Page 57 of The Shy Waitress and Her Boss

You Were Meant For Me

"You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. " ~ Steve Jobs

Kady heard the knockon the door and forced herself to stir, pushing herself up to a sitting position on the couch. "That must be room service."

"Just stay there," Catherine said. "I'll get it."

"I should get dumped more often," Kady managed to joke, "if it means having you spoil me rotten."

Catherine's nose went up in the air. "I won't even dignify that with an answer." Horrible child, to suggest that she was only nice in such occasions! Didn't Kady know such truths were never to be spoken out loud?

After taking a couple of twenty-dollar bills from her purse, she made her way to the door, thinking once again how it was just like her daughter to base her food order on some cultish thing likeshufflemancy,which apparently was a form of musical divination that Kady's other boss had unconsciously practiced.

And since earlier, they had heard the music video of Jewel'sYou Were Meant For Meplaying on the TV, Kady had asked for eggs, pancakes, and maple syrup.

Catherine's lips pursed disapprovingly.Whoever heard of eating breakfast at night?

There was another knock on the door, and Catherine frowned. What an unusually impatient bellboy!

She opened the door, intending to give the young man a piece of her mind, but instead of a uniformed teenager, she saw an exceptionally handsome man in plaids and jeans.

Slade tensed as the older woman stepped out of the room without a word and pulled the door shut.

Catherine subjected the man to a more thorough inspection, taking note of the stiff outline of his figure and the desperation in his gaze.

Kady's mother lifted her chin. "Mr. Wyndham, I take it?"

"Mrs. Abrams." He bowed his head in a gesture of respect, but Catherine was only the slightest bit mollified. He had good manners, but it didn't erase the fact that he had made her baby girl cry.

"I'd like to speak if Kady—-"

"So you could hurt her again?"

Slade's jaw hardened. "I don't know how much she's told you—-"

"Nothing much at first," she said coldly. "You had her crying so hard she could barely string two words together when she came here." She saw his face whiten, but it still wasn't enough.

Images of Kady crying flayed him, and the billionaire could feel himself drowning in self-contempt and desperation.God.He had never meant to hurt her that way. And he would never ever hurt her again...if she only gave him one last chance.

"I was an idiot," he said hoarsely. "I hurt her when she only deserved to be cherished. But it's different now—-"

"My daughter has been with you for weeks," she flared at him angrily, "and you told her it wasn't enough for her to fall in love with you. Now you're telling me that you've had a change of heart in a matter of hours?" Catherine's lip curled as she watched the truth hit him like a punch to the guts, and a sickened expression fell on his face.

"I was wrong." Slade's voice was taut. "And she was right."

"And that's it?"

"And now," he said forcefully, "I'm here to beg for her forgiveness."

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