Finn wasn’t sure if trusting a pelican was his best bet. But, then again, no one in the city knew Iris as well as her ‘emotional support pelican.’
Alone again, Finn went into the bathroom, cranking the water to cold, then stripping and climbing in, wanting to shock himself fully awake.
It wasn’t until he climbed out that he saw it.
The ring box on the sink counter.
The ring nestled inside like a closed promise.
He knew she’d been wearing it at the town hall.
Its presence in the penthouse meant she’d come home afterward.
He rushed down the hall, pushing open the primary bedroom door and looking with fresh eyes.
There.
Half kicked under the bed was the light pink dress she’d worn to the press conference.
Along with her strapless bra.
And her panties.
All crumpled like a shed skin.
Monty was right.
She’d gone to the water.
Likely in nothing but a sundress or cover-up, so she could easily strip and slide into the waves.
As he glanced more around the apartment, he realized that while she had left the ring, she had taken something else with her. The book. His book. The one he’d spent hours picking out and getting spelled for her.
Its absence gave him hope that it wasn’t too late to change her mind.
She was running.
Not just away from the pressures of his future office.
But also from him.
Though, he was crossing his fingers that taking the book with her meant she wasn’t completely done with him.
Because he needed to bring her back.
And it wasn’t about appearances, or strategy, or trying to salvage the relationship he’d mapped out like a campaign.
This had nothing to do with optics.
It was her pillow-creased face first thing in the morning. It was her late-night laugh when Monty regaled her with stories of his adventures. It was the way she challenged him without flinching. It was how she cried happy tears when the characters in her books finally got out of their own way and fell in love. It was the way her hair fell into her face when she laughed, and her eyes warmed when she shot him one of those rare, precious smiles.
It was the way she made him want to do better, to be better. Not for the views, not for the headlines, not for the votes. But for her.
It was because she’d only been gone a short while and his world already felt darker and colder.
He had to bring her back because he knew somewhere deep in his marrow that what had started out as a strategy had become the only thing in his life that felt real.
20
