Page 164 of Sassy Love
“Poppycock. That girl needs a shove in the love department. Lord knows she loves you. She’s afraid, is all. No one’s bothered to stick around for her before.” She studies my face for a beat. “But you, you’re different. You stuck with her even when you couldn’t stand each other. You’re loyal to a fault, my boy.”
I don’t know what to say to that. Henry is nodding like every word Millie speaks is truth.
“She’s at work, and I think she would love some help.” Millie waves me off.
“Go get your girl, Lawson!” Henry pipes up, pumping a fist into the air.
Not wasting another second, I mutter a thank you and see myself out.
Pulling up the Uber app one more time, rethinking the whole no-car thing, I order another ride.
Here goes nothing.
Again . . .
Chapter 41
CARLIE
The fish tank floor is littered with printouts. Budgets. Marketing. PR plans. Company org charts. And so on. Despite having a business degree similar to Lawson’s, spending a decade in PR means I’m out of practice when it comes to business management.
Technically, I’m qualified.
Practically . . . not so much.
What was Serelle thinking, letting him quit?
I sigh, shifting the laptop off my sweater-clad lap as I lean over and hunt for the forecasts and projections for the House for the next quarter. I need to redo the current budgets and projects to accommodate the influx of donors after the Robbinses sponsored us, and their friends and associates followed suit.
Now we are set to thrive, not just survive.
It’s exciting and terrifying. God, I cannot screw this up. Every choice I make feels like the wrong one. I close my eyes with a sigh. “Where are you, Lawson?” I groan, slapping papers over my face.
A knock rattles the glass door.
I let the papers fall away from my face.
The man himself stands there. “Right here, Princess.”
I drop the papers to the floor, mouth agape.
If I hadn’t gotten a solid seven hours of sleep last night, I’d say I drifted off on the piles of paperwork and this is simply a dream. He takes a step into the fish tank. I scramble to my feet, but I really can’t figure out what to say first.
To apologize for ghosting him while I’m sorting out my abandonment issues.
To cuss him out for quitting a job he loved for me.
For being so stupidly selfless.
It’s been almost two sleepless weeks of being back and forth on whether I can do this and trust myself not to ruin everything every time something gets hard, like I did when Millie was in the hospital.
That was unforgivable.
Mills was so cranky at me.
“Carlie . . .”
I suck in a wobbly breath, running my bottom lip through my teeth. I want to respond. Now I know what I’d go with. Just sorry. Plain and simple. He deserves more, but I?—
