Page 6 of Stay

“Huh?”

“I can meet you at two today.”

Relief washes over me, and I don’t know why. “Um. Okay. Yeah. Two works.” Hell, I’ll clear my entire day, week, month, if I have to.

He carefully rolls up the blueprints and shoves them back into the tube. Walking around his desk, he seems powerful, intense. Cautious.

“See you then,” he says quietly, handing me the blueprints. When I take it, he clasps his other hand around mine and runs his finger over my diamond. “I’m really happy for you, Haley.”

Words catch in my throat.

I step away, desperate to breathe, and grab my bag from the floor. “Two o’clock?”

“I’ll be there.”

“Okay.”

I leave without looking back.

Just like I did five motherfucking years ago.

Chapter 3

Cole

I’m worthless for the rest of the morning. All my concentration has blown out the window.

Why is she here?

Why did she move to Banner Bay?

Who is the lucky motherfucking piece of shit who’s marrying her?

Does he love her like I do?

Whoa. I better get a grip. I don’t love Haley. I love the memories of what we had back then.

Staring at her color-coded drawing of what she wants for her office space, my heart clenches. She’s still sketching out her visions. It was something she did all the time when planning campus parties. Because yeah, she planned them. Like full on themed shit, not just kegs and coolers. They were fucking epic too.

My girl has talent, and she’s making a living off it. I’m so proud of her.

She’s not my girl, I remind myself again. She’s someone else’s now. And going off the size of that rock on her hand, he’s making bank.

Noah sticks his head in my office. “Hey, where are we with the Campus project?”

“Already submitted.” I slide Haley’s drawing across my desk and into my top drawer.

“And the corrections on the designs from Brent?”

Shit. I forgot those needed to be couriered by noon. Annnd I dropped my coffee all over them. “Handled.”

“Awesome.” Noah knocks his fists on the doorjamb. “You got time to look at the list for the holiday party? We can grab lunch at two and go over the clients who should be invited.”

Shit. “I’ve got an appointment then.”

“No, you don’t. I checked with Tamara.”

I hate that he’s a micromanaging busy body. “She didn’t know. It was a last-minute add-on.”

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