The veins in his neck twitched, his legs were planted wide, and his eyes were the coldest she’d ever seen them.
“You can’t do this, Caila! You’ve spent ten days getting to know these people. If you close this factory, you’re going to put them out of work. You’ll decimate this town.”
“You! You! You! I’m not doing it. The company is. I’m just doing my job. The numbers don’t lie. The factory is losing money and Endurance doesn’t want to take that on. They’re not closing the factory. They’ve decided not to renew their co-packing contract. Chro-Make can stay in business.”
“Except they’d lose the only client they have.”
“That isn’t my fault!”
“When Flair’s profits continued to decline, they cut their orders. Nate couldn’t fire people, especially when they weren’t at fault. We’re like a family and that’s what you do. You take care of family.”
“You’ve been throwing that word around ever since I got here. Family can also be an albatross around your neck, pulling you down. Keeping you from reaching your full potential.”
Wyatt jammed a hand on his hip and shoved fingers through his hair. “I know you’re dealing with grief and issues with your family. I guess I hoped you’d put that behind you and do what was right for the town.”
She winced. He’d brought up what she’d shared with him and used it against her. “So lose my job and everything I’ve worked for to save a bunch of people I barely know?”
“Yes! It’s the right thing to do!”
“Is it the right thing to hide behind the idea of family rather than be who you are? You’re so concerned about the truth, why don’t you tell your family how you really feel? Be honest with the people in this town. Your family.” She wrinkled her nose. “You talk a good game about duty and responsibility, but that’s not why you do it. You do it because you’re afraid if you tell them what you really want, they won’t accept you. That doesn’t make you better than me. It just makes you a coward.”
The words hung there between them.
“I find it interesting that’s what you think of me,” he said, quietly. “You’re the one who’s so busy living in the past you’re afraid to step forward. It’s not family that’s holding you back. It’s you. And some idealized version of childhood dreams that’s hindered you from letting go and moving on.”
Oh, she could let go and move on. Watch her.
She firmed her trembling lower lip. “Then I guess we’re both too cowardly to be together?”
The muscle ticked in his cheek. “I guess so.”
“Stop it! You can’t goad me into doing what you want me to do. I’ll go when I’m good and ready,” Caila said.
Her running shoes just sat there, condemning her in silence.
She dropped back onto her sofa. She needed to do something.
Go for a run.
Go to the grocery store.
Shower.
It’d been a week since she’d returned home from Bradleton. A week since her heart-crushing encounter with Wyatt. On Monday, she was expected at Endurance to learn the fate of her future at the company. Kendra had been too busy to take her calls and Diane had told her the executives didn’t want her in the office. Some were even advocating for her dismissal.
Not willing to give up without a fight, she’d followed through on the idea that had been coming to her over the past couple of weeks and she’d drafted a report on how Endurance might benefit from honoring Flair’s contract with Chro-Make. It wasn’t the report the board wanted, but the more she considered it, the more she was convinced it was the strategy her company needed. After two days of almost nonstop drafting, she’d sent it to Kendra and an hour later, her boss had called to inform her that she’d received the report.
“It’s brilliant. You might just manage to pull your ass back from the brink. Sit tight while I figure out the best way to spin this and contain the situation as best I can.”
That had been four days ago.
She was so fucked! And the knowledge that she was on the verge of losing everything she’d worked for had dragged her into a depression.
That’s all it was. Work. It couldn’t be because she missed him.
Wyatt.
Dammit! She threw the pillow she was holding across the room and watched it bounce against her bookshelf before falling to the floor.
He’d lied to her. He’d betrayed her. But her heart didn’t care. She still cried herself to sleep each night, missing his arms around her.
The sound of the buzzer pulled her from the dismal quicksand of her thoughts. She wished she could ignore it and stay wallowed in her melancholy, but she’d run out of food this morning, and since she wasn’t inclined to go to the grocery store, she’d ordered takeout from the restaurant down the street.
Food. She’d get up for food.
Pushing herself off the couch, she trudged over to the intercom unit by the front door and pressed the button.
“Ms. Harris, you have a visitor.”
She frowned. That’s not how they usually announced her takeout.
“Is it my Chinese food?”
A pause. “No. It’s a woman. She said, quote, She’s no five-foot-four white stripper, but she hopes she’ll do, end quote.”
The tears were rolling down Caila’s face before she pressed the button to respond. “Send her up.”
A few minutes later she opened the door to find Ava standing there, a suitcase by her side, a paper bag in her hand. “Lunch is served.”
But at Caila’s distress, Ava’s smile vanished. She hurried in, dropped the food on the counter, and pulled her into a hug.
Caila clung to her friend, having cried more in the past two weeks than she had in the past two decades.
“It’s okay. Go on and let it out. I’ve got you,” Ava said, holding her and murmuring the words over and over in a soothing voice.
When her howls subsided to whimpers, Caila drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Ava looked around for tissues and handed one to Caila. “Clearly you needed it.”
