Life Is Sweet

by Lily Seabrooke

  I just had to look. I didn’t know what it was supposed to do for me, but I just had to look.

  I was staring at it for a while before I realized what I was considering. The Barton accounts, dripping with illicit money. I squeezed my fists below the desk.

  I’d given a lot to this company. I’d given a lot to this company.

  Just because something is the way everyone else does it doesn’t mean it’s actually the simplest, easiest way to go about it.

  I’d told that to Trish. I’d been talking about gender, but maybe I was talking about something more than that.

  You know, maybe it was me telling myself to fuck what everyone else thought and just do it.

  Chapter 22

  Kayla

  I was broken-down before long. My head was spinning and I couldn’t really process what was going on, but my father and Jacob were leading me through the building, and I just… I didn’t have what it took to fight it anymore. Introducing me to their associates. Telling them I was his daughter, and that I had an offer to join the inner circle.

  I think I heard a lot of them comment on my outfit, but I couldn’t even manage the presence of mind to listen to people talk about my fashion choices. I was hyperventilating, my heart pounding so hard I was lightheaded. I wanted out, but there was no out. I was closed in here, Jacob and my father pinning me in from opposite directions, just like it had been all those years ago. Just like the thing I thought I’d escaped.

  “Kayla,” my father said at length, taking me into a stupid-luxurious lounge attached to the foyer, on the second floor. Jacob sank into a seat, and my father gestured for me to sit, too. I couldn’t really manage. I couldn’t even move. “I know you’re anxious. This must be exhausting for you. But you’re brave to come back.”

  “I’m not…” I shook my head, barely finding my voice. “I’m not coming back, Mr. Barton. This wasn’t me coming back to be a part of the industry again, or the family, and I think you already know that. I came here because… I needed to see you.”

  “Of course. Kayla, of course.” He nodded like he thought he understood anything, sinking into a chair across his desk, but he only sat for a second before he jumped back up, coming closer to me. “It’s been so long, Kayla. I thought I would never see you again.”

  “That’s…” I balled my fists. That’s because you disowned me, I thought. I couldn’t say it.

  “I thought the same thing,” Jacob said, standing up behind me, and I felt the tension spike again as the two of them closed in on me from opposite sides. “I thought we’d never be back together.”

  “Jacob, I’m not back together with you, and I won’t be any time soon!” I actually managed to find a little bit of myself in there for a second, giving him the worst look I could manage. “I love Melissa. And that’s final.”

  “Melissa?” my father said. “Who is Melissa?”

  “She’s my girlfriend,” I said, turning to him with my heart in my mouth. “And I… I love her. And I wasn’t going to have the strength to come back here and do what I needed to do, not until she came into my life. So you can blame her for me being here.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know what you mean, but… I’d like to meet her at some point, too. I want to welcome you, and everything about you back into the company.”

  “Well, you can’t,” I said, surprising myself with the power in my voice. I clung onto it, desperate for whatever little bit of strength I could get. I stamped my foot, clenched my fists, and fixed him with the hardest glare I could when I said, “You can’t welcome me back because I’m not coming back. I came here to see you. And not in a good way. I didn’t get to say goodbye properly, Father. I had to slip out when I didn’t think Jacob would find me and hurt me. I still remember the last thing I’d said to you. I said… I said ‘the Pearsons are getting uncooperative.’ That’s all. The last thing I said to my father was trying to out a bunch of innocent people, mark them for bullying. And that’s not me. I’m Kayla Spencer, and… and I’m a different person now.”

  He shook his head slowly. “Kayla, I don’t understand. All of that’s in the past now. We can move past it—we can be more than we’ve been before. I want to bring you back.”

  “Your girlfriend you love so much abandoned you,” Jacob said. “I invited her specifically to come, and it looks like she didn’t think this was that important. Are we sure this is a real relationship?”

