“Ready to head home?” Josephine asked, glancing between us with a tired but warm smile.
Once we arrived back at the house, Topher turned to me with a cautious look, almost as if he was afraid of what he might hear but needed to ask anyway.
“You seemed a little distant at the hospital,” he said, searching my face. “Is everything okay?”
I swallowed, knowing I owed him honesty, even if it wasn’t easy to say.
“It’s this, Topher. It’s us,” I began, feeling the weight of each word. “I have so much to worry about right now. I’m not sure I have time for a relationship. When it was fake… There was no pressure. But now…” I sighed, feeling myself retreat as I said it. “I’m sorry, Topher. I have to focus on finding a job and… and figuring out how to pay my loan.”
His hand twitched slightly, like he was about to reach out. “I can?—”
“No,” I interrupted, shaking my head. “You can’t. I can’t count on anyone else to fix things for me. I need to do this on my own.”
He held my gaze for a moment, as if he were considering saying something more. Then, almost imperceptibly, he nodded, his expression unreadable. He turned and walked out, his shoulders tense but his stride steady as he disappeared down the hall. Something in his silence left me unsettled, wondering what he was thinking.
I tried to ignore the tug of sadness as the door closed behind him. My focus should have been on finding a job, figuring out how to dig myself out from under the weight of my loan. I had agreed to stay just four weeks—until Josephine’s checkup next week—and then I’d be free.
And not a moment too soon.
There was no room for distractions, especially the kind Topher could bring.
18
For a woman determinedto put distance between herself and a charming billionaire, I certainly hated the distance he put between us the next day. He came home after I went to sleep, and he left before I awoke.
So much for that whole“I’m not going to work as hard anymore”speech he gave me on our date on the swan boats. Maybe I was the confused one, because his idea of ‘not working as hard’ definitely looked like the complete opposite to me.
I missed him. I shouldn’t be so angry. I’d wanted distance from him, and he was certainly giving me that distance. But that didn’t mean he had to neglect his mom!
By late afternoon, I was more than a little upset. I had no idea where he was or what he was doing, but I could make an educated guess. Some emergency had come up, and instead of trusting his team, he had taken it on himself. That was Topher—always needing to be the one in control, never trusting anyone else to handle it. It was infuriating.
Josephine didn’t seem to mind at all. She sat on the couch, her feet propped up, flipping through a magazine like everything was perfectly fine. I paced around the room, trying to figure out how to bring it up without exploding.
Finally, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Doesn’t it bother you?” I blurted out.
Josephine looked up, a soft smile on her face. “What, dear?”
“That he’s working when he should be here with you.”
“Oh, sweetheart, it’s fine. Really, it’s fine.”
I stopped pacing, my arms crossing over my chest. “How is it fine? You’re recovering from surgery, and he’s not even around to check on you.”
She gave me a patient smile, the kind only a mother could give. “I’m sure he’s got his reasons.”
Sure, I told him that I wanted distance, but that shouldn’t mean that he falls right back into bad habits.
Why couldn’t he see how toxic it was to be so obsessed with his work? If this was what life with Topher would look like, I couldn’t see a happy future for any woman who chose to be with him.
I’d lived that cycle myself when I was back in college, buried in books and projects, too busy to pick up the phone and call my parents. The guilt still weighed on me, the distance I’d created without even realizing it. I promised myself I’d never go down that path again. And there I was, watching Topher make those same mistakes.
By the time he came back that evening, long after Josephine and I had already eaten dinner, I was ready to explode. Frustration simmered inside me, words bubbling up, ready to burst out. But when I saw him, his shoulders were slumped, exhaustion etched across his face like he was carrying the weight of the world, and I hesitated. Whatever I was about to say died on my lips.
Instead, I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around him.
He went still for a moment, then his arms came around me, pulling me close. His chin rested on top of my head, and I felt some of the stiffness leave his body.
"This feels so good," he murmured into my hair. "I could stay like this forever."
