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“You were snooping through my stuff?” He didn’t care that his voice came out harsh. After everything, she still didn’t trust him.
“No. I went to borrow a t-shirt, and I saw it. I didn’t mean to. It’s very beautiful. She’s a lucky girl, but I won’t be your booty call.”
“Damn it, Isla.” He let go of her and stepped back, his hand running through his hair. “There is no one else. Never was. The ring was supposed to be yours.”
“What?” Her voice was so small, he wasn’t even sure if he heard her or imagined her saying it.
“It’s why I was working so many hours back then. I was trying to pay it off.”
Her eyes widened, and her lips parted. “You were going to propose?”
The cat was out of the bag. There was no use denying it. “I loved you, and I would’ve done anything for you, but you couldn’t even trust me, and now I know you still don’t.”
She reached out to him, but he was done.
“Nolan… I didn’t know.”
Betrayal ran red hot through his veins. He stopped and turned, narrowing his gaze on her. “That was the point. You weren’t supposed to know.”
Chapter 25
3 Years Ago
“Nolan, can I see you in my office?” George, his boss, had said from the doorway of his office.
Nolan didn’t hesitate. He stopped what he was doing and followed George inside. He expected George to take his seat behind his desk, but he stopped and closed the door. Closed door meetings only meant important business, and a pit settled in Nolan’s stomach.
One of their large accounts hadn’t liked a few of their new product lines as much as Nolan had anticipated. Nolan immediately worked with the client to tweak the existing products into something they wanted to carry in their stores, but it set him back on other projects.
He didn’t think it was grounds to be fired, but he didn’t know for sure. He’d been putting in so much time to make it right and to bank some overtime that he didn’t stop to think about how George would have viewed the snafu.
Nolan had other things on his mind as well. After months of hard work, he finally saved enough money to buy what he was saving for, and today on his lunchbreak he was going to make the purchase. Getting fired would put a total kink in his plan… Though, he’d been with the company since he was nineteen, starting out as an intern and working his way up the ladder.
George took his seat and rested his folded hands on the big mahogany desk. “I wanted to go over the Sweeney’s account with you.”
The pit in his stomach turned into a hard rock. “I know it put me behind on my other projects.”
“Who cares about the other projects? Give them to someone else. You saved our asses with one of our biggest clients. Don’t think I didn’t notice the effort you put in to turn it around and make them happy. It showed real leadership, as well as devotion to your job. Which is why, I’d like to offer you the position in Seattle.”
“Seattle?” Nolan exclaimed. He knew they were opening a new office and they needed new blood to help with the transition, but he never expected to be up for consideration. It would bring him up another wrung on the career ladder.
But his life was here in New York. His friends and family were here. Isla was here.
They’d been together almost every day since they started dating at fourteen and even before that, not much time had passed without them seeing one another. He couldn’t leave without her, but her life was planted more firmly here than his own.
She worked at her parent’s floral shop, and one day, she would take it over. Her grandmother was here too. Isla never wanted to leave Morgan’s Bay, and he assumed they would stay in the small town together until their death.
Seattle. Born and raised an east coast boy, he knew nothing about the west coast. And didn’t it rain a lot in Seattle? He wasn’t exactly sure. But this was an opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to prove his worth and excel in his career.
“I didn’t expect you to look so shellshocked,” George said. “I’ll sweeten the pot for you. I have high expectations for you. You remind me a lot of myself when I was your age. You’re a go getter with a good head on your shoulders to boot. You come to Seattle, and you’ll be on your way to becoming head of the department. From there, who knows.”
Nolan’s mouth opened and closed as he tried to find words. This was everything he’d dreamed about, but Seattle was never the plan. He wanted it all in New York. Uprooting his life had never been a thought in his mind.
“I appreciate the offer. You have no idea. It’s everything I’ve been working for.”
“So… you’ll take it?”
“Can I think about it and get back to you on Monday?”