Caila sniffed and blew her nose. “What are you doing here?”
“How could I not come?” Ava asked. “When we talked after you got back from Bradleton, you sounded terrible. I would’ve come sooner but I had a one-day trial turn into three days. I got here as soon as I could. Go sit down and I’ll fix you a plate.”
There was no use arguing and she didn’t want to. Caila sank down on her sofa and pulled her feet beneath her.
Ava knew her way around a kitchen and it wasn’t long before she’d gotten out plates, silverware, and cloth napkins that hadn’t been used since Ava’s last visit.
“What happened?” Ava asked, dishing out the food.
“It was a disaster. I took my eyes off my goal and everything went to shit.”
“I find that hard to believe. You’re the most focused person I know. Wine?”
Caila nodded her assent then responded, “I usually am. You know how important it was that I do a great job on that project. But from the moment I met Wyatt everything went downhill.”
Ava brought their food and drinks into the living room and sat down next to Caila. “That’s an interesting way to describe it. When we texted, you didn’t talk like things were bad. You sounded . . . happy.”
She had been. But had it been worth it?
“It cost me everything. I’ve worked hard to get where I am. How can it all be over?”
“Caila, before you went to Bradleton, you worked fifteen-hour days. You didn’t date and you didn’t have a life outside of Endurance. On our vacation you worked the entire time. We were worried about you.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Don’t tell me I don’t understand. I’ve known you almost half your life. You’ve been striving toward some invisible goal from the moment I met you.”
Caila set her plate on the coffee table, her appetite gone. “I know what I want. It
isn’t invisible to me.”
Ava sighed and put her fork down. “Invisible isn’t the right word. Unattainable, maybe? All I mean is that it’ll never be enough. I don’t think you have any idea of the level you’d need to reach to make you secure.”
“So now you’re trying to Oprah me?”
Ava rolled her eyes. “It’s not hard. I think it’s always simplistic to blame stuff on your childhood, but in this instance . . .”
“I had a life in Baltimore. I had plans and goals that were more than getting married and having babies. And they took it all away from me!”
“Girl, get over it!” Ava jostled her plate and some food fell on the floor. “Your selfishness was understandable when you were fourteen. But you’re over thirty.”
“There’s a time limit on my pain?”
“Feeling it, no. But using it to blame people for the understandable choices they made in the past? Yeah, there is. Your mother didn’t make those decisions to hurt you. Have you ever put yourself in her shoes? Imagined what it was like for her?”
Caila opened her mouth to respond, then closed it. Shame spiraled through her. She’d never thought about her mother in that situation. Only herself. But Mona Harris had been a housewife and a wonderful one at that. Caila had never understood her mother, probably because she was more like her father, but she couldn’t deny that she’d been cared for and had everything she’d needed.
And her father had loved her mother very much.
“Her husband died, and this woman, who hadn’t worked outside the home in over a decade, was suddenly responsible for three girls. She was probably upset, overwhelmed, and frightened about her future.” Ava looked her up and down. “Sound familiar?”
It did. It was how Caila was feeling right now.
“Someone she loved reached out to her and offered to help.”
And Caila had judged her mother for accepting that help ever since. She hadn’t thanked her mother for keeping their family together, or for giving Caila a stable home and a strong male role model. She’d been angry she’d had to leave her charter school, her scholarship, and all of her own activities.
She sighed, what little food she’d eaten now sitting like a load of bricks in her stomach. “I was such a bitch.”
She’d been working to get to this place where she’d be able to make her own decisions. Where she’d depend on no one but herself. But Ava was right.
When would it be enough?
“For almost ten years you’ve devoted yourself to Endurance. And now, yeah, you might lose it. But you’re not losing everything. You still have your family. You still have us, your girls. You have the foundation your father gave you. You have the lessons Pop-Pop taught you.” Ava put her plate down and took Caila’s hand. “You’ve been searching for security, but, sweetie, you’ve had it all along.”
Caila waited for the familiar agony to engulf her at the mention of her grandfather. For the first time in months, it didn’t come. Oh, there was sadness; a tightness in her chest at the thought that she’d never see or talk to him again. But it would ease in time and she’d be okay. In fact, she’d be better than okay. She could finally accept what Wyatt had been trying to tell her. Pop-Pop had already forgiven her. She just needed to forgive herself.
But Ava, Mother Nurturer, wasn’t done.
“Now can you see that what you were doing for yourself, Wyatt was doing for his town? Thousands of people were going to lose their jobs. What kind of man would he be if he sat around and let that happen?”
Not one she would’ve come to love.
“I’m not saying that what he did was right, or that it didn’t have an effect on you, but he had the best of intentions. And along the way, you fell in love with him.”
She did. It had been fast, but that didn’t make it any less real.
She loved Wyatt.
But how did he feel about her?
He’d been interested in pursuing something more with her, but that had been before he’d learned that she’d lied about her reason for being in Bradleton.
“What if he doesn’t feel the same way?”
