Page 122 of Wrong Room, Right Billionaire

The fact that I am even doing this interview feels like a betrayal. Despite the fact that I have no future with Bale (the resorts or the man…), agreeing to work for any other company feels like selling myself short. Because I loved working for him. I loved working with him.

I loved him.

But considering the fact that I haven’t heard from him or spoken to him since that fateful day at the airport, I think it’s safe to say that ship has sailed. And I need a job. And this is a very, very good job.

I listen as she rattles off the credentials, the travel agenda, the expectations, the compensation and benefits (which are arguably very, very generous) and the entire time I smile and nod eagerly, reminding myself that it’s for the babies. I have to do what’s best for the babies. Of course at some point I’m going to have to figure something else out (I can’t fly after a certain point in the pregnancy I don’t think) but if I save every penny until then, I should be able to figure things out. Plus, I promised Claire I’d let her help.

“How does all of that sound?” she asks at the end.

“It sounds amazing,” I admit. And it does. Or it would. If she were Morgan and she were offering to take me back and raise our children together.

“Wonderful. I just can’t believe you’re that girl.”

“That girl?” I ask, realizing that she too has probably seen the media. I mean, she did find me on Insta after all. “Right. Yes, I am the girl who did the travel blog for Bale Resorts. Who was pregnant and engaged, and it was all a sham. Well. Not the pregnancy part, obviously,” I say.

“No. I mean, you’re the bucket list girl,” she says.

I sigh, still holding a smile. “Yes. He took my bucket list…”

But she only laughs. “I mean, the bucket list. The one he wrote for you?”

“For me?” I ask.

“Girl, check your phone. And also, your email because I’m sending you some docs to sign and–”

I don’t hear the rest. Because I am too busy checking my phone, like she said. And that’s when I see what she’s talking about.

I’ve been tagged about twenty times in an article posted by Bale Resorts. Photos I took on the trip. The article itself is enough that tears well in my eyes, and I have to wipe them and read it twice.

“He reconciled with Conrad…” I say in near disbelief.

But it’s the part after that which really gets me. That makes my throat tight and my stomach bottom out and my heart slows down.

It’s a bucket list, written by Morgan. And it’s the last item on that list that has my heart stopping altogether.

● Fix my reputation as CEO of Bale. Check.

● Gather up all the amazing things about not just my resorts but the cities they’re in and share them with the world so others can experience life at its richest. That was what my parents wanted when they started the company, and it’s what I should strive for always.

● Experience all of these things with an amazing woman.

● Fall in love with this amazing woman.

● Realize that my dumb actions have the ability to cost me this woman.

● Convince her to meet me at the New York resort so I can apologize to her and tell her how I truly feel…

* * *

Honestly, I wasn’t really sure what to do. We haven’t spoken at all since that day. And now here he is, wanting to talk in New York City, and he broadcast it.

Funnily enough, the woman interviewing me asked if I was going to go. It was almost as if she wanted me to. As if she was rooting for the story so much that she didn’t even care that if it ended in happily ever after, she might lose me as a potential travel blogger.

And my prospective boss wasn’t the only one persuading me to get on the plane. Within minutes of ending the Zoom meeting, Claire was calling me, insisting I give him a chance to explain.

It’s like the whole world is rooting for us despite everything that happened. And to push the ball further into my court, Claire ended the call by saying,

“It’s a very you thing to do. But also, you have nothing to lose.”