Chapter Eight
Logan
I’d spent two hours last night combing over Mia’s questionnaire answers, trying to figure out more of who she was on the inside.
Divorced, had a large family surrounding her, and ran a hotel empire. Easy enough, but the questions under character strengths and flaws caught my eye the most.
Character strengths:
Strong will
Ambitious
Kind
Nurturing
Character flaws:
Insecure sometimes
Impatient
Control freak
Indecisive
Critical of myself
Overly focused
Clearly, Mia did not think highly of herself. People often wondered why they weren’t enough for their jobs or their marriages. But, in truth, they didn’t feel like they were enough for themselves.
Mia’s true issue was that she didn’t love herself, and she should. In just the few times we’d chatted, I saw way more in her than she saw in herself. It was my job to help her discover the beautiful woman inside and set her free.
Mia thought she was ruling an empire now?
I scoffed at the thought.
Mia would be unstoppable with her missions once she became one with her true self. Her authentic self.
My hand hit the shifter of my Jeep into gear as I headed toward the hotel to pick up Mia and take her out of her element. Hopefully, she’d be ready, and she’d done as I said last night to drink more. Her complexion was looking so dull. A little hydration went a long way.
The one valet who’d helped me yesterday all but pushed his fellow coworker, who had been waiting to help me, out of the way and was ready to open my door to accept my baby’s keys.
“I’ll be back out shortly. Keep her close.” I grinned and strutted into the beautiful lobby.
Disappointment fluttered in my chest as I saw Mia in the lobby, talking to someone in a business suit with thinned lips from biting back words. Her hands were clenched so hard that I thought the skin around her knuckles would burst.
She wasn’t ready to go, but that was okay. Adaptability was key to surviving on a daily basis. You couldn’t control everything.
Casually, I walked into her sight but didn’t interject myself into their business. I walked to the couch and plopped down. Linda from yesterday didn’t even approach me to see if I needed anything, which earned her a shit-eating grin from me just to tease that prim and proper lady.
Five minutes later, Mia was rushing over in a word storm of excuses. “I’m so sorry. I’d been having issues with one of the managers, and I needed to talk to him before we left. I’m sorry. I’ll just go run up to my penthouse and get out of this suit.”
She looked frazzled, apologizing more than she should. I looked at her, to see if she would do as she said or wait for me to say something. She waited, which was completely unnecessary. She was a grown woman who was acting like I was her boss, seeing what I’d say, as if I had control over her actions outside of helping her get things together. I could see where the confusion lay, but I was not her keeper.
“You are free to do whatever you need to, Mia. That’s the glory of being human. You always have a choice. I’m here to help you since you want help, but I’m not your master. So, we can go as is, toss that control out the window, and embrace the now. Or you can change for something of which you have no idea of location or occasion.” I might have added that last bit to tease her more, which it did, but she stood taller, and possibly out of stubbornness, she uttered for us to go.
