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“Excuse me?”

I push away from my desk, and stand.

“You heard me,” replies Aaliyah. “You’re a damn coward. You’ve been miserable for the last week, and don’t even have the balls to fix it.”

Anger makes my blood race. The only person who really knows what the past week has been like is my Father, even if he thinks I’m an ass too. He told me as much when we argued about my ridiculous plan and he made it quite clear how disappointed he is in me.

I told him to join the club because he wasn’t the only one.

“I fucked up,” I tell her. “But you’re not exactly innocent either.”

“Oh no,” she points her finger at me. “You’re not playing that card with me. I told you it was a bad idea, that your plan was going to blow up in your face, but you always know better. And when Macy told you to be honest with Kadence, you still didn’t listen.”

“Why not say I told you so and get it over with, Liy, because that’s pretty much what you’re telling me.”

“No, what I’d like to tell you is that you’re a dumbass, and you ruined the best thing that has ever happened to you.”

I’m quick to tell her, “Braelynn is the best thing that has happened to me.”

“And do you think she wants to grow up seeing you alone? Because Kadence isn’t only the best thing that has happened to you, but she’s also the best thing that could have happened to Braelynn. I know how much your love her, anyone would be crazy not to see that you’re an amazing father, but you also deserve to happy.”

“I am happy,” I snap. “Everything’s fine.”

“You know what,” Aaliyah walks closer to my desk. “You haven’t been fine since your Mother screwed Henry Archer.”

I scowl. “You know better than to bring up my Mother.”

I hate talking about the woman who gave birth to me, because she’s nothing more than that to me. I haven’t seen or heard from her since my Father had her committed for mental illness after her affair, and the last we heard was that she’d checked herself out and married a scuba instructor in the Bahamas. That’s fine with me, the further away from me she is the better.

“Stop being so full of shit, and let it go. It’s been five years, and Kadence’s Father is dead. She doesn’t deserve what you did, what we did, and I think it’s time you made it right.”

“I don’t know how!”

Aaliyah doesn’t even flinch.

“Well figure it out! I lost a friend, and you lost…” she trails off, but I know what she was about to say.

“Everything,” I finish for her. “I lost everything.”

“It’s not too late,” she tells me, looking hopeful. “You can still talk to her.”

I shake my head. “It is too late. She’s moved on, and I don’t want to hurt her anymore.”

I know I shouldn’t have, but I made sure she got a good job at another P.R firm in the city. I try not to check up on her, knowing it’s just another form of self-torture, but knowing that she’s okay somehow makes me feel better about everything I’ve done.

“Are you stupid?” asks Aaliyah. She’s standing with her hands on her hips, brows raised, and that can only mean she means business.

That’s never good for whoever is on the receiving end.

Namely me.

“This is the part where you run after the girl and tell her you love her, and that you’re nothing without her. And when that doesn’t work, you do the whole big romantic gesture thing until she takes you back.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“Then you get down on your knee if you have to! You guys belong together, how much longer are you going to ignore that?”

I wasn’t ignoring it, but even I’m man enough to admit I was afraid of being rejected. I would never find another woman like Kadence, and if I’m honest, I don’t want to.

“How sure are you it will even work? When she came to the office last week to get her last check, she couldn’t get away from me fast enough.”

“It’s going to take some convincing,” Aaliyah concedes. “But since when do you back down from something you want?”

I sigh, turning her words over in my head over and over again. “I don’t, but with Kadence it’s different. I don’t know if she’ll ever forgive me.”

“Fair enough, but tell me this: would you rather give her up knowing you tried to win her back, or live the rest of your life wondering how it would have turned out? Rejection is a bitch, but regret is the bitch that never leaves. You’ll have to live with the fact that you gave up. Can you do that?”

As much as I want to listen to Aaliyah, I don’t think it would be that simple. This isn’t a movie, and Kadence isn’t some ditz waiting for her Knight in shining armor to show up. I can’t even give her that much because I’m no Knight. I’m just a shithead in tinfoil trying to get his act together.

Amidst all that, I’m also a man in love with a woman.

A woman I’m not sure I want to stop fighting for.

Aaliyah smiles as if she knows what I’m thinking. Chances are she probably does. She’s a little perceptive that way.

“You have an idea don’t you?” She sounds giddy.

“A big romantic gesture,” I reply, feeling the idea take root in my mind. “Let’s just hope it’s enough.”