Page 58 of All I've Waited For

The apple fritter did look heavenly, and Ashley wouldn’t mind the sugar infusion to steady her nerves. After all, she’d come here for a reason. “Thanks.” Pinching a bit off the pastry, she stuck it in her mouth. The glaze melted on her tongue.

“Now, tell me why you’re here at this ungodly hour.”

She stole a napkin from the stack on his desk. “Eight o’clock is ungodly?”

“It is for you.” Her boss fiddled with the end of his mustache. “Are you here to tell me what exactly happened with the Boivin-Campbell wedding?”

He’d been scouting an out-of-town venue with a couple yesterday when she’d learned the news, so Ashley hadn’t had a chance to fill him in on the details yet—just told him that the wedding was canceled. He deserved the truth, especially because it would likely reflect poorly on him that his wedding coordinator had essentially broken up a bride and groom. But right now, her shattered heart couldn’t take telling him.

What she’d actually come to say would negate all of that anyway.

“No.” Ashley tugged at the paper napkin in her lap, which split neatly at the seams. “I wanted to let you know I don’t want the business anymore.” She grimaced as she glanced up. “Well, that’s not exactly true. It’s not that I don’t want it as much as I can’t handle it. You were right. I’m too busy. I … I just can’t give it the priority that Cathy’s legacy deserves.”

“Hogwash.” Kyle yanked the plate back to his side of the desk.

“I’m sorry, Kyle. I didn’t mean to let you down.”To let everyone down.

The festival committee.

Madison and Shannon, friends who deserved more from her.

Then, the last straw—Ben and Bella, her family. If Ashley couldn’t be there for them, couldn’t show them love, then what did it matter if she achieved her own dreams?

“This is the only way.” Ashley reached for the plate again, stealing another bite of the fritter before Kyle tugged it out of her grasp. Eyeing him, she placed the sugar-laden treat in her mouth and swallowed.

There was no pleasure in being right.

Kyle frowned, then turned to the garbage and dumped the uneaten donuts off the plate and into the trash. “I don’t care if you don’t want the business.” He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a folder. “I already signed it over to you.”

“What?” Her stomach cramped as she reached for the folder, pulling it into her lap. “But we didn’t work out the payment plan.”

“Doesn’t matter. I was prepared to give it to my niece without a fee. Why not someone I hold in even higher regard?”

Ashley’s eyes stung as they pored over the papers in front of her—official documents naming her the owner of Whimsical Weddings & More. Her hands shook as she closed the folder and pushed it back across the desk. “I can’t accept.” He didn’t know the whole truth about Derek and Claire’s wedding. “I stole the groom.”

A smirk tweaked the side of Kyle’s mouth. “You don’t live in a town with Carlotta Jenkins and not hear a little gossip now and again. But I don’t believe for a second that you stole anyone. Mr. Campbell stopped by himself yesterday afternoon and cleared the whole situation up.”

“He did?”What did he say?The words stuck to the roof of her mouth like the fritter had moments before.

“Yes, and so I don’t blame you one bit. In fact, I applaud you for finally going after what you want. Now if they’d actually been in love, that might have been another story, but in this case, I believe all worked out as it should have.”

He didn’t know the half of it, and this didn’t feel like the right time to tell him. Instead, Ashley focused on the papers in her lap. “I’m glad you don’t think badly of me, but there’s more to this decision than just the situation with Derek.” Her finger slid lightly along the right edge of the folder. “I’ve failed a lot of people lately, just like you were afraid I would. And I’ve just realized that I can’t choose my dreams over them.”

Leaning back in his chair, Kyle folded his hands across his stomach. “That’s not exactly what I’d hoped you’d learn in all of this.”

“No?”

“I wanted you to learn that you can’t be all things to all people.”

“But what aboutmypeople?” Her bottom lip quivered. “I’ve let them down in some big ways.”

“And if they’re really your people, they’ll forgive you for your failings, just like you forgive them when they fail you.” Her boss tilted his head. “Think about this. How many of the things on your plate are actually all about being there for your people? Or are they more about feeling like if you don’t volunteer for this or help with that, you aren’t gonna be important to anyone? Because let me tell you something, little miss. That’s not how love works. Do you love other people for what they do for you?”

“Of course not.”

“And the same can be said about you. Your sense of self-worth can’t come from what others think about you, because that’s always changing.”

She didn’t think that. But she couldn’t deny the extra burst of pleasure and relief she got when she did something for someone else—as if by doing so, she convinced herself they’d keep her around. “So where do we find it, then?”

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