“About two weeks, now.” I’m still trying to understand how a month has already gone by since Ryan.
“You’re a baby to the city!” she chimes. “I grew up here. This city may seem like a daunting beast at first, but I promise, it truly is magical and not nearly as scary as you’d think a big city is. We definitely top New York because here, it’s like a family.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t seem as scary as I thought, especially coming from my small town.”
“What brought you here?” she asks, her amber eyes focusing on my lips.
I swallow the knot forming in my throat. Although I already feel like I can tell Sam everything, because that’s simply the person she is, I just don’t want to reopen the scars that finally started to mend themselves.
So, I give up a partial truth. “I’m a nurse here on a travel assignment.”
“Oh god.” She fans herself with her hand. “That’s fucking hot.”
I chuckle. “So this isn’t your full-time job?”
She sits down next to me and fills our glasses again with Rosè this time. I smile.I have a friend to drink wine with.
I’ve been isolated for so long. Sure, I talk to coworkers at work, but it’s work and that’s it.Thisis what friends do. Share a glass of wine, and tell stories.
She’s the first friend I’ve had in a long time.
“No, this is just the thing I actually love to do,” she says sarcastically. “My parents own a big ass investing company. They’re like the old money bastards.” She takes a sip of her wine. “So, after years of hiding my genius ability with numbers, it finally came to light when I took the SATs in high school. God, I can’t believe that was like, thirteen years ago? Anyways, regardless of my love for art, I went to college for finance and became the head of the finance department at their firm.”
“Wow.” I sip my wine. “You’re pretty incredible. Smart, gorgeous and artsy.”
“Yeah, I know.” She places her chin on her hand, her amber eyes beaming with curiosity. “Tell me more about you. I want to know it all.”
And I don’t know why, but for some reason, I do. I tell her all about what happened with Ryan and why I came here.
Maybe because I just needed to tellsomeone.Get an outsider's view on what happened. Maybe I just needed validation that what I did was the right thing. Even though every day I beat myself up for leaving my home and my family, for leaving him the way he was, not knowing the outcome. How a part of me was lost and died the day I left. What he tried totakefrom me.
Or maybe, I’m just desperate and lonely, or plain crazy for spieling all my dirty laundry to this stranger when I told myself I wouldn’t.
But for some ridiculous reason, I just know I can trust Sam.I trust you more than myself.
I need someone to hold me accountable. And honestly, I just need someone to make me hold on period. I’ve spent too long wanting to let go.
So, I swallow the knot in my throat, and tell Sam all about that day, and all the events leading up to it. How it all brought me here, in this magical city, where I sit before a woman who I know will be a friend for a lifetime.
CHAPTER SIX
TYLER
As I sitat my desk, I look out the panoramic windows of my office overlooking the harbor that has the sparkle of the city in its reflection. The finalization of the campaign event for the mayor calls for a late night, all the while finalizing my own little contracts Mitchell won’t know about. Small businesses deserve our investment just as much as the big ones.
Tonight, I’m focusing on two—Leo’s second restaurant and a florist who wants to open her own shop. Specifically, the florist I’ve been getting my mother’s bouquets from for the last few years.
Originally, I met her on the streets in Boston, selling her bouquets she made at home all by herself. I became a regular and finally talked her into opening her own floral shop. Now, her shop will have its grand opening next week.
She was ecstatic when I told her my one stipulation.Don’t forget me when you become a famous wedding florist.
Rubbing my tired eyes, I look at my watch and see it’s already nine. I’ve been here since seven-thirty this morning. My father happened to get delayed on his trip again, leaving thework to fall on me to get done for all the other contracts we have in the works.
Escape has always been in the back of my mind, but Mitchell is powerful. While his threats seem like loose words, I’m not ready to test that theory.
I do enjoy the flexibility it gives me in my life, and I can’t complain about the money either. It’ll never be an issue for any of us.
That’s one thing I’ll give my sorry bastard father, he makes us work for our money. We’re no trust fund babies. Everything we have, we had to earn, and I can appreciate that more than anything.
