The Billionaire’s Second Chance: A Small Town Romance

by Weston Parker

  I took the phone and took the fucking picture. Then I wondered what I was really doing in the back of this car. Because I definitely wasn’t having any fun with her just yet.

  Chapter 32

  ANNA

  Jessie had called earlier to let me know William was gone. She’d even attached a picture of a fancy car driving away from her at the ferry terminal. I knew it wasn’t logical, but the concrete proof that he was gone again had felt like someone had taken a taser to my heart.

  Just as suddenly as he’d reappeared in my life, he was out of it again. It’d only been a few hours, but I still felt like I couldn’t breathe properly when I thought about it.

  The pain hadn’t lessened overnight like I’d hoped it would. It was just as acute as before, maybe even more so now.

  Because now it was official. I was starting over again. A dozen years after the first time I’d had to do it, I was once more staring down the barrel of a life without the only person I’d ever been able to envision spending it with.

  At least I’d managed to go to work and stay there all day without breaking down once. If anything, I’d walked around the office all day like a zombie. Not even Mildred had managed to get a rise out of me.

  After I locked up, I tipped my head back and looked up at the A-frame where my apartment was. I suddenly couldn’t bear the thought of spending the night alone there.

  It’d been bad enough that I’d felt like the walls of the Tourism Center had been closing in around me all day, suffocating me and squeezing the will to live right out of my not-so-much-optimistic-anymore soul.

  My dad had been calling, and although I hadn’t spoken to him about it, he knew something was up. He’d texted a few times to tell me he’d seen me on TV. I didn’t really feel like talking about Will, but maybe coming clean to Dad would be purifying somehow.

  When he opened his door at my knock, he blinked in surprise to see me but then gave me one look and pulled me into his arms. “I’m glad you came to see me, sweetheart. Let me pour you a glass of wine. Can I run you a bath?”

  I chuckled, burying my tear-streaked face in his chest as the dam I’d been walling up all day burst. Dad held me through it all, stroking my hair and whispering about how everything would be okay.

  His tattered blue T-shirt was wet by the time I pulled away. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I’ll take it home with me later and wash it for you.”

  He waved me off, gesturing for me to precede him into his apartment before closing the door behind us. “About that bath. I’m sure I’ve still got a bottle of your old bubbles around here somewhere if you’d like to go have a soak.”

  “No, I’m okay.” I might just sleep in my own tub tonight after I got home, but I hadn’t come here to lie in a bubble bath until I felt better. I knew from experience that a bubble bath didn’t do me much good in this condition anyway. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around much lately.”

  “William Kent, huh?” he asked, arching a bushy eyebrow at me over his shoulder before opening his fridge and popping his head into it. “I saw you on TV with him. I didn’t know you two were still in touch.”

  “We weren’t,” I said dryly, sitting down and accepting the glass of wine when he handed it to me.

  He sat down on the couch opposite mine, a glass of water in his hand as he kicked his feet up. “So, what happened then?”

  I took a fortifying sip of wine before spilling my guts all over my old man’s carpet. I told him everything—except of course for how I’d slept with Will—and was crying again by the time I was done.

  “I just can’t believe how naïve I was. The man was a millionaire, who’s since become a billionaire, who travels the world on a whim and dates supermodels and actresses. I should never have gotten involved in this plan.”

  Dad’s dark eyes were fixed on mine. “You’re not naïve, baby. You have a big heart, and having a big heart makes you vulnerable to people who would take advantage of you.”

  “He didn’t take advantage of me, not really. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement that I just read too much into.”

  He held up a big hand, waving it up and down to slow me down. Dragging in a deep breath and blowing up his cheeks before releasing it, he shook his head with the corners of his lips pressed in.

  “I know I haven’t exactly been objective about that boy for years, but I don’t think William is a bad man. I just think that he’s lost. We all get a little lost sometimes.”

  I frowned, my eyes studying his face as I searched for any trace of a fever. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? Because you’re not sounding at all like yourself right now.”

  His deep, rumbling chuckle made me smile through the tears. “I’m fine, baby girl. I’ve just had a lot of time to think recently, and since your name was linked to his again, some of my thinking happened to be about William.”

  I sat forward, my elbows on my knees and wine glass dangling at my side. It was angled so it wouldn’t spill, but I’d clean it up if it did. I was too curious about my dad’s sudden change of heart to pay much attention to anything else.

  “Without a big heart like yours to work as a guide and compass, I believe William got swallowed whole by the entertainment industry. If you’d been by his side, I don’t think it would’ve happened, but you weren’t there. When he went out there, he was truly alone for the first time in his life and he didn’t have you next to him, keeping him on course.”

  “He’s a big boy, Dad. He shouldn’t need a babysitter.”

  Dad lifted his bulky shoulders in a shrug, his head shaking before I’d even finished my sentence. “It’s not about needing a babysitter. It’s about men doing stupid things when they’ve lost the love of a good woman, and I think he’s still trying to find his way back.”

  “He found his way back, all right.” Back into my heart, my life, my bed, and then back into Angelina’s manicured hands and his fancy car. He was all the freaking way back.

