Page 3 of The Billionaire's Lover (Second Chance Romance 3)

Chapter 3

(Selah)

My entire day had been consumed by those keys. Those damnable keys. Why had he made such a choice when we had never once discussed it? I called out of work that evening, it was the first time in five years that I had done so. I had always been the reliable one, the dependable, indispensable Selah Jones. I felt guilty calling out.

Dawson had changed the rules of the game drastically, and I could no longer trust that I knew him as I had once believed I did. The Dawson I thought I knew and understood was independent, wealthy, headstrong, sexy, strong, and had a way of planning things that might change his future. To me, the keys were not a planned thing. He surely could be the man of my dreams, and in many ways, he had been the man of my dreams. But the keys? That had to have been a spur of the moment decision with no planning.

I had thought that Dawson knew me. I had thought he understood my need for independence and that his money meant nothing to me, not when it came to how I felt about him. I would have treated him the same if he had been a poor nobody.

It ate at me, tied my stomach in knots, made me sad and angry in turns. By the evening, I was a total wreck. I thought I had met my dream love. That one thoughtless gesture, though, proved me wrong.

I drove to his house and rang the bell. I was determined to never use the keys.

Dawson answered the door. He actually laughed, thinking it endearingly funny that I had rang the bell. “Why didn’t you just use the key, Selah? That’s the whole point of giving them to you, so you could come and go at your leisure.” He opened his arms for a hug.

I held out the ring, the keys tinkling together lightly.

He looked at them as if I were holding a loaded gun on him.

“What’s this?” He didn’t reach for them.

I stepped inside and placed them on the foyer table. “Dawson, I can’t.” It was amazingly difficult to spit out my pre-planned speech, and I left it at that.

“You can’t what, Selah? Don’t leave.” He caught my arm and turned me toward him, closing the door to bar my exit. “You don’t have to take the keys; I just thought, that after all we’ve shared…”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I can’t give up my independence so easily. Thank you for everything.” I reached for the doorknob again, the pain in my heart threatening to stir up tears.

“Is that a goodbye? What are you doing?” He placed himself between me and the door.

With my emotions so raw and close to the surface, I looked away. “For now. I need time to think. Please, don’t make this any more awkward than it already is.”

“All right.” He stepped aside. “I’ll give you all the time you need to decide, think, whatever you need. I love you. With everything in me, I love you. If you’ll only give me the chance, I’ll spend the rest of our lives showing you just how much I love you.”

He put his hands on my shoulders and tried to pull me in for a hug, but I pulled away, opened the door, and fought to keep my stride somewhat even as I walked down the long concrete sidewalk to my car.

Glancing back as I put the car in drive, I saw him standing at the head of the walkway, looking lost and scared. Too late to turn back now, I thought as the first tear slipped down my cheek.

The next day, I resigned from my job at The White Duck. Naturally, my boss was shocked and horrified that I had plans higher than being his perfect little career waitress. But I stuck to my guns and done was done.

Dawson called me and I ignored the calls. He texted me and I ignored those as well. He even came to my apartment twice, standing in the hallway, knocking on the door and calling out his professions of love like some misguided teenager. I heard every word, but I did not answer that door. I knew that if I gave in to one shred of the tender feelings I had for him, I was doomed. My restaurant would never happen. The only mark I’d be making in the world would be riding in his shadow, and people would always think that any amount of fame I acquired had been funded by Dawson.

I could practically hear people whispering, “If it wasn’t for all Dawson’s money, the little gold-digger would never have had a chance.”

Both times he came to my door, I cried myself to sleep afterward. At the end of the week, the movers came and loaded up my personal belongings. With my life neatly packed into the back of a moving truck, and not a very big one, I was on my way back to Southern Texas.

***

Building my restaurant had been my dream when I came back here to Corpus Christi nearly a year ago now. However, plans change, life happens, and the best you can do sometimes just isn’t enough. Does that mean I have given up my dream? Absolutely not. It just means I’m going to have to work harder to attain that dream.

And that’s exactly what I plan to do.

The pile of money I had set back in Chicago didn’t last long and I was over-zealous in my haste to find a suitable plot of land to put my restaurant on. I found the perfect parcel of land and went through hell to buy it outright. The price was outrageous, and by the time I had secured the land, my bank account was nearly empty, leaving me without the means to secure a loan or get started on construction.

So, now I’m the proud owner of a beachfront property that sits empty and cordoned off with perimeter markers, and not much else. Of course, all the taxes still have to be paid, or I’ll lose it. Being zoned commercial, whew, the taxes are also outrageous. To get money flowing again, I have started working as a manager to one of the finer restaurants here, Gilly’s Gladhouse. The pay is extraordinary, and, were I a less-resolved, less-stubborn woman, it would be easy to just get comfortable at Gilly’s and forget about realizing my original dream.

After all, I could sell the property and get back my money, live in an upscale apartment, or even buy a big house, or the ranch in San Antonio that I always wanted. But that isn’t what I’m going to do. I set out with a goal, and by God, I’m going to realize it one way or the other. I’m still young enough to achieve it.

Seaside Savory would not remain a mere dream for long.

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