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He smiled. “Believe me, it was my pleasure. We had a great time.”
She nodded slowly. “I could tell from the pictures.” She had paused for a solid minute before speaking again. “Do you love her?”
“More than anything.”
That seemed to please her. “Good. You’re good for her.”
“Believe me, she’s good for me too. I never thought we’d have this chance.”
Another slow nod and he thought she was dozing again. He was about to sit back down when she spoke.
“Promise me something,” she said weakly.
“Anything.”
“Don’t let that be her only adventure. Don’t let her make this research and this job her life. Make her live,” she said, her voice trailing off.
“I promise,” he whispered back. “You have my word.”
He’d taken Sienna home that night and held her while she cried, and continued to hold her while she slept. If he thought he’d have time to sit and just be with her, he was mistaken.
The next morning, they had gotten up and she had gone into survival mode—she started making calls and handling all the things Eleanor had asked her to. There wasn’t going to be a big funeral. Eleanor was cremated, and there was a small memorial service the following day. Less than seventy-two hours after he arrived, he was making arrangements to fly home. He was all set to stay, but Sienna had been the one to all but shove him out the door.
“You know that I love you and how much I appreciate you being here with me, but I need to get back to the office and take care of things, and so do you.” She gave him a patient smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’m already so behind, and I need to make sure I get some serious time in without distraction.”
If it weren’t for the slight tremble in her voice, he’d almost believed her.
“Hey,” he said softly, pulling her into his arms. “No one’s expecting you to jump right back into the thick of things. I heard your supervisor telling you yesterday at the memorial to take as much time as you needed.”
Carefully, she disengaged herself and walked over to pour herself a cup of coffee. “I don’t need any more time. I had a two week vacation and then I came home and worked a couple of half days and then took two days off.” She glanced at her watch. “It might not seem like a good idea to you, but this is what I need to do. Work is going to keep me sane right now.”
Don’t let her make this research and this job her life. Make her live.
He’d never made a deathbed promise before, and he hoped he never had to do it again because it felt like a lot of pressure.
It was a given that he was going to give Sienna the world. Once they got over the next few weeks, things would start falling into place. But right now, he didn’t like this detached attitude she had.
“Believe me, I completely understand the need to work and how much of a distraction it can be,” he said evenly. “All I’m saying is that maybe you ease back into it rather than jumping in with both feet. I can easily take another flight and...”
She let out a long breath. “We’ve been over this. Lynn called you three times yesterday and you have meetings tomorrow you can’t miss.” Her shoulders sagged. “We knew this sort of thing was going to happen and we have to deal with it.”
“I just don’t want you to...”
“I’m not,” she snapped. “I’m doing what I need to do because I need to do it, not because anyone’s making me. And believe me, once I get caught up, I won’t be letting myself get that bogged down again. Trust me.”
There were so many things he wanted to say, but he didn’t want to upset her.
Actually, he wanted to share with her the request Eleanor had made, but...that would definitely upset her.
So he held his tongue and gave her a slow, sweet kiss before going back to the bedroom and packing. A car was picking him up in an hour and he’d be working the entire flight back to L.A. As he placed his few meager things into his suitcase, all he could think of was how Sienna was right and they would be fine, but...he had a feeling if left to her own devices for too long that she would completely go back to her old ways.
And so will I...
Yeah, it wasn’t completely one-sided, but he had to have faith.
When the car arrived, Sienna walked him out and kissed him soundly before he climbed in.
“Two weeks,” he stated, and she nodded. Because of this slight delay, they both had to adjust their calendars a bit. It was like starting over and he hated it, but once they were through it, they could finally start planning their future.
