Page 93 of Love Me In Color

I could have both.

“How did it go?” he held out his hand for me to grab. We started walking to Gabby’s for breakfast.

I told him everything.

“You’re going to take it, right?”

“Absolutely. Whoever said you can’t have it all was wrong.”

“I’m so proud of you, princess.”

He kissed the top of my head, and for once, I wasn’t afraid that someone would see.

“We never finished the joke,” I gasped, recalling back to our first night together. Parker stopped walking in front of the café, looking at me with a puzzled look.

“Two workaholics got together and started to enjoy life more…” I repeated. Recognition flashed in his eyes.

“…and they fell in love.”

Epilogue

ALMOST A YEAR LATER

My laptop clapped shut in my empty, echoey office. It was just before four in the afternoon, and it was time to go home. My start time today was earlier than usual so I could get home earlier.

I walked out to the disaster of a bullpen. Boxes of records, packages of computers yet to be installed, bags of decorations, and mountains of supplies were scattered throughout the floor. Paintings and framed articles sat up against the wall of windows that allowed everyone to see into my office.

“I’ll see you guys on Monday,” I waved at my team.

Zach, our market researcher, was also packing up. He was my first hire for the southern office. He was headed to the lake with his wife for the weekend. They had invited us along, but Parker and I had a different kind of eventful weekend waiting for us.

Tilly, our new graphic designer, was chugging the last three ounces of her water bottle to hit her goal before leaving work. She was running a marathon this weekend. I wished her luck.

Jane, our executive assistant, was staring at the wall with a painting in her hands. We had bought some decorations yesterday, and I had tasked her with deciding where things went. She loved it and was great at it.

Lainee, our southern region manager, was writing in her planner. She had moved down a few weeks ago and would be spending the weekend setting up her new apartment. She had been promoted months ago but was finishing projects in Virginia and helping train the new northeast region manager.

I admired the new office, feeling proud of what I had accomplished. I had almost complete control over hiring decisions for the office, except for the sales team. Nathaniel controlled that part, but I knew he would hire an incredible few people for the South.

We had been in our new office for over six months, but we were finally getting around to decorating it. I had managed to hire the first four people, but there were still a couple of open positions. We were missing an on-site IT specialist and a financial analyst.

Connor had filled Erik’s position as the west manager with an incredibly capable guy, Jerry. He reminded me of myself when I was his age. I could tell he was going places. I was working on training him, as well as developing what my new role would look like.

Connor decided to establish the Midwest office in Chicago. The Midwest manager, Erin, had started a few weeks ago, so we were still in the learning phase. But she was already impressing me as well.

I walked out to the car, and the weather felt nice for a change. It was my first spring in Texas, and it hadn’t stopped raining in weeks. But today, the sun was bright, and I wasn’t boiling to death. It was slightly chilly.

The end of summer had been challenging. The heat and humidity were killer. But the winter had been pleasant. No snow.

I pulled into our new driveway. The garage door was open, and Parker had beaten me home. He was already working on pulling stuff out of boxes.

From the car, I admired the beautiful house we had closed on last week. I always wanted to live in the city, but the more we looked at a place to live, the more the outskirts, like where Amelia and Kate lived, called us. We built our own house in the middle of a couple of acres of land but stayed within fifteen minutes of a grocery store.

“There’s my beautiful fiancée,” Parker smiled at me as I got out of the car.

I couldn’t help but smile at the handsome man I was going to marry. A cloud of sweaty and messy red hair. Charming, deep blue eyes. Black wickaway long sleeve that hugged his toned arms.

My engagement ring still felt new and heavy on my finger as I kissed him. The beautiful princess-cut diamond glimmered with the sun.

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