Page 11 of Why Not Forever?

“Vic,” Spencer says, his voice hard and sharp.

I stop pacing and look at him.

“Your nails,” he says, softer.

I look down at my hand that’s not holding the crane. I’d been about to chew on the thumbnail, a habit I’ve spent years breaking that always seems to sneak up on me in times of high stress.

“Sit,” he says. “Tell me what’s going on.”

So I do. I sit across from my best friend, the man who is closer to me than my actual brother, and I tell him everything Tanner said. When I’m done, Spencer stares at me.

He doesn’t ask if I’m insane for considering it. He doesn’t say it’s a terrible idea, though part of me is certain it is. Instead, he asks, “Are you going to do it?”

“I don’t know. It would be stupid not to, wouldn’t it? I mean, twenty-five per cent of Sterling. It’s not exactly what I wanted, but from the way it sounds, it’s as good as I’m likely to get.”

“That’s true,” he says slowly. “I’m going to ask you a few questions that I hope you consider. You don’t have to answer them now.”

I nod, biting my lip.

“Why do you want Sterling? I know you’ve always thought you were going to work there, but is that what you really want? Or is it just habit to want it? And if you get twenty-five per cent of Sterling, what happens to Blue Vista? You’re CEO here, Vic. We can’t run this business without you.”

My first instinct is to deny Spencer. I don’t want Sterling out of habit. I want it because it’s supposed to be mine. Then his last question hits me. What happens to Blue Vista?

I’d begged Spencer to help me start this business when Dad hired Tanner instead of me. I’d wanted to prove to my father—and to myself—that I could do it, I could run a successful business. And for the past seven years, I have. Not only is it successful, but it’s growing. We purchased our second location late last year at Crescent Beach in South Surrey and started taking reservations for this summer. We’d had to do some renovations, which had a couple minor setbacks and will be complete by the end of next month. Having it not available in July—the biggest month in wedding season—is not ideal, but our first wedding is scheduled for the second Saturday in August. From then to the beginning of October, it’s booked solid. We promoted our assistant, Denise, to act in Spencer’s role at the new location and hired people to take care of Adalie’s and Derek’s roles. They’ve been here, training with us for the past few weeks. Everything is going so well, I’d be a fool to give it up.

I sigh. “I don’t know. But I think I have to do this.” I meet his eyes. “I could maybe only take the shares. Not a position. Just be on the Board? Then I can stay here and still be a partial owner of Sterling. It was supposed to be mine, Spencer.”

He watches me for a long moment before nodding. “Okay. One more question. How are you going to feel being married to Tanner?”

A chill runs through me as I consider him. “What do you mean?”

He shrugs. “I’m just asking the questions. You have to decide what they mean and how to answer them.”

I stare at Spencer for a long time, wondering if he knows how much I felt for Tanner seven years ago. If anyone does, it would be him, though I never said the words out loud. Hardly even dared to think them. Now, here I am, considering marrying the man who I—

“It’ll be fine,” I say, more to myself than to Spencer. “I’m going for dinner with him tomorrow to discuss details. Will you come with me?”

Spencer rolls his eyes as though the answer should be obvious. And it is. I could have asked him, Derek, or Adalie this question and all three would come with me if I want. At this point, I could even have asked Lis, Ava, or Nate and I’m sure they would be the same. All my friends would drop whatever they’re doing to help me and I’m so grateful to have them.

Spencer seems to read my thoughts, because he says, “You need to tell Derek and Adalie what’s happening. And the significant others will be curious about why you’re suddenly getting married, so you’ll need to decide what to tell them.”

I nod, my hand coming up to my mouth before I stop the motion. Iwill notchew my nails.

“Maybe I can tell everyone tonight at Derek’s?” I say it like a question because the first rule of game night is no talking about business, and that’s what this marriage will be.

Spencer nods. “We can make an exception to the work rule tonight.” He smiles. “Especially since you’re giving us some pretty juicy gossip.”

I muster up a smile at that as well. Our friends love to be nosy and know everything about everyone. I’m glad he thinks it’ll be okay because then I only need to go through it once. And it’ll give me time to figure out exactly what I want to do and what I want to say.

“Are you going to tell them what happened between you and Tanner before?” Spencer asks.

When Tanner and I slept together all those years ago, Derek and Adalie were my friends, but we weren’t as close as we are now, so I never told them what happened.

I take a breath and let it out slowly. “Not tonight.”

He nods and I stand, intending to go back to my office. I turn at the door.

“You guys were going to tell everyone else about…” I trail off because I don’t want anyone to accidentally overhear me. “Won’t this kind of, I don’t know, steal your thunder or whatever?”

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