Page 87 of Heart of Stone
He picked up a frame holding a picture of me with my parents when I was around nine or ten years old. “For years,your dad tries to get you to take over this place, and you refuse. Then everything happens with your mom, and he offers to give it up to you to do with it whatever you wish.”
I shrugged. “He didn’t have a choice. He’s reached a point where he’s figuring out what his priorities should be, and for my mom’s sake, I’m glad he’s making these changes.”
Cole set the frame down. “Yeah, that’s great. But look how it worked out for you. You’ve got this girl you’re spending your time with now, and it sounds like it’s going well there. But I mean, alright, you’ve got the contract you signed with your dad to stick this out for six months and pretend to care about what’s going on here like he did, but then this place is yours. Being honest, I don’t think it’s so bad to leave it as it is, but I get it. You’re a land developer, and this amount of acreage will produce millions of dollars for you. And you’re nearly halfway through. Only a few more months, and you can tear this place down like you’ve always wanted.”
“What?”
At the sound of the voice I’d come to know and love, I spun around and nearly hurled up my lunch at what I saw.
Natalia was standing there, looking horrified. Betrayed. It was clear she’d heard just enough about my original intentions for this place.
“Natalia, I?—”
“Is it true?” she asked, clearly unbothered by the fact Cole was standing in the room. “You signed a contract with your dad?”
“I… It’s not?—”
“Just answer me,” she demanded. “Did you sign a contract to take over this place from your father in six months?”
I swallowed roughly. I couldn’t lie to her. “Yes.”
“Uh, um, excuse me a minute,” Cole interjected. His discomfort was obvious. “I just remembered I have a call to make. I’ll be outside.”
As quickly as he could, Cole walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.
“You lied?”
Her words, the sound of her voice, were like a knife through my heart.
“Natalia, I’m sorry.” I took a step in her direction, but I halted the moment she stepped back. “Please, just let me explain.”
“Explain? What’s there to explain? You just said you came here and signed a contract with your father that you’d take over the retreat in six months. You can’t tell me I didn’t hear your friend correctly. He said you were going to tear this place down just like you’ve always wanted.”
“No, I know. But it’s not like that.”
“Really? Because you admitted to me that you hated this place. And you were miserable the first few weeks here.” Her eyes darted back and forth, her mind clearly running wild with questions and worries. “How could I have been so stupid?”
“You’re not stupid, Natalia.” I stepped toward her again and winced when she took another step back. “Please, come here. Let me talk to you about this.”
She shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. “I think I’m good right here. In fact, I think I need to leave.”
“Wait. Don’t go. Just hear me out,” I begged.
She’d taken another step toward the exit and placed her hand on the handle, but she stopped and pinned her eyes on mine. Two tears spilled down her cheeks. “What do you want to say, Reid? That it’s not true? That you weren’t miserable? That you didn’t want to destroy the retreat?”
“I did, but?—”
“But what?” She was looking at me with such disgust, shaking her head. Her fingers were still curled around the door handle. “I’m such a fool. I spent my lunch hour with Danielle, worried about you, about us, and about how you’d react if I admitted how I felt.”
“What do you mean?”
Her bottom lip trembled. “These last two months, I fell in love with you, Reid. I fell in love with you, and the whole time, you were hiding something this big from me. I was afraid to tell you the truth, worried sick about bringing up what would happen to us in four months when your dad returned here, and you had to go back to Pittsburgh, but it didn’t even matter. He’s not coming back. This place won’t be here for much longer anyway.”
I was stunned.
I couldn’t speak.
Natalia had just admitted she’d fallen in love with me.
