I’d worked so hard for this. A full-time job with a salary to match, health insurance. I could finally relax.
I should have been rejoicing or at least having a drink, but instead I sat there feeling hollowed out. Disappointed didn’t even cover it. I felt guilty. Jonah had fought tooth and nail for that CEO position, poured everything he had into turning the company around, and now he’d walked away from it all. For me.
The thought made my stomach twist. Was I supposed to feel flattered? Grateful? Because mostly I just felt like I’d cost him everything he’d worked for. Like somehow, loving me had become the thing that unraveled all his ambitions.
Had our relationship cost him too much? And if it had, if he woke up one day and regretted choosing me over the career he’d worked for, how was I supposed to live with that?
64
LEXI
Aday later, I stood on the west side of Prospect Park for the Spring Bloom Festival. Evie and other kids ran around with face paint and glitter in their hair. Local musicians took turns on a small pop-up stage, and booths sold everything from candles to lemonade.
I had come mostly for Evie, but also to keep myself distracted from thinking about Jonah’s absence. Anne stood next to us, watching over Evie and helping me feel safe now that we were in public. Jonah’s car was parked in the distance, and a member of his security detail stood a few feet away from us, discreetly scanning the crowd.
The scent of kettle corn, and grilled arepas drifted through the air.
It had been a few days since Jonah had left for Wyoming, and phone conversations were a miserable substitute for having him around in person. After his visit to Wyoming, Jonah had disappeared to meet his friends, Alex, Sean and the others, and even though I knew he was in New York, I hadn’t seen him all day.
Evie gave me a few flowers she’d picked off the ground, and ran back to Anne. It was a sunny day, and families were everywhere and music played in the background. It should have been perfect.
And maybe it would’ve been if I hadn’t been trying not to think about Jonah for the hundredth time today.
Then I felt him before I saw him. The people around me had gone quiet, and I looked up.
Jonah stood about twenty feet away, completely out of place with his dark jacket, his expensive shoes, and his gaze locked straight on me.
My pulse pounded as I took a few steps forward to get a better look.
His face lost some of its tightness. “Lexi,” he said loudly enough for me to hear across the distance.
A tear rolled down my cheek as he strode towards me. The flowers in my hand fell to the ground, but I barely noticed. My focus was on Jonah, and people parted to let him through.
He was, obnoxiously, the tallest, most handsome man out here, and my heart felt like it was about to burst with happiness after seeing Jonah again.
“You look … surprised,” he said, when he reached me, his voice finally audible over the festival noise.
“Well,” I whispered back. “I should have known a surprise entrance like this was exactly what a megalomaniac billionaire would do to get my attention.”
His lips twisted into a wry smile. “We meet after a couple of long days, and the first thing you want to do is curse me?”
A mirroring smile threatened to take over my lips, and I fought it down. I nodded. Duh. “I had to bite back so many curses in the past few days because you weren’t around to appreciate them. This one just slipped out.”
I’d been such a fool. The past few days, my chest had been feeling so hollow and my brain fuzzy. Now, it was as though that vacant spot was shrinking and my brain was clearing up.
His expression heated me up, his eyes never straying from my face.
“Well, go on then,” he said, taking my hand in his and pressing a kiss on the back of my hand. My heart swelled while he did that. “I know things have been difficult lately. I know that ever since that article came out, people have been sending threatening letters to your old apartment. I know that Evie and you were occasionally followed by strangers who simply wanted to hurl insults at you.”
I inhaled a sharp breath. “Sasha told you, didn’t she? I’m going to kill her?—”
“Don’t,” he muttered. “She’s got a fiancé who might murder you if you hurt her, and?—”
“You’d avenge my death?” I asked hopefully. “I could rest in peace if I knew that you would suffer in anguish for a reasonable amount of time after I passed.”
His eyebrows rose, and I answered him without him having to ask, “Twenty years should be fine.”
He turned sideways, his head dipping as he grinned.
