Joy took his hand and held it whether she wanted him to or not. But she got no resistance from him.
Then he continued to stare, as if he was reliving it all over again.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, William,” she said as both of her hands held his hand. “I amsosorry.”
And that was when William lost it. He grabbed Joy and pulled her into his arms. He never cried in front of any humanbeing ever. Not even at his own child’s funeral did he shed a tear. But he sobbed in Joy’s arms. It was as if it had been building up all year long and now it was rushing out.
“Let it out, William,” she said in tears as she held him. “You have to let it out.”
And he let it out. For several minutes he sobbed and for several minutes Joy held him tighter and tighter until there was no daylight between them. Until he wasn’t just clinging to her, but she was clinging to him. And all the baggage that came with him.
She definitely wanted to eventually have children, while he made it clear he never would. That should have been the dealbreaker right there. But just like his sobbing only caused her to cling to him more, his baggage would never cause her to leave him.
It was complicated. It was so complicated. As she held him.
And eventually William pulled himself together and he and Joy stopped embracing. He thought he would feel embarrassed opening himself up and in front of another person. But Joy made him feel as if it was needful.Let it out, she said to him.You have to let it out. With her, he didn’t feel embarrassed at all. Acknowledging his pain and getting it out of his system felt cathartic. It felt like a cleansing.
He looked at Joy. She had taken his hand and was holding it again, but she wasn’t staring at him or asking him more questions or telling him everything was going to be alright. She looked out of the window away from him as if nothing had happened, as if he didn’t just bare his soul, as if it was just another ordinary day. And he loved her for that.
But when his driver stopped near the pharmacy and his bodyguard was about to get out and purchase the Plan Bmorning-after pill, William pressed the intercom button on his passenger side door.
“No need to stop,” he ordered. “Go to the office.”
William didn’t look at Joy when he made that decision, and Joy knew better than to look at him. But inwardly she was elated. Not because she wanted to get pregnant. She certainly didn’t at that early stage in her career. But because he heard her. He listened and he heard her. And despite his monumental reason to not want to ever have children again, he didn’t take that out on her.
So far, in the good man department, he was batting a thousand.
Not that that meant they were this couple now. He gave no indication of that and Joy wasn’t ready to jump in that boiling pot called William Skeffington either.
They rode the rest of the way to the office in a comfortable uncomfortable silence.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
William’s bodyguard opened the back passenger door and William got out, assisted Joy out, and then they made their way into the lobby of Skeffington PR.
It felt crazy to Joy to be walking alongside the namesake of that humungous building as if it was no big deal at all. But that was how William made her feel whenever she was around him: as if she belonged right where she was. She didn’t. Nobody was going to tell her shebelongedin his world from where she sat right now. But one day, after she worked her way up that ladder, she would belong better than they belonged! All she needed was that chance. William was giving her that chance and she was taking it.
But what about that other thing?
That was what was bothering Joy all morning. They hadn’t even mentioned it. How was that going to affect her job there? And even more importantly, how was she ever going to get over the feelings she was developing for William that she couldn’t tamp down? And after he shared his story about his precious little girl with her it only made her love him more.
Love him?Did she love him? She glanced over at him. He was buttoning his suit coat and then placing his hand on her lower back as they entered the lobby of his building as if he was proud to have her by his side. And it were moments like that that made her believe that yes, she could actually fall in love with him. That it wasn’t impossible.
“After you leave personnel, go to the thirty-fifth floor to Bobby Latham’s office and he’ll get someone to show you around.”
“Yes sir.”
“But keep it strictly business with him. You’re here to do a job, not pal-around with my chief-of-staff.”
Joy wondered if that man ever listened to himself. What did he think they were doing naked in his bed earlier that morning? But who was she to call out hypocrisy? “Yes sir,” she said.
And that was when she saw Cory standing behind the reception desk. “Cory!” she cried out as she forgot about William and hurried over to the young man that shared his sandwich with her, five weeks ago, while she was waiting for William.
Although others in the lobby were glancing at her as if she was some hood rat who didn’t know how to behave in polite society, William wasn’t thinking about them. His eyes were riveted on Joy. Because he still didn’t know what to make of her. He knew how she made his body feel. From the time he saw her in that restaurant, he wanted her sexually even though she wasn’t his type nor anywhere near the more-matured type of woman he preferred. But despite that, she still turned him on. That was never in doubt. And when he made love to her, it only made him want her more. That wasn’t in doubt either.
But why did his heart feel so warm and so happy whenever he looked at her? Why did he want to hold her every time he was near her, as if he wanted to protect her and defend her and love her.
Love her? Did he really want toloveher? Was that even possible? Just look at her, he thought, as she was joyfully telling Cory about how she got a job and he was hugging her and happy for her and they were acting like two teenagers inhigh school. And this was the person he wanted to love and protect? Every woman he bothered with were all major leaguers, either as socialites or corporation-owners or blue-blooded ladies of leisure from amongst the richest families in America. That was how he rolled. But this happy-go-lucky waitress with the prettiest smile and the sweetest disposition he’d ever seen was supposed to be the one?Her?
