You’re not bulletproof.
So I made a decision.
I would lock everything down. Fixate on the work. On the water. On the only thing I could control.
Trials first.
No distractions. No emotional risks.
Because getting closer to Roxie—falling harder for a woman who was already building a life beyond this, beyond me—felt like a mistake I didn’t have the luxury to make.
Not now.
Not when everything was on the line.
CHAPTER 21
ROXIE
Ifound out on a Thursday afternoon, pacing my living room with my laptop balanced on one arm and my phone pressed to my ear.
I wasn’t expecting a yes yet.
That was the thing—I’d gone into this telling myself it was just momentum, just practice, just one more step toward something bigger. I’d pitched confidently, sent a proposal that made my hands shake while I was formatting it, and then forced myself not to refresh my inbox every five minutes like a lunatic.
So when the voice on the other end of the line said,We’d like to move forward, my brain short-circuited for half a second.
“I’m sorry.” I blinked hard. “Could you repeat that?”
They laughed. “We want to hire you.”
I stopped pacing.
Just stood there, staring at the far wall like it hadpersonally betrayed me by not reacting appropriately to this moment.
They talked through timelines and deliverables and next steps, but all I could hear was the rush of blood in my ears. When the call finally ended, I lowered my phone slowly, like it might explode.
Then I laughed.
Out loud. Alone. Slightly hysterical.
I’d done it.
This wasn’t a test run or a favor or a hypothetical someday. This was a signed contract with a real company and real money and expectations that belonged tome. My work. My instincts. My name.
I pressed my palm to my chest, breathing through the thrill of it.
I didn’t need to keep my current job any longer.
I didn’t need to lean on my parents.
I didn’t need to shrink my ambitions into something palatable or cautious.
This was something I was building. From scratch.
And the first person I wanted to run and tell?
Ledger.
