Page 55 of Between the Paragraphs

She waves her hand in the air. She never has been comfortable with compliments. But this right here is why this company is so important to me. I want a great place where real stories can be told without compromise. I believe in this vision with all of my soul.

We visit for a while longer and I know which manuscript I’m taking home with me tonight. I can’t wait to dive into this book. There’s no doubt it’s going to be incredible. The fact that she’s willing to take a small sign on bonus knowing we’re a brand-new company without a lot in the bank yet, is an even bigger honor. This is how much she trusts me. My emotions are overwhelmed.

The team yells in victory when Amy leaves as someone goes over and rings the bell. We all cheer and I pull out the champaign and we share a toast together. Each day this place will grow. Each moment will help me heal. It will only get better from here. There’s no limit to where life will bring all of us.

Chapter Twenty-five

Mason

Patience isn’t one of my strong suits, but I’ve managed to make a good plan instead of simply rushing to Maria’s side and begging for forgiveness. She deserves more than that after I lost faith in her. This is something I won’t be able to forgive myself for. I just pray she’s a better person than me.

I know coming to her is going to take a grand gesture, something that not only shows her I screwed up past the point of redemption, but that I’m incredibly sorry about it. I want her to know that it’s my own issues that caused my lack of faith in her, not anything she’s actually done. I want her to know what she means to me. Some might say it’s a little too little and a lot too late. I’ve come up with a good plan, though. It shows her what I truly feel for her, that I know how honest and talented she is. It shows that I was wrong, and I’ll do all I can to earn her trust again.

I called my brother first. The wonderful thing about siblings is it doesn’t matter how badly we screw up, they still love us. That conversation was easy compared to what’s to come. Of course he ribbed me for a while, but ultimately, he agreed with me that this is the right thing to do.

Together, we called Ruth Cardello. She was more than happy to agree to our deal. I’m very lucky that all of the people around us have a hell of a lot more faith in Maria than I did. I’ve had to hear over and over again what a fool I was, and that it’s good I woke up. Because I know I deserve this I allow them to read me the riot act.

The next step in my plan was getting through her assistant, Tina. That was a much harder sell. Apparently, her staff know what a fool I was. After some pleading and begging and speaking to Miles, they agreed to send over a contract. It’s not a done deal until Maria signs on the dotted line, but at least we have it in our hands for me to present to her. This is half the battle. She might be unhappy again that I didn’t come straight to her, but it’s nearly impossible when a person’s trying to perform a grand gesture. I’m not sure what exactly the right way to go about this is.

It’s time for me to drive to her office. The closer I get, the more my heart pounds. For the first time in my life I’m not sure how a person’s going to react to what I have to say and do. It doesn’t matter, though. I’m willing to be humiliated if there’s even a chance I’ll get her back. That’s how much she means to me.

I arrive at the address of her small office. The outside has books painted on the windows and door with a statue standing before it. In a very short time she’s already made this place comfortable and appealing. From the moment a person walks up, they feel like they’re being transported into a fantasy world. I look through the windows and see people smiling as they happily work. I’m glad she’s made this for herself.

She might not have been planning on going out on her own, but her company’s betrayal is the best thing they could’ve done. It’s forced her to spread her wings, and she’s already soaring. Even if I do lose her, I’m glad this has happened, glad she got the push she needed. I just wish I’d stayed at her side the entire time. We’ve lost time together we can never get back. I pray we have a whole lot more time to make up for it.

I take in a deep breath, then open the doors and walk inside. Several people look up, and it’s more than clear they know who I am. I nod at the receptionist as I look across the room. It doesn’t take me long to spot Maria who’s eyes are wide as she takes me in. I see her suck in her breath, then paste a professional smile on her lips. It hurts to see her look at me like this even if I know I deserve it.

I move straight to her, stopping in front of her desk. I’m unsure of what to say. The first words are so damn difficult. I give her as apologetic smile as I can manage as I try to organize my thoughts.

“What are you doing here, Mason?” she asks with coldness in her tone. I can hear the hurt there too. If she’s still hurting that means she still cares. Maybe we can make it to the other side of this. A spark of hope filters through me.

“I’m sorry it took me this long to come to you. When I realized how wrong I was I didn’t know how to talk to you. I lost faith in you which is unforgiveable. I’m not going to make up excuses, I’m just going to say I was a fool. I’ve been burned before and instead of owning that and realizing my shortcomings, I took it out on you. I don’t want to lose the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” I pause for a moment, not breaking eye contact with her. “I don’t want to lose the woman I’ve fallen in love with even if I don’t deserve you.”

She sits there for a long moment, everyone in the office utterly quiet as they try to pretend they aren’t listening to every word of this. I want her to know I’m not afraid for the world to see how wrong I was. I’ll do a full page announcement in the paper if that’s what she needs. I’ll do anything at this point to earn her back.

“Mason, I appreciate you coming in and apologizing. It means a lot to me,” she finally says. “I think too much has happened for us to fix this, though.”

My heart breaks a bit, but I’m not ready to give up. “This is worth fixing. I know I need to prove to you I’ll never do something like this again, but I’m willing to spend the next fifty years doing just this. I tried telling myself I didn’t need you, but even when I thought you’d betrayed me I couldn’t hate you, couldn’t stop thinking about you. All that kept me from you was my foolish pride. I love you, Maria. This isn’t something I say to very many people. I never say it to women. I don’t say what I don’t mean. I love you,” I repeat.

Her eyes fill with tears before she rips her gaze away from me. She does love me. I can see it on her face. I just need to convince her that I can be trusted. I thought she betrayed me. I was wrong. I’m the one who hurt her. How could I ever do that to the person I love?

“Mason . . .” She stops as if she doesn’t know what else to say.

“I brought this as a gesture. It doesn’t make up for my lack of faith in you, but I wanted to show you that I’m fighting for you, that I believe in you, that I think you’ll run the world because you’re so great.”

I set down the contract that’s been signed by both my brother Miles and by Ruth for a three book deal that’s sure to make her company a lot of money and bring good publicity for her. She’s already gained some amazing authors but it doesn’t hurt to have more.

She looks over the papers, then back up at me with confusion. “How did you get ahold of this contract?” she asks.

I give her a smile and a shrug. “With a lot of begging. You’re the one who closed the deal and all you have to do is sign on the dotted line to make it official. I just played mail carrier,” I say.

She looks over at her assistant who also shrugs as if to say I’m hard to turn down. Maria shakes her head. “I should be upset about this, but as far as gestures go, it’s pretty great. I figured this deal was long gone which did bum me since I like and respect your brother and have always wanted to work with Ruth. I appreciate this. I’m surprised you got them to do it.”

“Trust me, I got reamed by both my brother and Ruth for being an utter fool. They were one-hundred-percent on your side. As a matter of fact, my entire team told me I was an idiot. Everyone loves you,” I say.

“Well you are an idiot,” she finally says. She might be calling me names, but I feel more hope as she shows emotion toward me. We can make it through this. It won’t be back to normal overnight, but our feelings for each other are strong enough that we can keep building what we’ve already laid a foundation down on.

“You won’t get any argument from me. I’ve been more than an idiot. I can’t promise I won’t ever be a fool again, but I can promise I won’t ever walk away again. I don’t care if it takes us all week to work something out, I’ll never run away or close you out again. Please, Maria, just give me the chance to prove this to you. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

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