Page 20 of Holiday Reunion

His eyes were locked on a couple who were deep in the throes of a conversation beneath a streetlamp. The young woman leaned against the steel post while the gentleman moved in close. Theirs was a new love, born of the holiday season or maybe it was simply organic.

James couldn’t take his eyes off the couple. It wasn’t hard to see himself there—or rather the feelings he had for Sarah. He hadn’t been lying when he’d told her that he loved her, though it wasn’t lost on him that she didn’t acknowledge his confession.

They looked happy—full of life and excited for the future.

Tearing his eyes away from them, he shoved down the pain that continued to grow. Had he made a mistake in walking away? Could he have done something to convince her to hear him out? Sarah was smart. Maybe he could have given her proof that he was being honest.

Something told him that nothing could have changed the way things had gone. He had been doomed to lose her.

“James?”

He looked up to see a familiar woman coming toward him with a smile on her face.

“ItisJames, right?”

James snapped his finger, putting the puzzle pieces together. “You work with Sarah.”

“Brie,” she offered with a nod. “What are you doing here? I thought you and Sarah were supposed to be on a date tonight.”

He attempted to keep his expression neutral, but he must have failed because her eyes widened slightly. “Oh no. I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t even know what happened.”

She grimaced. “By that look you just gave me, I can pretty much guaranteesomethinghappened.” Brie tilted her head andshuffled her feet. There was that burning question in her gaze—the one that clearly said she wanted to ask him for details. Or maybe she just wanted to let him vent to her.

James tossed a glance in the direction from where she’d come. “You done for the evening?”

She nodded. “We sold out. I guess we didn’t plan well enough. Sarah’s gonna hate that. It’s money on the table, you know.”

He nodded, the awkwardness of their interaction making it near impossible not to fidget. This was a woman with whom Sarah shared most of her days. She would know more about the way Sarah thought than anyone else.

As much as he wanted to ask her for help, he knew he couldn’t. Sarah would hate him if he did that. She’d been very clear about leaving her alone. He just needed to accept that he’d lost her.

James cleared his throat and offered Brie a small smile. “Congratulations on your success this evening. I better get going.” He spun on his heel, but her voice stopped him.

“James?”

He glanced back at her.

“Whatever happened… I’m sure it will work out.”

James didn’t know what she meant by that. Work out, meaning that he would find love again? Or work out meaning that Sarah would come around?

Either way, it probably didn’t matter. James need to move past this just like he had any other failed relationship.

James rubbedhis temples with his fingers. Meeting after meeting after meeting. He’d thought they had everything all butfinalized. Every time his team called him up to come to the conference room, he had to bite back another groan.

It had become clear to James that he’d lost all sense of motivation for this project. His heart simply wasn’t in it anymore. With every update, all he could think about was Sarah and how she was doing.

Any time he saw a box of doughnuts, he thought of her. Whenever someone asked for his coffee order, he couldn’t get the conversation he’d had with Sarah out of his head. There was no escaping it.

Memories of Sarah were here to stay.

He watched the members of his board enter the room, one by one, so blissfully unaware of the turmoil he was experiencing. They all had their own lives, their own families, their own special some ones.

They smiled at each other, cracking jokes. It was ridiculous. Now was not the time. They were supposed to get through these meetings so they could move on to their next project. Thankfully, he’d refrained from running the next one. He needed a break from all the planning.

Sarah’s words burned in his brain. Her claims that all he cared about was the money had twisted and knotted up inside him, making him feel worse about all of this.

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