"You doubted your ability?"
"I've always known that I have an eye for fashion." I take a swallow of water. "I was confident in what I was doing but when I went to work for Gabriel, something changed."
"What changed?" He rests his elbow on the table.
"I knew that I had one chance to impress him and every time I created a new outfit, I felt I could do better. I wanted the piece I showed him to be perfect so I kept putting it off so I wouldn't be forced to face disappointment if he rejected my work."
"You blew him away." His tone is soft. "I suppose that's obvious in the offer he made to you."
"You know the details of my contract?" I suck in a deep breath.
"No," he answers quickly; decisively. "All I know is that you're running the collection for Ella Kara and Gabriel couldn't be happier."
"I'm happy too. In the fall everyone will finally see what I have to offer. I can't wait for that to happen."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Sophia
I turnto look at him once I finish playing the piano. Tonight it was another piece from Chopin. I'd mastered it years ago under the guidance of my piano teacher. She'd be disappointed in my performance just now. "Did you like that?"
"How can one person be so multi-talented?" He eyes me from where he's sitting in the chair next to the piano. "You're not only a world class fashion designer, but you could join the New York Philharmonic on stage and blend in seamlessly."
I couldn't. To an untrained ear, my ability to play may seem impressive. I heard the missteps my nervous fingers made tonight. He didn't notice because he was focused on the song as a whole, not on the intricate parts like I was.
"I'm a better designer than a pianist." I scan the small table next to the chair he's in. I instantly realize the picture of him and Briella is gone.
His gaze follows mine. "I packed it away. It was time."
"You put it away because of me." It's not a question. It's a statement. "She's important to you, Nicholas. I think you should put the picture back."
He taps his knee. "Come sit with me."
I do. We're both still fully clothed and as I snuggle into his lap, I feel a sense of instant peace when his arms circle my waist.
"For a long time, I had regrets about the night she was killed."
I turn to look at his face. "Regrets? What regrets?"
"If I wouldn't have stayed with my grandfather as long as I did, I might have made it to Briella's house before she was shot." He exhales sharply. "I regret that I didn't take her with me to see my grandfather. They'd met once before that and he adored her. I wondered for a long time how different my life would have been if she hadn't been home when her father got there."
"I read some articles online about what happened." I reach to cover his hand with mine. "He killed them late at night. It sounded as if they were all already in bed."
"It was late." He nods. "She had to get up early the next morning to open the café she worked at."
I don't want to call her death fate, but he couldn't have saved her. "There wasn't anything you could have done to change what happened."
"It took me years to realize that." He pulls me tighter to him. "It took longer than that to replace the memory of her body in her bed with an image of her face while she was alive."
"That's why you kept the picture there," I whisper against the skin of his cheek. "You wanted to remember her with that smile on her face."
"Exactly. It helped."
"Put it back." I point at the table. "I think you should have it where you can see it."
"It's time to leave Briella's memory behind me, Sophia. Life moves on. Dragging the past with me won't give me the future I want."
I absorb each and every one of those words. "Sometimes it's hard to leave the past behind."
