Page 72 of The Billionaire's Second Chance
And no one made me feel more like myself than him.
“Congratulations on your award,” he said. “You deserve it. You deserve to have everything you want.” He nodded, and took another step backwards. “Everything.”
CHAPTER33
Charlie
I’d known Samantha–inall her beautiful, frustrating complexity–for long enough to know she wouldn’t throw herself at me, fling herself into my arms with tears streaming down her face. I told her I had no expectations, and I didn’t. I knew I had broken her trust, perhaps irreparably.
But that didn’t stop the terrible, splintering heartache in my chest as she just stood there, watching, as I nodded one last time, then turned to go.
That’s it, then.
It was over.
“...What are you going to do?”
Her voice, when it came, was quiet, echoing down the stone of the hallway and lodging in some small, hopeful part of me that immediately tamped down. I stopped, turning to face her.
“I don’t know, exactly,” I said. “Some thinking, to start. And then…” I shrugged. “I’m going to talk to Superintendent Lawson.”
“You don’t want to work on the dual literacy campaign any more,” she said, and nodded. Her cheeks were wet, but her face was still carefully blank. “I’m sorry, I– If I ruined that for you, I–”
“No, Samantha,” I said. “I’m not going to quit the campaign. I thought I told you.” I smiled, tilting my head behind us at the closed door leading to the banquet hall. “I’m not in this for the awards.”
“I’m not–” she started, but I interrupted her.
“Don’t lie to me,” I said, but gently. “You don’t have to lie to me. I know you are. That’s why I– I admire that about you. But I’m not. That’s why I’m going to see if I can do more at the school.”
I’d talked to Flora about it late last night–or early this morning, maybe–feeling sure and certain. She’d come to bring Ryan and I coffee and breakfast, her tired eyes closed, legs curled up under her on the couch in the lounge as he paced in the conference room, going over the offers with the company’s lawyers one last time. “You’d have to go back to school,” she’d told me, and I’d shrugged. I could do that. I would have some time to kill.
“With your computer club?” Samantha asked. Her face was blank.
“My future unpaid interns,” I said. The corner of her mouth twitched. “Yeah.”
“You’re good with them.”
“I told you before. I like a challenge.”
“You did.” She paused. “But you won’t need interns anymore.”
“Ah.” I chuckled. “I guess not.”
“You really sold the company?” she asked. “For me?” The slight frown of her eyebrows, the moue of her lips made my chest tighten, even as I fought back another chuckle.
“Well,” I hedged, “maybe not entirely for you. I did it for myself, too. It’s not like I need the money. I’m a billionaire, after all.” I smiled jaggedly, and watched her as she pressed her lips tight together, blinking rapidly. Even from a distance, I could see her eyes begin to shimmer. I wanted to go to her, to pull her into the circle of my arms and kiss the tears from her face. Instead, I forced myself to take a step back. “Like I said,” I said softly. “Wherever you want, whenever you want. And if that’s nowhere, and never,” I said, the words tearing through my chest, scraping against my heart. “I’ll respect that.”
It was time for me to go. Samantha was missing her award ceremony, and more importantly I couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t do something I’d regret if I stayed any longer. Cry, maybe, based on the choking sensation in my throat. Or kiss her, to hell with the NY Lit banquet just on the other side of the open door. James, whose messages I’d been leaving on read, was in there. I still hadn’t figured out what to do about Sebastian’s revelation at the Bankworth, what he told James after I left–I’d been busy–and I didn’t know what James would say once the announcement was made that we’d sold to someone other than Scott Global.
I nodded one last time. “I’ll see you around, Sami.”
“And if–” I stopped in my tracks. “And if it’s here?” she asked softly, so quiet I could have imagined it. “If it’s now?”
“If it’s here,” I said, trying to suppress the champagne bubbles of hope that had begun tickling my stomach. “If it’s now…”
“I made a mistake all those years ago, too,” she said, biting her lip, white teeth worrying pink skin. “Iwaitedfor you.”
I didn’t understand.
