Page 5 of The Bargain
Goodbye, Sofia
The thin paper crumples in my hand, and my lashes lower, my jaw grinding. That note couldn’t get any colder. She's gone. And considering she’s walked out on me two times now, it’s time to accept I want this far more than she does. It’s time to let her go, but as I toss that ball of paper into the trashcan, I know I’m going for three.
Chapter Three
Sofia
Myfairytalebillionaireromance has ended with brutal finality.
Two hours after spying Ethan way too up close and personal with his ex, I’m stuck in a cheap airport hotel waiting for an affordable flight back home—this after discarding the idea of paying the ridiculously expensive price tag that would have allowed me to fly back home tonight.
After picking at, and discarding, my DoorDash-delivered salad, I have now resorted to flipping through channels in an effort to find something,anything, to scrub Ethan from my mind. The fact that some desperate part of me is hanging on a thread, waiting for him to call me, is the definition of my own stupidity I can’t seem to escape. Even if he did communicate,I’m certain that any excuse he offers me will be lies, and at this point nothing will change my morning departure. I do not wish for a life filled with lies, not even for a few short passion-filled months.
My decision is made.Ifhe calls, I won’t answer.
I’m done. I knew that before I ever arrived in this hotel room.
And if I’m honest with myself, I knew better than to get naked with that man, and yet I pathetically moaned for him on repeat, most likely to the detriment of my career, but I can’t think about that now. My cheeks heat with the memories of our oh-so-intimate moments and of those moans, and I bury my face in my hands. Frustrated, I throw my legs to the edge of the bed and use the remote to turn off the television, but the empty room seems to mock me. My phone betrays the silence, and I pant out a breath riddled with more nervous quaking only to find my father’s name, not Ethan’s, stamped across my screen. Disappointment stabs at me—a telling monster that refuses to allow me to pretend I’m unaffected by all that has happened with Ethan.
With a swallow meant to wash away my emotions, I answer the call. “Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, honey. I’m at your place. Where are you? I thought you were coming back early tonight.”
Guilt pinches at my chest. I should have communicated, but I’ve been consumed by all things Ethan and neglected everything else. “I’m sorry, Dad. I meant to call. It’s been a whirlwind. I had to stay for an extra day of meetings, but all is well. I’m actually at an airport hotel and flying out early tomorrow.”
“Oh. Okay. That’s good, I assume? All is well?”
“Yes, of course,” I say, offering rapid assurance and quickly shifting the mood before he reads more in me. “In fact, I just finished eating a salad I had delivered from a local joint thatwasn’t half bad. Of course, it didn’t beat that little place Mom got you hooked on, and then you me, all those years ago.”
“Part of that is nostalgia.” His voice is drawn tight, but it shifts and lightens with an obvious effort. “How did it go?”
I hesitate, part of me fearful what’s happened between me and Ethan will impact the business side of this trip, but I quickly set that idea aside. He assured me the two were not one, and even if he wants to back out right now, the board is all-in. He’d look bad—wishy-washy—if he turned on me, and I’m quite certain Ethan Dalton is not a man who would like to be perceived in such a way. “They’re interested in doing a Zoey high-end line for the stores,” I dare, a flare of excitement inside me just saying that out loud.
“Okay,what? They what? When? How? Most importantly, why did you just tell me this as if it’s nothing? What the heck is going on?”
I place the call on speaker and twist the sheets in my fingers. “There’s a catch.” Why is my heart thundering as if I’m about to lie? We aren’t liars in my family, that’s why, but I’m not even sure I know what the truth is to tell about anything that happened to me. And he hates Ethan. He really does, and no good can come of telling him anything true.
Lies are sometimes necessary, my mother had once said,but only, and I mean only, when it’s to prevent the pain you might cause someone else. Only when they are so much gentler than the truth that it’s soul-changing for the other person.
I don’t know that the Ethan side of my story is soul-changing for my father, but the pain on top of more pain perhaps is. “A condition of the good stuff is the bad. The board is requiring I spend six weeks in Paris training with a big designer who must then sign-off on my abilities for them to move forward.”
“Whoa. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. This is amazing. What’s the bad part?”
“Dad, I’ll have to leave for weeks.That’sthe bad part.”
“That’s not bad. That’s called living life, and in a grand way.”
I think of the advance I’d been offered on my pay, enough to take care of my father, but there is this gut-clawing feeling that it might be a pay for play with Ethan. I am almost indignant for him a moment later. That man does not need to pay to play with anyone, most certainly not me.Believe in myself, I shout silently. My work is what’s in play. “I’m worried about my store. I’m worried it falters and this goes nowhere.”
“You have an amazing staff member and me. I’ll help.”
“You can’t do that. You have business to attend to of your own.”
“I can spare a bit of time to help you achieve the dream, honey. We got this. When do you leave?”
“You’re stubborn and incredible. And I have yet to tell them I’m accepting.”
“You’restubborn and incredible. What are you waiting on?”
