Julia stared him straight in the eye. “I will not.”
“Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the matter. Let’s get back to packaging.” Nash accessed the backlog of designs way back from when the company first opened. Some of the images were little more than grainy black-and-white photos. “What if we did a run of throwback packaging and flavors to when Arthur took over? We can run a fond farewell campaign saying goodbye to him and paying tribute to his legacy.”
Julia absently picked at her fingernail. “It would be a great way to prep our loyal customers for a change in leadership—a nice transitional campaign.”
Nash’s eyes went to the portrait on the wall. “We’ll have replicas made of that picture and hung in our retail stores along with a short accolade.”
“Or even a quote from Arthur himself.”
Nash snapped his fingers. “Even better.”
“I also like that it’s neutral. If the company sells or stays together, at least Arthur got to say goodbye.”
Her words were like tiny pricks on his skin. He skipped over commenting on her last injective. “How soon can we roll this out?”
“I can have it ready to go by the end of the week. The weekend crew can print the containers and we can ship on Monday. The portraits will be even faster.”
“Sounds great. I’ll watch my inbox for the designs.”
“I’m on it.” Julia left without a host of pleasantries.
Nash stared at the door. If he didn’t think she was good at her job, he just might have to hate her for not believing in Kensington. What he would really dislike her for would be saying something negative about his wife that he agreed with. But there were worse qualities than being successful your whole life. And Julia didn’t know Kensington’s personal history. Kenzi had come back from a major personal blow, a personal loss, and interpersonal issues with her sisters. She put on a brave face every morning before stepping out of the town car and into the office barn.
She was the perfect combination of imperfection and perfection, all rolled into one beautiful person. A person he could see himself spending the rest of his life with.
He slowly got up from his stool, walked around the counter, and found the first pint of cheesecake, caramel, and peanut butter and a spoon and dug in. With each burning cold mouthful of ice cream, he cleansed his brain of every inkling that Kenzi would ever be his. He’d finish out his contract, leave Kenzi to run the company she loved, and leave her to find someone who could love her the way she deserved to be loved.
He might be in love with her now, but she definitely deserved more than him. The more time he spent with her, the harder he fell. And when the time came, he didn’t know if he’d be man enough to walk away. As much as he was trying to rewrite what the world thought of him, and what he thought of himself, if he had a chance to keep Kenzi, he might just take it.