  “You—be quiet. You don’t understand.” I was only getting this bravado from the sheer panic. It wasn’t going to last very long. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore, Jacob. You’re just the… the jerk who hurt me. Father—Earnest. Mr. Earnest Barton,” I said, my heart in my mouth, turning back to my father. “I… wanted to come here and say goodbye. Thank you for your invitation. I’m not interested. I… I wish you well.”

  The lines around his face hardened. “Kayla, you are still a Barton no matter what you change your name to be, no matter who you fall in love with. You’re still my daughter. I raised you, and you’d do well to appreciate that.”

  “We gave you the world,” Jacob said.

  “You gave me bruises.” I stepped away, but he backed me into the wall.

  “We gave you every opportunity, and you ran away to go… run a candy shop and dress like a ten-year-old girl?” Jacob shook his head, waving me off. “I don’t understand what’s going through your head, Kayla, but we’re offering it all back to you, and you’d do well to be grateful.”

  “No!” I felt my breath pick up as I hit the wall. Jacob standing over me, my back against the wall, and I could feel it all over again. “I gave you my answer. It’s over. It’s done. I don’t…”

  “You realize you don’t want to get on our bad side,” Jacob said, his face darkening. “We have resources. And I understand your business is already in a little bit of trouble.”

  My jaw dropped. “Are… are you threatening me?”

  “It was already plan B in case you didn’t come to this,” he laughed. “Let’s just say we had the good sense to have all our bases covered. And let’s be honest. We’re doing it for your own good. You’re pinned in by your own fears, your own emotions. We’re offering you freedom. We’re offering you power. If we have to pull away everything that’s distracting you, whether that’s your business or your supposed girlfriend—”

  “Stop it!” I snapped. “Don’t you dare go bringing Melissa into this, you—”

  “Kayla!” my father snapped. “You won’t go raising your voice like that. We’re trying to reach a peaceful resolution.”

  “I’m being threatened,” I said, my voice rising higher and higher, “and I’m the one who’s supposed to be all nice and civil about it? Why don’t you stop threatening my business and my girlfriend!?”

  “I already told you, it’s for your own good.” Jacob reached out and put a rough hand on my shoulder and I shrieked.

  “Get—let go of me!”

  “There’s only one option to take here, Kayla,” he said, his voice gruff. “And you know what it is. I trust you to make the right decision.”

  “I—I…” I didn’t know what the right thing to do here was. I didn’t think there was a right thing to do here. I was pinned into a corner, figuratively and literally, and I didn’t have any options, whatever Jacob might have been saying.

  “Kayla, I don’t want to force you into anything,” my father said from behind Jacob, looking over me with those hard eyes, “but I can’t just let you disappear again. You’re my daughter.”

  “I’m not your daughter,” I snapped, and he flinched. “I never was. Not even before you disowned me. I was your employee, the easiest one to manipulate. And I left. It’s over. So… you can try to do what you want,” I said, tears cracking my voice. “I’m still going to live my own life. I’m Kayla Spencer now.”

  Jacob opened his mouth, fire in his eyes, when a commotion came from the foyer. I glanced over at the door, to where people were raising their voices and foots
teps were marching up the stairs.

  “Oh, what is it now,” my father said, storming towards the door. “Jacob, why don’t you lead Kayla into the back while I—”

  Somehow, though, I knew who it was even before the door opened. But even still, when the door flung open and the sparkling light of the chandelier fell on Melissa, standing there in her suit, I lost all my words for one beautiful moment.

  “Who—” my father started, but Melissa shoved him aside, stormed towards Jacob—who backed away from me—and grabbed him by the collar.

  “Hey, buddy,” she said. “How about you get your hand off my girlfriend?”

  “Melissa,” I breathed. “You—you made it.”

  She glanced just away from Jacob, looking over to give me that stupid sexy smirk again. “Of course. I’ll go anywhere for you, Kayla.”

  “Melissa?” My father looked between us, paling. “Your girlfriend?”

  “Get off of me,” Jacob said, stepping back, shoving her hand away. “What do you think you’re even doing, showing up at a time like this?”

