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“Your best friend’s baby sister.”
“Not at all,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re overqualified and way too smart to work at Ingram Investments. And you were wrong when you said I should have gotten the promotion—you should have. Which is exactly what I told the hiring committee. In hindsight, that’s probably what set Darren off more than he already was. You have always intimidated him because you’re smarter than him too. So, if anyone should be sorry, it’s me—I’m the reason he’s giving you a hard time.”
Mia blinked once. Twice. So many times, Ben probably thought she had something caught in her eyes. She did, though. Tears of frustration from moments ago that threatened to escape her lids now turned to tears of something she couldn’t quite put her finger on yet. Her brain was too busy processing everything she’d just heard.
“Darren has been a jerk to me since the day I stepped foot in the firm. But I don’t care. I don’t really want to be there, anyway.” It was the first time she’d said those words out loud. Probably wasn’t the best idea to be telling her boss, but it felt freeing all the same.
“Why are you, then—still there?”
“It’s too big of a risk to leave.”
He nodded, like he’d expected the answer. Like he knew she’d throw the same words he’d used a couple nights ago back his way. “If you could leave and start your own flower shop, would you?”
She leaned back, examining him through squinted eyes. “Where did you get that idea?”
“That building the other night—that’s the place. The dream location for your very own shop, isn’t it?”
Why did he know her so well? “It is. I have a business plan all written up and everything.” Why she included that last part, she wasn’t sure.
“Will you email it to me? I’d love to see it.”
Her chin dipped to her chest. “I guess so. But, like you said, it’s a dream. And maybe the reason they call them that is so they can stay these perfect, unblemished ideas that you can always look at fondly because they’ll never be something you failed at.” Just like her mother had, many times, if the stories about her flitting from one passion to the next could be believed. She was the cautionary tale her father had warned Mia of over and over again, the poster child of not adequately preparing for things like going after dreams and ultimately crashing and burning.
“But if you could have everything you ever wanted by just taking that leap, by taking that risk …”
“This coming from the man who never takes risks in his own life. Tell you what, let’s see you take one and then we’ll talk.”
“Life has a way of changing people, Mia.” He stood and paced in the room, the unsteadiness of his movements from earlier gone. “The night before my mom died, I was out partying. She was all set to take this trip to the mountains, to go whitewater rafting with some friends for her birthday, and I said I’d drive down in the morning. Except I was hungover, and I overslept. And I didn’t make it.” He stopped walking, stopped talking for what seemed like hours, though it was probably only a few seconds. “Neither did she.”
“Ben,” Mia said, walking to him. “You can’t possibly think—”
“I don’t know if I could have saved her, Mia. But the fact was, I wasn’t even there to try.”
Suddenly, it all made sense—his tense, brooding demeanor. His reluctance to take any risks when he’d once been quite the daredevil himself.
“But what you said the other night—about making yourself happy—I haven’t been doing that. And I think not taking any risks in my life is a big reason why. So, I’m about to take the biggest one of my life right now.” His eyes bored into her, their intensity rendering her breathless as he pulled her in. “I don’t want to be friends with you. I haven’t since your senior year of high school. But your brother told me to stay away. That I wasn’t good enough for you. And with all my partying and stuff, he was right.”
She tightly pinched her lips as her posture stiffened. “And what—I didn’t get a say?” she asked, her voice as rough as sandpaper.
“Not when you’d had a thing for me since you were thirteen.”
“That’s … not true.” She’d actually had a thing for him since she was twelve, but that was a moot point.
“That’s not what your brother told me.”
Her fingernails bit into her palms as she clenched her fists. “Wait a second—you liked me?” she squealed. His confession smacked her in the face like a cartoon character whacking someone with a frying pan. “And what, you just pushed it aside like it was nothing and let my brother decide for you? Let him push you onto a particular path in life—even if it’s not the one you wanted to be on?”
“I’m crazy about you, Mia! And pushing away my feelings was and still is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my entire life. And talk about people pushing you—look who’s calling the kettle black now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her voice raised, feigning a bravado she didn’t feel. Because she knew exactly what he meant. “My father pushed me a certain way to keep me safe.”
“And I thought I was doing the same for you. Keeping you from me was the right choice at the time. I had a lot of growing up to do back then. But neither of us made the decision that would make us happy. So, the question now is if either of us going to go after what we want.”
She spun the ring on her finger that always got a little loose when she sweated. “All I’ve ever wanted was a flower shop.” She paused, steadying herself with a long breath. “But going after something you really want is very scary. How will I know if I’m ready for it?”
“Maybe you’re never quite ready for the thing in life that will change it forever.” His voice was low and thick, and her knees buckled slightly in response. When she looked at him with his flushed skin and soft eyes, she put the pieces of everything he’d said in these last minutes together.
“You said you’re crazy about me.”
