“Henry, this, this can’t be real,” I said. My hands began to shake as I dropped the papers back into the box.
“But it is real, I’ve made this happen. The only thing that I haven’t completely worked out yet is which office that you would like to run this from. Because I don’t know which one that you would prefer best. But it’s something that we can work out together.”
“Henry, no, you can’t just set up a whole new company for me, just to take me away from my shitty job?”
“I hope that this is more than just taking you away from your shitty job, Miss Molly. I hope that this completely fulfills you. You have no idea how much this helps me out as well. I’ve always wanted to start something up like this, but I knewI couldn’t run it myself. I hadn’t found anyone else to do it until now. I don’t know anyone more fitting for the job. You see so many of the qualities that you possess that I’ve seen you at times judge yourself for them. I’ve heard you call yourself indecisive, or not following through with the ideas that you have. But all of those qualities are really important when it comes to innovation. I have tunnel vision and am focused on the tech side of the company and property. Opening up this side is going to do wonders for playing in different markets. Your open and versatile mind is the most important thing for business and, really, this is for you to just play in whatever market that you choose. Anything that you need, anything that you want to take a crack at, this is for you, and we can help build a team around you.”
“Henry… I…” I was absolutely speechless. This was real. These documents were real. “I mean, Henry, this is… well, this is serious, my name is on this. This is so much more than a rose. This is a business. This is our names intertwined.”
He paused for a moment, his lips parting as his eyes looked me up and down slowly. I felt his body tighten. “Molly,” he said clearly. “This is not more than a rose. This is exactly what saying yes to that rose meant to me. I know that it’s not a marriage proposal. But I can tell you that I’m not here with you to casually date. With how deep that we’ve gone into this already, I don’t think that we can do casual.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his comment and he chuckled too. But as I laughed, I felt like I was also going to cry. Notout of sadness, but more overwhelm. I’d always hoped for this moment, when everything felt like it was going to work out for me. And now it was, all in front of me. Henry was literally the one giving me everything that I had ever asked for and more. “I want a life with you, Molly, I mean it. I want you to be a big part of my life, and I think that this is the next natural step for both of us. I’m in a very fortunate position, Molly, and with that, I want to be able to give you as much as you can.”
I tried to gulp down the tears, but I couldn’t hold them back anymore, as two escaped my eyes, falling down my cheeks. He wiped them away softly, “So this is what you were doing last night? After our conversation on the boat and after everything that happened, this is what you were working on? Making this cream and set up this company.” My voice croaked as I choked back tears.
Henry nodded. “I mean it when I say I want to create the best life for us, I want to give you everything that I possibly can.” I couldn’t take it anymore, I reached towards Henry, going to throw my arms around him, but he grabbed hold of my hands.
“Not yet,” he said, with a big smile on his face. “There’s still one more.” There was still one large red box on my lap separating us. The last thing that I needed right now was more gifts. I just wanted to wrap my arms around him, pull his lips onto mine.
I pulled the lid off the last box and my jaw hit the floor.
“Gucci hiking boots! Are you kidding me?” I squealed, they were stunning, black and gold.
Henry smiled. “That’s what you’re most excited about?”
“I mean, no, they’re great, they’re amazing, all of this is really exciting, beyond exciting. And with these boots, I think that means I know what the plan is today!” I said clapping my hands in front of my chest. What was my life right now? A whirlwind didn’t even explain how I felt. “But wait, why are these down here right now? Did you pull these from the wardrobe?”
Henry shook his head. “It was a complete mistake by me. I had forgotten to get you any. I got these flown in overnight.”
“Oh my God, Henry.” I threw the boots aside, and launched myself on his lap, out lips locking, lost inside him, until he had to pull me away.
“We have all day for this, Miss Molly,” he whispered in my ear. “We really do have the rest of our lives for this, but right now I think that we better eat some food before we check out the middle of the island for the day.”
I nodded, but I kept my arms wrapped tightly around him not wanting to move. The last thing that I wanted to do right now was to bring up Dylan, my estranged ex. But if I didn’t say it now, there wouldn’t be another time to….
“Oh, Henry, there is one more thing… since we’re being so open and honest with each other,” I said, wondering if he could hear the subtle shake in my voice. I leaned back on his lap as I held tightly onto his shoulders, avoiding his eye contact.
“Yes?”
“There is one thing that I need to tell you about,” I said as my eyes met his. “This is a really strange conversation to have, and one that I don’t particularly want to have, and I don’t want to bring down the mood right now….” I already felt my voice raising at the same speed as my heart. Henry pulled my hands down from his shoulders, holding them in mine.
“It’s okay, Molly. Whatever it is, there is no judgement here.”
I inhaled deeply. “The other night, while you were fast asleep. The night we skipped dinner and opted for some more intimate time together instead.” That brought a smile to Henry’s face as his eyes glistened into mine. “Well…” My voice began shaking again and I hated how nervous I was in front of him, he had said it himself, I can talk to him about anything…
“Well, I came down to get a midnight snack. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be in the kitchen, but that was the moment that I met, Dylan, your chef. It wasn’t the first moment that I met Dylan. He um, well he is my ex-boyfriend from Philly We were together for years before I decided to up and leave for New York. Seeing him here was the first time that I had seen him, since our breakup and since I left.”
“He was your ex?” Henry said, his face was still but his voice raised two decibels. I nodded, biting my lips together. “Wow, that is well, random. Unexpected. Who would have known there was a common connection tying us together all this time?” That wasn’t really what I was expecting Henry to say but it was true.
“Yeah, well, I’m not telling you because there’s anything going on there, not at all. I just want to clear up that he is an ex for a reason. But also I wanted to tell you because of the strange conversation we had that night, one that made me a little bit worried about him. He said some strange things and I haven’t seen him since. I was going to tell you all about it the following morning, but I just felt like I had to check in with him first and see if he was okay.”
Henry cleared his throat. “I can tell you why you haven’t seen him around, so I can ease your mind on that front, but I would love to know about what made you worried about him?”
“He just did not seem himself. Not that I really know who that is anymore, since I haven’t seen him for over ten years. But he just seemed stressed to see me. Like I was the last person that he wanted to see here. He began waffling on about how people go missing here and then he wanted to stage a plan for us both to secretly leave this island. It was all so strange and overwhelming at the time that I didn’t really know what to do, I just excused myself from the situation and ran away….” Henry’s brow furrowed ever so slightly as I continued to ramble. “But you know where he is…”
“Yes, he has gone home. I have been worried about Dylan for quite some time. This is not the first time that I’m hearing a story like this. It’s a shame. He was so excited to work here, and I was so excited to have him here. I really liked him. He was such a great guy and truly one of the best chefs that I know.At first, he loved it out here, but then after the first year, I had begun to receive some complaints from people who said that he had been acting a bit off. At first I didn’t think anything of it, I mean everyone has their situations that they want to escape from. I just thought that he didn’t have such a great family life.” Henry sighed.
I wondered why Dylan had acted so strangely. His family life was perfect. His parents and his sister, they were all really amazing people. He loved them so much, he used to never want to leave them.
