Page 14 of Billion-Dollar Attitudes

I hoped that her rushing out, her being a bit standoffish was solely because of the events that had transpired that day. I hoped it wasn’t me or anything terrible from her past I didn’t know about. I knew that being with Sicily was basically off the table, but being around her was all I really cared about at that moment. I even felt a bit of an enchantment by that adorable little girl. But then again, I had a feeling anything that came from Sicily was going to make my heart skip a beat. I just hoped it didn’t leave me frozen and incapable of saying anything intelligent forever.

Otherwise she was going to think I was a complete idiot.

Chapter Ten

Sicily

The office didn’t end up opening until Monday of the next week, which, by the time I got home, and decompressed, was a welcome break. I had my cries in the shower, and pep talks after every one of them. Did I feel better when I went back to work? I told myself I did. I knew there were a lot of underlying fears that I had going on, but I had to keep moving. And I had to stop thinking about Daniel.

“So, have you seen Daniel since that meeting?” Amber asked on our now normal early morning conversation as I got my coffee ready.

“No,” I replied. “And Christ I’m glad we didn’t. I’ll be honest, looking back, I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. I was so out of it, I took my daughter to a meeting with him. It was like I was a robot and all I could think about was getting through it.”

“Girl, relax. Did he act suspicious?”

“No,” I chuckled. “He was really sweet to her, actually. I would have never thought of him as someone who would be good with kids, but I have to admit, it was almost natural. Still, it was stupid of me. I’m here to make a future for me and Harper, not bring it all crashing down on our heads.”

“I get it,” Amber said. “I just think that you shouldn’t close everything off. I know theres a lot of complication here, but that doesn’t mean it should be a closed door.”

“That’s exactly what it should mean,” I replied. “Besides, this is all pointless in conversation anyway. There is no door to shut or open to begin with. I haven’t seen Daniel at all in the last week and a half. From what I heard through the grapevine, they shipped him off to deal with the investors in the city. Apparently he’s really good with people.”

“And the other five owners aren’t?”

I shrugged, taking a bite of a danish. “I dunno. I haven’t met any of the other ones. Well, actually, now that I think of it, we both met them. They were the doofus dudes at the party that night.”

Amber burst into laughter. “Holy shit. THOSE guys are the owners of this billion dollar empire that sprung up seemingly overnight? Either they are super smart and hide it well, or we are all doomed.”

I giggled. “Well, I’m assuming it's a bit of both, but that’s okay because they sign the paychecks and that’s all I care about. The people I need to impress aren’t nearly as high up in the company. And right now I’m still getting comfortable in my position. They have a lot going on, that’s for sure.”

Amber sighed. “You’ll knock em’ dead. Wait…sorry. That was not a joke on purpose…unless you think it’s funny…then it’s fine.”

I shook my head. “Too soon is an understatement.”

Amber groaned. “I gotta run. I still have my morning workout, shower, coffee, before I head into the office for the day. Call me later.”

“Mhmm.”

I hung up the phone and dropped it in my purse, smiling at Josie as she came in.

“Good morning, family,” Josie said with a smile. “It’s Friday! Yay!”

I pumped my fist and grabbed my coffee, kissing Harper on the cheek. “I’ll see you guys this evening! Supposed to be amazing weather as usual!”

Josie waved and jumped up from the floor with Harper. “Oh! I meant to tell you. I am doing a minor surfing competition tomorrow. I’d love if you guys came and watched. I can make sure to save you an umbrella seat. They have the competition this weekend because next weekend is Sandcastle competitions here in IB and its nearly impossible to go anywhere.”

“Yeah!” Harper was jumping up and down.

I laughed. “Sure. That sounds great. Just let me know where I’m going and we’ll be there.”

I headed off to work in the first truly good mood I had felt since everything had happened. Even going up the elevator past floor 17 didn’t seem as ominous and difficult that day. When the elevator opened to my floor, I smiled at several of my team and headed to my office. As I approached, I noticed my door was open, which was strange because most of the time if I wasn’t there, anything left would be in the box on the wall outside of my door. My heart began to race as I slowly turned the corner.

Standing in my office was Daniel, and it took everything in my power to control the exhalation of my breath so he wouldn’t notice the fear that struck me out of nowhere. He turned to greet me and smiled. “Hey. Sorry, I was getting weird looks standing outside of your door.”

I walked around my desk and put my bags down, smiling at him. “You’re here early.”

He ran his hand through his hair, and I couldn’t help but notice just how big his biceps were. I tried desperately not to notice, but my eyes had a mind of their own.

“Yeah, I went out for a surf this morning and there were a lot of people out there so I just came in early and got some work done.”

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