But he doesn’t.
“I should get back to the gang,” she says. “There are deals to be made.”
“Yes, of course.”
She starts to walk away, but I stop her. “Dylan.”
When she turns, I smile. “Thank you for not airing the truth about my mum. I know it would have been an incredible coup for the network.”
“It would have, and I’m not going to lie, it hurt like hell to give that one up. But the truth is, when Will begged me not to do it, I just couldn’t go through with it. Call me a romantic, but to see a man like him willing to do anything for the woman he loves, well, it just got to me.” She has a long gulp, then says, “And we’re going to keep him so busy, he’ll more than make up for us losing the big scoop. He’ll be earning us money for years to come. Years. I’m going to make him the biggest thing since Air Jordans.”
With that, she walks back over to the group, her words bouncing around in my head while I stare at him. He begged her. He was willing to do anything. And now, he’s got the fate of an entire network resting on his broad shoulders. And I need to let him go do what he needs to do because if he has me to worry about, he won’t, will he? He’s finally on his way, and I can’t let him give up his dream for me. Not again. Even if I did make the mistake of a lifetime and even if I’ll never find happiness again. I must let him go.
I watch him for another few seconds, and finally, he glances at me. I smile at him and mouth, “Go for it,” then turn and gesture to Bellford that it’s time to leave. I force myself to walk out without turning back for one last look.
I mean, technically I can see him whenever I want since there are literally hundreds of videos and photos of him all over the bloody internet.
I shouldn’t look, but I will.
31
Diamonds, Goose Down, and Busy Body Brothers
Will
One Month Later
“Did you start packing yet?”Harrison asks. I’m in my bedroom at Dwight’s and I have him on speaker phone.
“Just started,” I say, pulling my suitcase out of the closet.
“How have you been?” he asks. He’s still got that irritating ‘I’m worried about you since you lost the love of your life’ tone happening and no matter what I say, he won’t believe that I’m fine, which I am.
“Great. I’m really excited about the show—I’ve been working out hard and studying up on the terrain, as well as the flora and fauna of Greenland. I’ve got a great partner, so all in all, it seems like we’re in a good position to take this thing.”
“Good for you, Will. It’s almost like everything’s going your way these days.”
“Yup,” I say, dumping out the bags from my shopping spree earlier this afternoon onto my bed. I start ripping the tags off with my teeth, even though I know you’re not meant to do that. “I’ve stocked up on thermal underwear and got myself a Canadian goose down coat. The only thing I wish is that we weren’t filming in such a cold climate.”
“Is that theonlything you wish?” he asks.
I roll my eyes. “Let me guess, inquiring minds want to know.”
“Yeah, Emma and Rosy are both pissed that you aren’t returning their calls.”
“If they want me to return their calls, they’re going to have to stop asking me about Arabella.”
“I’ll let them know. In the meantime, they’ve given me a list of questions for you since they knew you’d answer my call.”
“Seriously?” I say, starting to roll my new wool socks into tight little balls and tossing them into my suitcase.
“Hey, dude, you really can’t blame me. Unlike you, I can’t ignore them due to proximity,” Harrison says. “Now, I’m supposed to find out if you’ve heard from her at all.”
“Nope. Not since she snuck out after the finale.”
“Okay, so I imagine they’ll have a follow-up question for that, which is whether you’ve tried to reach out to her.”
“Tell them I haven’t,” I say, opening the top drawer of the dresser. “Let me guess—the next question is going to be why and the answer to that would be because it’s over and that’s that. The truth is, mate, she was right about us. We are too different, and we really don’t want the same things in life.”
