Page 56 of Royal Bosshole

“Of course, she does,” April said sarcastically. “She did say she was in love with him.”

“Yes, Stevie, I think about him. Why do you ask?”

“Well, because maybe he thinks about you, sees you online, and sees your great success and realizes what a big mistake he made. Maybe he'll come riding in on a big white horse to tell you he loves you and to take you far away to his castle.”

“Okay, well, I think a horse would look really out of place here in the city.”

“You know what I mean,” Stevie said, rolling her eyes.

I often wondered—in fact, I wondered every day if James thought about me at all. “I don't think that's going to happen, Stevie. But right now, I want to enjoy my success, and I have my two best friends with me. How much better could it get?”

You could have the man you love as well.

Not going to happen. Maybe if I said it enough to myself my heart would eventually get the hint.

CHAPTER23

JAMES

A couple of days later,I sat at my father’s bedside again, scrolling through my phone. He was sleeping, and I could hear his soft snoring. It was comforting sometimes at night to come in and just sit with him. I didn't know how long I had left with him, so these were the moments that I cherished the most. And if I was being honest, it was better when he was sleeping, because then I didn't have to feel so bad about that question he'd asked. The one about why I was still sitting on my ass instead of going after Lily.

My phone buzzed and I saw that Peter had sent me a link.Check this out, bro.

I clicked on it, and I leaned forward when I saw it was Lily in an interview. I couldn't look away from her. I was starved to see her. She looked so pretty, so happy as she answered the interviewer's questions.

“Where does your inspiration come from?” the interviewer asked. “You have such a unique style.”

“Well, I think that inspiration is kind of something you have to go after. You can't really sit and wait for it to come, and I have been through a lot of ups and downs in my life, and it was those times when I pushed through the downs that brought the most color to the music. They really helped guide the inspiration.”

Ups and downs. Was I one of the ups and downs?

She answered a few more questions and then the interviewer said to the camera, “Follow Langton on Spotify. And we should be hearing about a first album coming out soon.”

At that, Lily grinned, and my heart skipped, just seeing her smile, seeing her happy. I'd hardly known the woman, yet it felt as if we'd known each other for so long. Her happiness meant so much to me.

The interviewer closed out, and then Lily was gone. My phone rang.

Peter.

I left the room and picked up.

“Hey, what's going on?” I said quietly, shutting the door.

“Hey, sorry is it too late? I sometimes forget about the time difference.”

“No, no, it's not too late,” I said. “I was just sitting in with my dad and watching the link you sent.

“How's your dad doing?”

“Pretty much the same, but they said it's going to get worse in the next few months. I'm glad I'm here.”

“Me too.” Peter breathed out. “But the thing is, I do wish you'd come back and see how amazing Lily is doing. The coffee shop, the music. She's incredible, man. You picked a good one.”

“Yeah, well, I'm happy for her.” My heart felt hollow.

“Can you tell me again what went wrong? Why you didn't tell her your feelings? Because I think if you came and told her, she'd give you a chance. Especially because she didn't know how you really felt. And you did the whole loveless marriage question.”

“I did that because—” He stopped me.

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