  The only thing lost in this scenario was my heart.

  My father looked at me like he could tell what I was thinking. He held his water in both hands, and when one hand let it go, I saw the surface of the water ripple with a tremble.

  “We’ve never talked about this,” he said, “but I know you’ve never stopped loving that boy. It eats at me every day that you gave up on your love story because of me.”

  I shook my head, my brow furrowing and my eyes widening on his. “No, that’s not—”

  “Don’t lie to me, baby girl. We might not talk about everything, but when we do talk, we’ve never lied to each other. I know that’s what you did, and it saved my life that you were there for me, helping the way you were.”

  His voice was trembling as much as his hands now. He was struggling to say what he needed to say, but the seriousness of his gaze told me he needed to say it.

  “Truth be told, honey, I wouldn’t have gotten through the cancer without you. Even now, you’re here helping me pay off debts that aren’t yours to pay. That is why you agreed to this sham with the Kents, isn’t it? You didn’t say so explicitly earlier, but you mentioned they offered to pay you for your work, and I happened to notice a huge chunk of my debt is suddenly cleared.”

  “I wanted to help, Dad. I always have.” I was choked up now too, new tears streaming down my face as I tried to imagine the alternative. “They’re my debts to pay off, too, because going for those treatments and getting those medications gave me you. I’d pay everything I earn for the rest of my life if that’s what it takes to keep you here with me.”

  “I know that, sweetheart. That’s just not the way it’s supposed to be.” He sighed, and his eyes welled with tears. “I wish I could’ve provided better for you. None of this should’ve been on your shoulders. It was my burden to carry, and you’re not even just helping me pay financially. You’ve been paying the emotional price since the day that boy left the first time.”

  Before the next beat of my heart was over, I was on my feet and crossing the short
distance between us to give him a hug. “I wouldn’t trade you for the world, Dad. You’re my home as much as Mackinac. I mean it from the bottom of my heart. I’d part with anything and everything for you.”

  He held me close for several long minutes, his chest expanding on deep breaths as he tried to gain control of his emotions. His voice was still shaky when he spoke again, his timber deep, but he pushed me back gently to look into my eyes.

  “My pride got in the way of a lot of things when I was younger,” he said, wiping a hand over his face. “It got in the way of my relationship with your mother, but that was our problem and not yours. Then it got in the way of your relationship with Will, and that, I can’t forgive myself for.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He sighed heavily, the sound filled with a lifetime of regret. “I should’ve taken Kent’s money when he came knocking that day. If I had, there would’ve been a lesser burden on you. There might not even have been any burden on you, but pride can be an ugly thing.”

  There was a warning in his words. “Don’t step in the same traps I did, baby. I was so determined to make it by myself that I never even considered I might not be able to. I turned him down because I didn’t like the way he’d offered or the fact that he’d offered at all.”

  “He was rude about it,” I reminded him, but Dad just shook his head again.

  “That shouldn’t have mattered. His money was green and the doctors would’ve taken it. In the end, I didn’t make it by myself after all. You had to prop me up when I couldn’t keep going, and because I’d turned down a man who had the money and was willing to spend it on me because it would’ve meant so much to his kids.”

  Another tear rolled down each of his cheeks, but he didn’t bother swiping them away. “Don’t make the same mistakes I did. Learn from them. Don’t ever let pride stop you from doing what you want to do.”

  “Are you saying that I should quit the Tourism Center and take the job with Jessie?” I pulled my head back, frowning at him. “But that’s a handout.”

  He chuckled. “No, darlin’. It’s a legitimate job offer from a friend who could really use your help. You should’ve taken her up on it years ago. You’d have saved yourself a lot of grief with Mildred if you had.”

  “Why are you only telling me this now?” I wasn’t angry with him or anything. I just didn’t understand what’d happened to change his mind.

  “It’s time for both of us to start correcting our mistakes, Anna. Not taking Kent’s money isn’t something I can go back and do differently, but I can start by making sure you learn from my pigheadedness.”

  “I’m not sure I can stand to be at the B&B for now anyway,” I said. “Everything is still too fresh. I’m scared it would keep feeling like he was about to come around the corner at any moment.”

  “Let’s hope he does, baby. I don’t want to have cost you your one shot at a happily ever after, and I saw those pictures they took of the two of you. You’ve only ever laughed like that when you’re with him. If that’s not the kind of happy one wants to be forever after, then I don’t know what is.”

  It was a sweet thing for my dad to say, and I felt closer to him than ever after we’d both opened up, but that wouldn’t make a lick of difference to the situation with William. He was gone, but Jessie was still here.

  Maybe Dad was right. Maybe it was time I stopped letting my pride stand in my way. Or maybe I should just go home and get in the bath. Bubbles were sounding like a mighty good idea right now, along with a healthy dose of steam to clear my freshly muddled head.

  Chapter 33

  WILLIAM

  Angelina and I had only been back in Los Angeles for two days, but I was starting to wonder how I’d ever felt at home here. I’d been feeling hollow and empty since leaving Mackinac. I kept checking my phone, but there was nothing from either Anna or Jessie. Not that I was surprised, but it didn’t help the cavernous, gaping hole that felt like it was just growing in my chest.