  “What do I think I’m doing?” She shook her head. “What do you think? My girlfriend came here, and I wanted to make sure there weren’t any assholes pinning her up against the wall while she’s crying trying to tell them off. And what do you know?”

  “You’re interrupting family affairs—” my father said, and Melissa whirled on him.

  “Oh, are you Mr. Barton?” She laughed. “So you’re my girlfriend’s father? I’m so happy to finally meet the family, except that I want to tell you to piss off and push you down the stairs. I guess that means I won’t get your blessing if I ever ask to marry Kayla.”

  “Melissa,” I said, my throat getting tight. I threw myself on her, throwing my arms around her, the feeling of her there like stepping into the warmth out of a blizzard. “Melissa… I knew they were doing this—were making me join the company again, by any means—”

  “Melissa Warden.” Jacob sneered, stepping towards us. “CFO of your fancy financial institution. So you think you’re powerful. But you realize that being in a position like that is a weakness—”

  “Not anymore,” Melissa said.

  It took a second to realize what she meant, and then my heart dropped through the floor. “Melissa. You didn’t…”

  “Walked out of the job,” she laughed, wrapping an arm around me. “But it’s fine. I had a good career there, and I had a lot of fun on my last day. How stupid do you have to be to try picking a fight with the person managing your secret bank account?”

  My father froze, his eyes going wide. “Wait… the person managing—”

  “I froze your accounts and reported an urgent financial inquiry. Because what were they going to do, fire me?” She threw her head back, laughing. “So have fun with that. Now, I’m going to take my girlfriend and leave, because it looks like she hasn’t had a very good time here.”

  “Melissa, you left? For—for this?” I couldn’t figure out how to breathe right, clinging to her. “But you loved… your work…”

  “It was all right.” She shrugged. “If you’re talking about love, that’s a different topic. That’s you.” She looked down at me with a smile that started off as a smirk and grew wider. “I love you, Kayla.”

  My head stopped working for a second. Not that it was the hardest-working head out there, but it still had to take its breaks, and this was one point where it just shut down completely.

  Melissa loved me.

  “Wait,” Jacob said, stepping towards us. “This is ridiculous. We’ve followed every law, every regulation, and you’ve grossly overstepped—”

  “Jacob,” I said, pushing away from Melissa, feeling myself grin so widely it kind of made my cheeks ache, “shove off, would you? Life is supposed to be sweet, so stop being so bitter.”

  He stared. They both did. Melissa stepped towards the door, looking back, offering me a hand.

  “Shall we?” she said, her voice light, and I swear for a second I saw an angel.

  Okay, yeah, that was cliché. But she was standing there in the doorway with the golden light of the foyer chandelier flooding through from behind her, offering me her hand, and she’d just swept in to deliver me from this. No matter what it cost. Because she loved me.

  I took her hand. “Let’s,” I said.

  So I walked hand-in-hand with her, down the stairs and towards the door, all the people I’d used to work with staring, watching us like Melissa and I were walking down the aisle.

  It was close enough, wasn’t it? We loved each other, and we were starting a new chapter of our lives together.

  It was only once we got outside, out in front of Melissa’s car—haphazardly parked in front of the entrance—that I stopped, tugging on her hand.

  “Wait, Melissa,” I said, feeling myself flush. Because of all the times to blush like a schoolgirl, my body decided this was it. “Um… I figure you already know this,” I said once she’d glanced back at me, “but… I love you too.”

  She took in a long breath, a smile slowly spreading over her face, her whole being seeming to light up. “You know?” she said, her voice smaller, sweeter. “I didn’t know. I was a little nervous about telling you, to be honest.”

  “You didn’t know?” I laughed breathlessly. “I thought it was obvious.”

  “Well…” She pulled me in closer, staring into my eyes with a look like she’d never seen anything so beautiful. “I guess I wasn’t paying proper attention to what was really most important.”

