“Do you want a family?” he suddenly asks.
The question surprises me because Silvie and I have briefly talked about it, but she seems pretty driven in her career, and it didn’t seem like something she wanted. But then I think about what she said about what I wanted. And that I need to want for myself, not just for what everyone else wants and needs.
“I want Silvie,” I say honestly and meet his eyes. “Whatever she wants. If that’s kids, I’m in. If it’s just the two of us, running back and forth between Coconut Beach and New York, I’m in. If she wants to run this company and have me support her, I’m in. I just want her. She’s it for me.”
Something shifts in him then. He’s not a businessman standing in front of me. A titan of his industry. He’s a father.
“You’d follow her anywhere, it sounds like,” he says.
“I already did. I’m here, aren’t I?” I grin.
He looks down at his desk for a moment.
“You don’t have to like me, but you need to know I’m not going anywhere.”
He lifts his chin and looks at me. “I do like you.”
Then he straightens and buttons his sleeves again. He turns and walks toward the door. “Come on. Let’s go get my daughter back for you.”
35
Silvie
I’m sittingat my desk, trying to work while Wilby attends a few meetings for me, taking notes when my father’s assistant knocks on my door and steps into my office.
“Your father would like to see you in the boardroom.”
The boardroom. The room where decisions are made, votes happen, and where futures shift. It’s where I’ve learned how to put up with men twice my age questioning me because I’m female. It’s the place I’ve practiced never letting them see me sweat. It’s where I’ve perfected my poker face.My pulse spikes immediately, and my stomach turns. This is it. This is when the board calls me a fraud and strips me of my company, no matter how hard I’ve fought to keep it.
“Now?” I ask, already knowing the answer. I glance around, wishing Wilby was here. He insisted on taking the meetings so I could get some work done. I’m regretting that now.
“Yes.”
I close my laptop carefully, buying myself extra seconds to compose myself. I feel like I haven’t slept well in weeks, and I’m so tired. If today is the day when I’m canned, so be it. I just miss Cal. I haven’t talked to him since I left Coconut Beach. I want to talk to him and to tell him about the baby. I don’t know how he’ll react. I just miss him. I keep replaying the last moment we had together, where he was so distant and angry. He pushed me away. He told me to go and that he’d play his part. As if we were in a play, acting out our lives. Maybethat’s what we were. But it’s not what I want. Maybe it doesn’t matter what I want, anymore. Maybe I just get whatever fate hands me at this point.
I stand and smooth my shirt, slipping into my hot pink blazer. Because pink is all I wear now. All the shades. I refuse to conform to the man’s world any longer. Maybe I’m channeling my inner Elle Woods. I don’t care. I’m going to be me from now on. And if they don’t like it, I don’t really care. If this meeting is about the optics of my marriage and choosing love, I will fight. I’ll fight for myself and my family. Because while I’m tired of fighting, I won’t stop. I am going to turn this company around and make room for any woman who wants to work and have a family.
I walk down the long hallway, heels clicking on the tile, portraits of the board lining the walls. Ribbon cuttings, deals closing, empires built. A lot of black suits and all men. Yeah, that’s going to be changing.
The boardroom doors swing open as I step inside and everything stops. My dad is sitting at the head of the table. And Cal is sitting next to him.
Cal.MyCal. I start to feel my poker face fade away. Because when I look at him, there’s no faking what I feel for him. God, I love him so much. I’ve missed him so much. And wait...he’s here? And he looks so good in his navy suit and light blue shirt. He looks powerful and confident, as if he were made for this boardroom.
I look at my father, and he’s sitting with his hands folded in front of him, smiling at me. Smiling. What the hell is happening right now? My gaze lands on the table and there are flowers laid on it. Pale blush roses. My favorite. Next to them is a light pink velvet ring box.
My lungs forget how to breathe. I tremble, and Cal rises and comes to me. He stands before me, smiling, his hands by his sides. He looks nervous.
I glance over at my father. Neither seems angry. In fact, they seem friendly around each other which is new.
“What’s this?” I ask, my voice feeling small.
Cal looks like he wants to scoop me up. I want to run to him. I want to hold him so tightly and tell him that I’ve missed him so much. But I don’t. He told me to go. And while he may be here right now, he hurt me. I don’t know what this is. I’m not the one running this time.
My father clears his throat. “I believe this is your meeting. We can talk later.”
My eyes follow him as he steps past me. “Whatever you decide,” he says quietly. “You have my support.”
Support. That word has never come easy to him. He doesn’t give it easily. He’s driven, and the one thing that matters to him is what’s best for his company. It was never about support.