  Our airplane’s wheels had barely touched down before Angelina had thrown herself into wedding planning with renewed fervor. We still hadn’t even had a proper conversation about it, but she was going full steam ahead.

  I’d found out when a vendor had left a message at my place yesterday that she was even thinking about moving the date up to next month. I felt stifled, like I was suffocating with no way out.

  The press was all over our reunion, and we were now being sold as a true-love story who could accept each other despite our imperfections. Every word they said about us was utter bullshit, and yet I hadn’t responded to a single statement. There were still a ton of stories about me and Anna out there too, and people seemed torn over what to believe.

  That blessed numbness I’d been lusting after since Anna walked out on me—just four fucking days ago, even though it felt like an eternity—was finally back, and all I wanted now was for it to be gone. I wanted to feel something as I stood next to Angelina in the outrageously extravagant hotel she was in the process of booking as our wedding venue.

  The place had zero character whatsoever. Everything was steel, chrome, glass, and marble. That could be cool, granted, but it didn’t even work with this space. There was just absolutely nothing about this soulless ballroom that made me feel like people should be celebrating spending the rest of their lives together in here.

  Angelina was confirming details with the florist and the wedding planner. She nodded as the florist made a note. “Yes, I want everything to be white. Elegant. No other color. It’d just look gaudy.”

  My fiancée didn’t ask for my input on anything. I’d just been told I had to be there and was now standing by quietly. I didn’t care much about the decisions being made anyway. They were doing me a favor by not trying to pull me into the conversation, but I couldn’t help wondering if this was the way it was supposed to be.

  I remembered my dad joking once that a groom’s only job at a wedding should be showing up, but I also remembered being horrified by the thought. It was the day I would be promising my eternal love and faithfulness to one woman, vowing to spend the rest of my life with her.

  Shouldn’t I care about any of the details at all? We’d been by Angelina’s chosen tailor for my wedding suit already this morning.

  As far as I was concerned, I had better and nicer suits than the one she wanted made already hanging in my closet, and yet I hadn’t said anything. I’d simply nodded at the tailor and signed the contract agreeing to his charges. I hadn’t even checked what those charges were.

  “We’re absolutely not having any children at the wedding,” Angelina insisted in response to a question from the wedding planner. “Those snot-nosed little brats don’t belong anywhere near an event as auspicious as this.”

  Auspicious? I nearly snorted out loud. At the tiny sound that did escape, my beloved fiancée narrowed her eyes at me and gave her head an almost imperceptible shake.

  Rolling my eyes as I slid my hands into my pockets and walked over to the wall of windows, I let my gaze drift over the view of the city. I thought about Mackinac and the stark contrast between looking out of a window here and what the view was like there.

  The places couldn’t be further apart, and yet LA suddenly morphed into peaceful and quiet Mackinac, the view from Anna’s living-room window. I could only imagine what she would be like planning a wedding.

  Undoubtedly, the contrast would be just as stark. So stark, in fact, that Anna and Angelina as brides wouldn’t be comparable at all.

  Knowing Anna, she’d want to tie the knot at city hall just like both of our parents had before us, and just throw a big party at Jessie’s B&B. She’d invite everyone she came into contact with instead of this “very strict guest list with private security agents” at the door we were having now.

  Anna would also probably wear a simple dress, and she’d have yellow flowers in her bouquet and on the tables. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day when she finally got married, she roped her future husband
into every decision or if she ended up serving burgers as a main course.

  It brought a smile to my face imagining her as a bride, even as jealousy so bitter I could almost taste it rose from my gut over this future husband of hers. She wasn’t even dating him yet and I already hated him with the passion of a thousand burning suns.

  “Pay attention, William,” Angelina snapped, suddenly appearing next to me and dragging me by my arm back to where they were standing. “These are important details. Surely, you want to hear them.”

  Hear them but not be part of them. Whatever.

  My phone rang with a call from Dave, and I was more than grateful to have an excuse to step out. I lifted the buzzing device, keeping my hand over his name on the screen as I excused myself.

  “I’m afraid I have to take this. Please continue without me. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Angelina barely spared me a glance, but the florist and wedding planner both nodded. I was ninety percent sure the florist was going to try slipping me her number before we left here today, but not even that bothered me.

  Before Angelina had cheated on me, I’d passed slipped numbers back, deleted them if they landed in my phone, and politely declined any other requests I’d gotten to fuck. I still didn’t plan on using her number, but right now, I really couldn’t care enough to even lose it.

  “You’re back with Angelina?” Dave said when I answered the phone. He didn’t yell or scream, but his quiet disappointment was almost worse. “What the fuck, man? When did this happen?”

  “Where have you been for the last few days?”

  “In my writing cave. You know how I get when I’m working. I zone out. I’ve even been sleeping in my office, so I ask again, what the hell happened?”

  “She showed up in Traverse City, Anna overheard us talking, told me to go to hell, and well, here I am.”