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She held her breath as she waited for him to say…anything.
“We should celebrate. Uh, go to the cabin for the weekend.”
She hesitated, unsure what he was doing. She didn’t feel like celebrating.
“Uh, the thing is…with everything going on the payment processing is delayed. It won’t be through until Monday, so, this is the perfect opportunity to take some time to celebrate. And then when we get back, everything will be settled.”
“Right,” she answered, her forehead crinkling. She didn’t want to go to the cabin for the weekend. She didn’t think she could stand it.
“I think we deserve it. And you could write. Uninterrupted. And this time, James and Sierra won’t surprise us.”
She smiled at him again as the memory of their first experience at the cabin flitted through her mind.
“What do you say?” He grinned at her, his excitement obvious. With his freedom on the horizon, she imagined he was on cloud nine.
He wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She forced a bigger smile onto her face and agreed. “Sure.”
“Perfect. It’ll be a great trip.”
She couldn’t blame him for being excited. He’d finally won his freedom. Not just from her, but from DG Industries.
He swallowed the rest of his bourbon and set the glass on his desk. “We’ll leave tomorrow morning.”
“Okay,” she said.
“And now, I hate to do this, but I need to run to the office. I’ve got the paperwork to sign with Victor for the–”
“Yeah, of course. For the Solaris project. You closed the deal.”
“I did,” he said, his grin still beaming from his face. “With everything that happened last night, we never got the chance to talk about it, but I closed it. And thanks to your quick thinking, I still have those plans.”
“I’m really glad,” she said, her grin coming easier than it had before.
His eyes lingered on her for another moment before he finally looked away. “Well, we can talk about all of our wins this weekend.”
“I’ll walk you out,” she said as she set down her glass.
He strode from the office toward the door with her trailing behind. He twisted to face her, the grin still lingering on his features. “See you later.”
“Goodbye, Grant,” she said with a fleeting smile as he stepped out the door.
She blew out a long breath as she climbed the stairs, her footsteps as heavy as her heart. She didn’t want to go to the cabin, didn’t want to spend the weekend saying goodbye. She hated long goodbyes.
After everything they’d been through, she couldn’t handle celebrating their wins before they parted ways. It was too much.
She pushed into her bedroom, swallowing hard as she scanned the space. Her heart ached, but this wasn’t time for her to second guess.
She dug her suitcase out of the closet and found the few things she’d come to Harrington House with, stuffing them inside.
With her things packed, she went into her office and sat down at her desk. No, not her desk, her mind corrected, Grant’s desk.
Her eyes fell onto their wedding photo. It seemed like a cruel joke now. She forced her eyes away from it, digging four sheets of paper from the drawer and grabbing her pen.
She penned four separate notes, folding them and scrawling each person’s name on the front. She rose, her eyes falling on her packed suitcase as she resisted her decision. The thought of spending a weekend at the cabin, only to say goodbye, tore at her heart. It wasn’t just the farewell to Grant, which would be hard enough, but to an entire chapter of her life. A clean break now would be less painful for both of them.
She left the first on Sierra’s pillow and the second on Kyle’s nightstand before she dragged her suitcase downstairs, left one on the foyer table for Worthington, then slipped into Grant’s office.
As she set his note on his desk, she blew out a long, shaky breath. From her trembling hands, she tugged the rings she wore and set them next to the note. Her former family flitted through her mind as she stared down at them, the afternoon light catching the diamond and making it sparkle. Sierra had been like a daughter to her. Kyle had grown into an unexpected ally. And Grant…their relationship was a tapestry of complex emotions, but she’d miss him.
