed, my head is swimming. “You’re in love with me?”
“I am,” he smiles warmly. “I knew the moment that you walked into my life that you were going to be different. Before you came along no one ever held my interest for long, and certainly not in any sort of meaningful way. But you… you were different. Right away I couldn’t get you off my mind, and that hasn’t changed since. You’re smart, sweet, generous, wonderful… and I love you. I know it sounds mad, I do, I am aware of how crazy I’m being, but I do. I love you.”
I pause thoughtfully for a moment, trying to wrap my head around it. It isn’t every day that someone falls in love with me. And it’s even better that I feel the same way too. After all this is a man that I’m willing to change up everything for! I’m willing to open my heart, to set aside the life that I thought I wanted but as it turns out I don’t enjoy at all. Of course I feel the same way… now I just need to tell him.
“I love you too, Evan,” I tell him with tears welling up in my eyes. “I love you so much.”
As he embraces me, I can ignore the intense ache in my body because I have love on my side now. I don’t know where me and Evan will go from here but it feels good to know that we have one another. We’re locked in now, and that feels awesome. I’m the luckiest woman alive.
Chapter Twenty Five – Evan
“Right, Liam,” I say to my boy as he looks expectantly up at me. “Do you think you can take this drink through to Katy? Daddy just needs to make a work phone call?”
He blanches at the word ‘work’, but not like he used to. When we first got back from the hospital, every single time I talked about the office I could see a panicked look cross his face, like he assumed things would go back to how they once were with me not around very much, which I suppose is understandable. I don’t much like seeing the negative affect that I’ve had on him over the years, but at least I know now that I can change it. The more that time passes, the more Liam is getting that I’m not going to go back to the workaholic I once was. I hope he’ll eventually learn to trust me.
“I just need to speak to one of my colleagues, it won’t take long I promise you. Then we can read the book you like, the one about the knight if you want?”
As he runs off cheering, it hits me once more how I’ve finally worked out a way to have it all. Now, I can have the business and continue on with my father’s legacy – in a way that’s much more like his original business model anyway – and I can have my family life too. I can be there for my son, just by taking a step back and letting things run for me. This is how I always should have done it, I can see that now. I’m just glad that it isn’t too late.
With a smirk, I grab my cell phone from my pocket and I hit dial on Archie’s number. He’s the highly recommended consultant that I’ve called in to sort out the company restructure while I take care of Katy and my boy, and I have to say that I’m pleased about it. He’s done some great work so far. The two people that I’ve been forced to let go because there just wasn’t a new position in the company are now happily placed in a finance firm. I’m sure there will be more redundancies, but I’m much more confident now that I can make them work out for everyone.
“Hey, Evan, how are you?” Archie sounds busy, I can hear it in his voice. “Just taking care of the marketing department at the moment. As always you’ll have a report by the end of the day.”
“Oh, I know. I trust you, Archie,” I reassure him. “That isn’t why I’m calling…”
“I know, I know, you’re a control freak,” he laughs back. “I’ve worked that out by now. That’s why my reports to you are much more detailed than I usually do for anyone else.”
“Well I’m grateful to you for that, I’m sorry. I don’t want to be a pain. It’s just a little hard to let go when I’ve been so involved up until this point…”
I can hear Ally giggling in the background which makes me smile. She’s already told me that she and Archie are slowly starting to become something real which is fine by me. Ironically, she also told me that nothing’s happening on work time so I don’t need to worry about it getting in the way of things. To be fair, I’m glad to know that, I’m well aware of how much time me and Ally wasted fucking around, but it wouldn’t be right of me to kick off about it. I’m glad that she’s found someone to make her happy though, she deserves it. Despite the fact that me and her were never going to become anything real and we both knew that, I’m glad she isn’t hurt.
“I know it isn’t easy, but as I think I’ve shown by now you can trust me. Things are going really well. We’re getting things moving much faster than I even anticipated, and not just here but with the other offices too. The merger’s gone well, and the one we had to shut down is okay now… it’s all good. You can let the reigns loosen just a little bit.”
I chuckle at his remarks knowing that he’s right. “Okay, well like I say every single time I call you, let me know if you need anything. I have my cell phone on me all the time so you can just give me a ring whenever. Any questions, any problems, any of it…”
“I know, and I’ll speak to you later, okay?”
“Yep, bye, Archie.”
As I hang up the phone, I let out a little breath of relief. I am enjoying my time at home, and for me it’s been really good, but at the same time I do worry more than I should. I’m sure, that like with Liam, it’s just going to take some time for me to get more used to this brand new life. I will be fine, everything is going to be okay, I just need to take a moment.
I glance towards the room where Katy is staying, at my insistence of course, I couldn’t let her do all of that for my boy then head back to her own home to recover alone, and I can hear her and Liam talking. They get along even better now than they did before, they have a deep bond that can only come from their shared experience, so I’m more than happy for them to have a bit more time to hang out together. Plus, it gives me the time that I need to check my emails.
