Page 57 of The Prince's Castaway Baby

I hold up the trophy, grin awkwardly, then rush off the stage. The applause is thunderous around me, but I don’t stop to return to my seat. Instead, I keep going, willing my feet and legs not to give in before I reach the exit.

The aisle seems so much longer than when we came in, and time is slowing down with every step, but at last I reach the way out. I slam my hand against the door and walk out into the lobby — and that’s when I finally allow myself to burst into tears.

CHAPTER 28

JENSEN

Isee Billie rushing towards the door and know that I have to run if I want to catch her. I walk off stage with as much haste as dignity will allow, then the second I get backstage, I run towards the exit.

I burst through the doors to the lobby and see Billie there, lingering next to one of the posters for the event, crying.

“Billie!” I call. “Billie!”

She looks up at me, scrubs at her eyes, then turns her back as if to leave. “Wait, Billie, please,” I gasp, breathless. “Don’t go. Let me talk to you. Just two minutes, I promise.”

I’m almost expecting her to ignore me, but she doesn’t. She wheels around to face me and snaps, “What do you want, Jensen?”

I take a shaky breath. WhatdoI want?

“Congratulations. I just wanted to say well done.”

“Was it you?” she demands, which takes me off guard. It’s not exactly the response I thought I would get.

“Was what me?”

“Don’t play dumb. Was it you who nominated me for this?”

I open my mouth and close it again. How can I explain to her without making it weird that I’ve thought about her every single day since we parted. That I want nothing more than to be her friend again but I haven’t figured out a way to ask for forgiveness.

But she’s right; I do owe her the truth. “Yes,” I say simply. “It was me. I’ve been following your work.”

“You have?” Her frown deepens, her eyes boring holes into me.

“Yes, of course!” I say with way too much enthusiasm. “I mean, not like a stalker or anything. I didn’t mean it to be weird. I guess… you made my world bigger. And I’m grateful. And I wanted to do something nice for you in return.”

“Oh, great,” she snaps, tears filling her eyes again. “So, none of this was even about my work at all?”

“No! Ugh, God, I’m getting this all wrong. I nominated you anonymously. I didn’t want my name to have any sort of sway. I just thought you deserved it. And clearly the jury agreed. There’s no motive here except wanting to show you how special you are. That’s all.”

She blinks slowly at me. “You think I’m special?”

“Of course I do, Billie. And then, when they asked me to present the award, it felt like fate was trying to tell me something. I know you probably haven’t forgiven me, and… and I’m not really asking you to. It’s just good to see you.”

“I have forgiven you,” she says, but her tone is so incongruous with her words that it takes me a second to register what she said.

“You have?” I frown. “If you’ve forgiven me, why are you still so angry?”

“I’m not,” she says angrily, then takes a sharp breath, closing her eyes. “I mean, I’m not angry about that anymore.”

“Then what is it?”

She lets out a shaky breath and a laugh. “Jensen, why didn’t you call? Or email? Anything? It’s not like my contact information is hard to find.”

“I didn’t think you wanted me to.” This is taking a strange turn. I feel like anything I say is going to be wrong.

But does this mean she wanted me too, all this time?

“I would have answered.”

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