Page 25 of The Boardroom: Cassidy
Chapter Sixteen – Eliza
“Don’t get me wrong, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need,” Sabryna said, giving Maggie a scratch behind the ears. “But don’t you think it’s time to head back?”
I stared blankly at the wall. “Why?”
“I mean…” Sabryna said. “You came here to think through the engagement, and now the matter of the engagement is kind of…settled. Right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m a bit afraid to go home and face everyone though. There’s not a single person I know back home who wasn’t waiting for this wedding.”
“In the end they care about you, Eliza, not the wedding,” Sabryna said. “I think you’ll be fine.”
“I guess,” I said, curling up deeper into the couch. “I just get this sense like I’m not quite finished here. I like Seattle. Well, the people more than the city, but, I’mdifferenthere, you know? I want to get to know that version of myself. I’m not ready to say goodbye to her yet.”
“I don’t think you’re ready to say goodbye to Cassidy yet, either,” Sabryna said. “You’re the first woman I’ve ever seen break his heart. Or even, I don’t know, papercut it.”
“Really?” I asked, thinking back to the look on his face when I had visited his apartment. “I just wish I hadn’t screwed it all up. I should have been honest with him. Maybe he would have understood.”
Sabryna sighed. “You think he’ll ever forgive you?”
“No,” I said. “There’s no way. I mean,Iwouldn’t forgive me.”
“I don’t know,” Sabryna said. “This wasn’t just another fling for him. I don’t know if he’s ever been in a proper relationship before. I mean, I don’t think he ever found anyone he liked enough. If you were as special to him as it sounds like you are, I wouldn’t put it past him to give you another chance.”
I sighed and pulled a blanket over my knees. “Well, it’s a nice thought, anyways.”
Sabryna came over and sat beside me. “If you’re interested in staying, even just staying for yourself, there’s apartments for rent nearby, and we can go look after work this week.” Sabryna put her arm around me. “And if it makes you feel better, Johnathan is really impressed with your work, and he’d more than love to have you stay.”
I smiled and nodded. “I think I’d like that,” I said, and fell asleep there on the couch with Sabryna beside me and Maggie curled up at my feet.