“The man who was willing to risk all of those jobs so that you could get what you wanted?” Ava smirked.
“But we had an awful argument.”
Just like with Pop-Pop. She couldn’t let that stand.
“Then apologize. He said horrible things to you. Did that stop you from loving him?”
“No.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?”
Caila had a pretty good idea of where she would start.
She got up and gave Ava a hug. “I love you. Thank you for giving me a much-needed kick in the ass. I’ll be happy to return the favor.”
Ava waved a hand. “Oh please, I’ll never need it. I have my shit together.”
“Uh-huh. I have a lot to do, or else we’d get into it about that statement.”
“Bring it,” Ava said, lifting her glass of wine. “I’ll be ready.”
Three days later, Caila exited the elevator and pushed through the large etched-glass door that led into Endurance’s main marketing department. Shoving her hands into the pockets of her black high-waisted, wide-legged dress pants, she strode past curious stares, whispered asides, and the boxes sitting atop Diane’s desk, to enter her old office.
When Kendra had finally called her in to discuss Bradleton, Caila hadn’t known what to expect, but she hadn’t anticipated facing the entire board, sitting across from her in the conference room like an executive firing squad. They’d spent several minutes running through the events of the past few months that had landed her before them.
“Frankly,” one of them had concluded, “with all of these issues, why should we give you the promotion?”
She’d stared him in the eye. “With all due respect, sir, you’re not giving me anything. I’ve worked my ass off for this company. And, as my report shows, I’m continuing to do so. You could close the plant in Bradleton and save some money, but that’s short-term thinking. I believe I’ve laid out a plan that’s better for Endurance long-term and situates us exactly where we should be in this new global marketplace.”
Shaking off the recollection, Caila sat at her desk and turned on the computer. Then she pulled her phone from her pocket and placed a quick call.
“Any reason you’re not FaceTiming me?” Ava’s curious voice blared out of the speaker.
“I only have a minute and I’m multitasking.”
“How’d it go?”
“Great!” The excitement at the unexpected outcome still sparkled in her chest. “You’re talking to the new director of marketing for the entire cosmetics division!”
Ava squealed. “Oh my God! Congratulations!”
“Thanks!” Caila logged on to Endurance’s travel portal and began requesting the accommodations she needed.
“Are you going to call Nic and Lacey or do you want me to do it?”
“Do you mind?” Caila asked, typing in some last-minute instructions before logging off. “I’ll send out a group text in the next week or so, but I have something to take care of first.”
“Wyatt?” Ava guessed.
“Yeah. I can’t believe this is happening.” Caila sat back in her chair and shook her head as the beautiful irony of it all washed over her. “For the second time, I’m leaving behind my life in the big city to go to a small town.”
Ava laughed knowingly. “Because of a man.”
Caila smiled, having finally understood the real reason behind the move all those years ago . . . and this one now.
“No. For love.”
Chapter Twenty
Exhausted, Wyatt ran a hand through his hair. In the days following the Harvest Ball, he’d gotten little to no sleep as he’d worked to extinguish one fire after another.
Once he’d known the truth about Caila and the plant’s future, he’d met with Nate and Joe to discuss their options.
It wasn’t good.
For the time
being, Chro-Make still had a contract with Flair that needed to be fulfilled. They didn’t know when the deal with Endurance would go through, but it was only a matter of time. Until they had confirmation, it was business as usual.
Wyatt had called a town council meeting and informed them they probably had six months to a year until Chro-Make no longer had the Flair contract. Without it, roughly a third of Bradleton’s citizens would lose their jobs. If they didn’t want to be another small town sacrificed on the altar of big business, they needed to find a way to replace the lost revenue.
The council had worked for hours. They’d discussed how to draw new businesses to town and the types of business they should target. They looked at how to put forth the most attractive offer, including their prime location—being close to D.C. and Richmond, but with less expensive property prices—and their willingness to offer incentives.
It was going to be hard, but Bradleton was worth saving. Wyatt had taken his eye off the ball for a while and had gotten caught up in what he wanted instead of what the town needed, and now the town was paying the price.
His doorbell rang and he frowned. It was almost midnight. Who’d be visiting him now?
For a second, he thought it might be Caila and his heart leaped in his chest, before he tamped it down with a firm hand. She wouldn’t come here. Not after everything they’d said to each other.
Being without her was even worse than he’d ever imagined. He’d gone his whole life not knowing her. And in the span of a few weeks, she’d turned his world upside down. Memories of her were everywhere. In his house, at the diner, around town. It drove him crazy.
He answered the door, surprised to see Dan standing on the porch.
“Is everything okay? Is my mother or grandfather—”
“No, no. Everyone’s fine,” Dan reassured him, holding his palm out. “This isn’t a professional visit. Can I come in?”
Wyatt sighed in relief and loosened his death grip on the door. “Of course. You want something to drink?”
He turned and headed into the kitchen, knowing his friend would follow.
“It’s late and I shouldn’t . . . hell, you twisted my arm. I’ll take a beer.”
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