  I laughed. “You don’t mean me. This ditzy girl who likes to be loud and eat candy.”

  “That’s exactly the girl I fell in love with.”

  She kissed me, wrapping her arms around my back, pulling me in tightly, and I felt for a second like there wasn’t anything in the world that could hurt us.

  Chapter 23

  Melissa

  “Did you already find out you can’t be here for Christmas? Is that what this is about?”

  I sat on the sofa, looking out at the sunrise while I petted Leonardo in my lap. “You know, Trish, not every time I call you is bad news. Well, I guess this is bad news, depending on how you look at it.”

  “You’re calling me at seven in the morning. That sounds pretty bad.”

  “Well, if you must know, I wanted to call you last night, but Kayla and I got carried away—”

  “Okay, do not tell me. So what is it?”

  I leaned back in the sofa, looking up at the ceiling. “I quit my job.”

  There was dead silence. Even Leonardo looked up at me, like he couldn’t believe what I was saying.

  “You quit your—what? Wait. Hold on.” I heard shuffling around. “Hold on. You quit your job?”

  “Kayla needed me,” I said, feeling my heartrate pick up just thinking about it. “And I… I love her so much I couldn’t prioritize work over her.”

  “Shit, Melissa. You love her more than work?”

  I made a face. “Don’t act like that’s so inconceivable for me.”

  “Uh, hello?” She laughed. “Am I talking to Melissa Warden, my ungodly workaholic sister?”

  “Okay, yeah, whatever. Point made. Feel free to—”

  “So that means you’re going to marry her soon, right?”

  “… to make jokes about how I’m going to marry her then. Right, like that.” I sighed.

  “What are you going to do now?”

  “Well,” I said, stretching my arm over my head. I swear Leonardo glared at me when I stopped petting him. Were bunnies normally this needy? “When Kayla wakes up, I think that’s what she and I are going to figure out. But I thought you’d want to know.”

  “Wow.” There was a long pause, and then she said, “I’m proud of you, Mel.”

  “You know?” I leaned back, staring out the window at the sunrise. “I’m pretty proud of myself too. Thanks.”

  It was almost as soon as I hung up that Kayla came out of the bedroom, dressed in a fuzzy night robe wit
h rainbows on it, and she stopped when she saw me a few feet away on her sofa, her face red.

  “Good morning,” I said.

  “Oh my goodness I thought yesterday was just a wild dream.”

  “Do you normally have dreams like that?” I reached up, took her hands, pulled her onto the sofa with me. She squeaked, tumbled on top of me, and Leonardo bailed out as I pulled her on top of me.

  “Having dreams about you? Yeah, all the time.” She fidgeted, looking down at me underneath her. “Not used to it being this way.”

  I licked my lips. “A change of pace is kind of interesting, isn’t it?”

  “I wouldn’t trust myself to top for two seconds,” she giggled. I ruffled her hair.

  “We can do that later. We have all the time in the world now, don’t we?”

  She took in a sharp breath, her eyes widening. “Wow. You mean that part was real too. You… quit… for me.”

  “For crying out loud, I could live off stock dividends the rest of my life without ever wanting for anything. I was just doing that because I felt like… I felt like having a job you were progressing in, always going higher up and getting more money, I thought that was just what you were supposed to do in life. I didn’t consider all the options that fit outside the box.”

  She stared into my eyes, fluttering her lashes. She had such long, curled eyelashes, I couldn’t get enough of gazing into her eyes. “And those options outside the box…”

  “I’ll get restless if I’m not doing financial strategy work. You know that.” I shifted, wrapping my arms around her, stroking her hair. “But maybe a change of industry. Maybe like… a candy shop, or something?”

  Her jaw dropped. “Holy cow are you telling me I’m hiring the former CFO of an international corporation? There’s no way I can afford you. My payroll would explode into flames.”

  I laughed. “Maybe a co-owner relationship might be more feasible.”

  “I—I still can’t believe you’re telling me you want to help run a candy shop.”