Page 119 of The Mistakes I've Made
With the small backpack of clothes I’d packed on my shoulder, I rode the elevator to my designated floor and walked the short distance to my room, only to stop short when I saw a familiar face standing next to it.
“Need a hand?” I asked, seeing her fiddling with her key card.
Frustrated, she looked over at me, her shoulders slumping at the mere sight of me. “Really? You couldn’t be on a different floor? They had to put you right next door?”
I shrugged. “Sorry. I didn’t pick the room.”
“Of course you didn’t.”
I looked at her still standing by the door. “So, do you need help?”
The question seemed to stir something inside her. “No,” she answered. “I don’t need anything from you.”
I let out a huff, stepping up beside her to my own door, and simply shook my head. “Well, you know where to find me.”
My key worked fine, the green light flashing, and I turned the handle, stepping into the nondescript room. I’d no sooner thrown my backpack on the bed before a loud knock sounded at my door.
Pulling it open, I had to step aside as Lani pushed her way in, her face filled with anger and frustration.
“Why’d you do it, Taylor? Why?! I’ve been racking my brain for days, trying to figure out why you’d go through such lengths to woo me, seduce me, make me feel—” She caught herself. “Anyway, why’d you do it?”
My arms folded across my chest as she paced in front of me. “I wasn’t sure you’d pick the right design. I had to put the town first.”
“Bullshit!” she shouted. “That’s complete bullshit, and you know it! You could have bought that hotel at any given point, long before I came into town. So, why now, Taylor? Was it fun to string me along? Or maybe you were just tired of blondes? Figured you’d try something different for a change? Did you and my dad have a nice laugh over that one?”
“You were going to stay if I didn’t!” I roared, my chest heaving from the effort. “You were going to stay.” The words echoed from my lips, quieter this time. “And I couldn’t let you abandon your dreams for a worthless nobody like me. So, I made a deal with your father.”
“You talked to my father?”
“I knew you’d go if I bought that stupid hotel, but I had to make sure you had something waiting for you.”
“What?”
“He’ll give you what you want now, Lani. A promotion, the company—everything. You don’t have to prove yourself anymore.”
Her eyes met mine, a heady mixture of disbelief and pain. “So, you ran.” It wasn’t a question. She turned her head, shaking it in disbelief. “Molly was right. Men are so frustrating. You really did run.”
Silence fell as she continued to stalk back and forth, gathering her thoughts. Finally, she turned to me, her gaze a powerful blend of emotions. “Dreams change, Taylor,” she said. “You would have known that if you’d given me the common courtesy to ask what mine were, but instead, you decided for me, refusing to give me the right to think for myself.”
“I…”
She was right. All the regret I still carried from the life I’d been denied so long ago, I’d put that on her. It wasn’t her regret I had been worried about.
It was mine.
And it was time to let go.
“Do you want to know my dreams?” I asked.
Her gaze was so full of mistrust that it made my heart ache.
“Yes,” she said, her body stilling for the first time since she’d walked through the door.
“I want a life filled with happiness,” I said. “One where I look back and I feel nothing but fulfillment and wonder. I want someone by my side that is strong-willed and puts me in my place when I need a good ass-kicking. I want that woman to be you, Lani.”
Her breath caught. “What else?”
“I want you to turn that hotel into everything you imagined it could be, and I want us to run it side by side.”
