Page 644 of Manhattan Bossholes

The anger was drained out of me. I was exhausted from feeling too many feelings. I’d been doing okay, pushing down the happy memories I’d shared with Cameron and focusing on the way he’d made me feel at the park.

“Say yes,” Nina said. “I’m sorry I went behind your back, but I did it because I love you and I want this dream to come true for you—for both of us. So, say yes to making our dream a reality. This is what we’ve been working toward. And it’s right there, just waiting for us to make the call.”

I stared down at my new Orange Creamsicle sneakers. My life felt like a series of knots I couldn’t untangle. I wanted to jump into Treehouse with both feet, but I couldn’t get comfortable with the fact that our dream would forever be linked to Cameron. It wasn’t fair that he could step in with his bags of money and expect that it would make everything okay.

Saying yes to the bookstore would also be saying yes to Cameron, and he didn’t deserve any sort of acceptance from me. He’d humiliated me, and worse, just minutes later he’d kicked me when I was at my lowest.

Nina could run Treehouse without me. We’d drawn up a strong business plan, and she had tons of book industry background thanks to her job. With Cameron’s help, she wouldn’t have to worry about rent, so she could focus on the joy of the work. It was completely feasible for her to do it on her own. Maybe that would be the best option. The one that would keep me from falling apart.

But I didn’t feel comfortable having that conversation with her yet.

“I need some time to think,” I said. I leaned against the wall and stared down at Nina, watching her emotions flash across her face. We knew each other so well I could tell exactly how she was feeling without her even saying a word.

Disappointed, and trying to hide it.

Nina cleared her throat. “Okay, I had a feeling you would. Take as long as you need. But just…just promise me you’ll think about the good things that could come from this, and not only the bad, okay? Not every story has an unhappy ending.”

“I know. Just give me a day or so,” I answered. I pulled out my phone to check the time. “I need to head back to the office.”

A harmless lie. She didn’t realize no one at Ideal gave a shit about where I was.

“No matter what you decide, I’m with you, okay? We’ll get through this together,” Nina promised me. I managed to muster up a smile.

“Yeah, I know. Love you.”

“Love you, too. See you after work. Maybe we can go do something fun—clear our heads. Forget about Cameron and just think about what makes us happy.”

I nodded with my hand on the doorknob. The back of my nose prickled.

I didn’t say that no matter how hard I tried, there still was no way for me to separate my dreams from Cameron O’Connor.

28

CAMERON

Hanwell Park was more of a parkette. A pocket park that was easy for the busy New Yorkers rushing by to miss. The tall iron gate obscured the beauty inside, which meant it was mainly a spot for in-the-know locals like me.

And more importantly, Felicity.

Hanwell was part of a preservation movement in the late 1960s to introduce a new kind of public space in the city, an urban oasis that featured shade trees scattered around and English ivy coating the brick walls of the adjacent buildings. Most visitors didn’t realize there was an additional empty parcel beyond the vertical walls of ivy. I hadn’t noticed it either, until the day I’d come to the park with Boris, and I’d spotted the weed-filled plot just out of sight. Boris and I had hung out for longer than we should’ve that day, probably because I was hoping Felicity would come by. It was depressing that my only hope of connecting with her had been an accidental run-in. Until now.

The day before, I’d called Ideal on their main line and asked to be transferred to Felicity, so she’d have no chance to screen me. She’d come close to hanging up on me after she heard my voice, but I managed to get her to agree to meet me in Hanwell.

I hadn’t expected to feel so damn nervous about seeing her. Nothing made me sweat. I’d dined with kings and presidents, given speeches in front of thousands of people, appeared on live television defending Veritique during our bleak days, and negotiated million-dollar deals without a noticeable change in my heart rate. But this meeting had my gut turning inside-out and my palms damp.

What if I was wrong? What if I’d taken this crazy leap of faith for nothing?

I turned to glance behind me. Well, it wouldn’t exactly be for nothing. There would be beneficiaries to what I’d done, even if Felicity decided to walk away from a future together.

I glanced around the park. As usual, there were moms and nannies chasing after children, people on laptops sitting at little metal tables, and couples wrapped around each other. It was a place of happiness for anyone who visited. Hopefully for me as well.

There was a chance Felicity wouldn’t even show up. But she was a woman of her word. If she said she was going to be here, I believed her. I turned to pace and stopped dead when I saw the silhouette watching me.

Felicity was standing in the entrance, arms crossed and back straight, like she was headed into battle.

How could she be even more beautiful, despite the sadness I could read in her eyes from across the park? She didn’t look like the Veritique Felicity I’d gotten used to, though. She was dressed in a black hoodie and black leggings and was wearing the most ridiculously colorful sneakers I’d ever seen. Was it camouflage, to keep CamLicity truthers from noticing her? There was something fragile about her as she waited just beyond the gates, like she was afraid to set foot in the park.

I understood why—we didn’t have a great history in New York’s green spaces.