Page 52 of The Undercover Billionaire's Baby

My heart did a swan dive. I’d half-forgotten that part. Lana let out the ghost of a sigh.

“You did all of this for your father’s approval.”

It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t answer. She was right, and we both knew it.

“I get that,” she went on. “Wanting to make your parents proud. But what do you want? No, don’t answer that.” She held her sheet to her chest and ran her hand through her hair, then laughed again, soft and rueful this time. “I went to sleep last night thinking I’d ask over breakfast if maybe you wanted to set up shop here. Start a little life, maybe, but you have a big life already.”

“I still want that,” I said. “A life with you in it. I can’t leave my job, but I’ve been thinking as well. We could still make it work.”

“What, long-distance?”

“No, not long-distance. At least, not forever. I do have to go now, with Dad retiring, but… we saved your shop, didn’t we? Didn’t that seem impossible, and we made it work? We’re a team, if you want to be. We can do this together.”

“I won’t leave here,” said Lana. “You know that, right?”

“I’d never ask that of you.” I stepped a bit closer, and she didn’t back away. “I want you to have everything, your shop. Your home. The community you have here, that treats you like family. I want you to have that, and have us as well. If you still want us. If you want to try.”

Lana looked past me a moment, out at the sky. I couldn’t guess what she was thinking from the look in her eyes. Then she came up to meet me, and took my hand.

“I’m angry with you. And I don’t want to lose you. Maybe I’m being stupid, but I can’t help what I feel.”

Tides of feeling swept through me, relief and shame. Hope for the future, fear and regret. I didn’t want to be apart from Lana, not even for a little while, to figure this out. Without me around, she might see reason. She might see I’d swept in and upended her life, and then swept out again with no plan, just a promise.

“We’ll talk every day,” I said. “Work on building our trust back.”

“Every day? You’ll have time?”

I pulled her hand to my chest and held it there tight. “I’ll always have time for you. No matter what. Let’s make a deal: we’ll always say good morning and goodnight. The first and the last of the day will be ours, no matter what chaos comes in between. If Dad’s on my case?—”

“If Wiener breaks in?—”

“We’ll still talk every morning and every night.”

Lana laid her head on my shoulder. I held her in my arms. I didn’t know how, but we’d figure this out. We’d do it because we had to. We couldn’t lose this.

CHAPTER 21

LANA

I’d been late for work three days in a row, waiting for Brad’s— for Sam’s good-morning calls.

Monday, his call had come just before nine, just as I grabbed my purse, ready to give up. Tuesday, I’d made it halfway downstairs, and what came through was a text, not a call. Yesterday, Wednesday, nothing at all.

I didn’t wait today, just headed downstairs. I fed Wiener his treat and shooed him back home, opened the register, straightened the displays. My phone didn’t buzz, and I didn’t check it. The bakery truck pulled up out back, and I filled the pastry case and started the coffee. Alice came in and grinned.

“Sam’s back on schedule?”

“Sure is,” I lied. I couldn’t bear to watch her face fall, to read in her eyes the truth in my heart: Sam was pulling away from me. Getting back to his life.

He’s busy, I told myself. Off his routine. Once work settles down…

I checked my phone in case I’d set it to silent. Then I checked it again, in case I’d set it to silent while checking. Maybe he’d slept late. He’d been so tired. I’d called off our goodnight calls after last Friday’s, when he’d been so exhausted he’d dozed off mid-chat. But I hadn’t said never call, just not if you’re tired. So was he tired every night or had he moved on?

I wiped all the counters and dusted all the shelves. Fixed the displays again, though they were perfect. Sam had built mini-endcaps to sit by the counter, to set out bestsellers as impulse buys. Dusting those, I welled up and dabbed at my eyes, and glanced over to make sure Alice hadn’t seen. I couldn’t tell if she had or not, the way she was standing. She didn’t say anything, so probably she hadn’t.

The chimes went and Rex came in and leaned on the counter.

“Morning,” he said. “Trout Bum was great.”

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