Besides, as she kept reminding herself now she was home, there really were no permanent ties to San Diego yet. Yes, she had her fabulous new job and her best friend there, and of course Brett, who was counting the days they’d been together like a child with a reward chart. But nothing was going to change in the short time she’d be away, and she’d be straight back once her dad was up on his feet.
When Liberty had arrived at the hospital, she had fallen to her knees at the sight of her dad asleep in the bed. Nothing had prepared her for that. She had gone into automatic pilot, and she was still in it. If she turned it off she would have to face the reality of what lay ahead, and she wasn’t sure that she was strong enough to do that. Not again.
“Libby, babe, you still there?” Brett’s tinny voice brought her back to the here and now, and the limescale stuck to the toilet in front of her nose.
She wrestled with the idea of once again telling Brett that she didn’t like being called Libby—her dad’s, and only her dad’s, pet name for her—but decided that would rile him further.
“Yes, sorry. I’m just in the middle of scru—”
“Like I said,” Brett interrupted Liberty’s apology. “You’re being so selfish. How do you think I feel here, all by myself?”
Liberty could hear a hubbub of noise in the background of the call and very much doubted that Brett was alone. He wasn’t like her. Liberty could be surrounded by people and still feel lonely.
Brett had looked after her, really, when she’d started working at TRN Associates. He had spotted her on her first day in the large company and swooped in to rescue her when she’d dropped her folder on the stairwell. He’d been at her side ever since. He had decided their anniversary could be the day they had walked to the subway and ridden home together. He’d planned all their dates, and had even sent a bunch of roses to her desk at work to celebrate their month anniversary every time it came around. Liberty had fallen into the relationship but felt she owed it to Brett as he seemed to be giving it his all.
“Look, Brett, love.” She put the toilet brush back into its holder and peeled off a yellow glove so she could hold the phone properly. “I am so terribly sorry. I really do miss you. Perhaps you could take some time off work and come and help out here? That would be a huge help to me and we could spend some time together.”
Brett snorted down the phone. Liberty could imagine him scratching at his blonde eyebrows with his thumbnail, a habit he’d unconsciously do numerous times a day, so much so that his left eyebrow had a little bald patch right in the middle.
“I can’t very well up and leave here, can I? TRN needs me.”
Brett was an account manager in a team of about fifty account managers. Liberty thought TRN could probably do without Brett for a week at least. But once again she didn’t voice her thoughts as Brett didn’t give her time.
“Can’t you get back here for the weekends, at the very least?” he asked.
Liberty left the small en-suite and sat down on the bed she’d only just stripped. Room 1 was the smallest room in the motel, a single room on the attic floor in the turret of the old house. It had once been Liberty’s play room, many years ago, and it was still her favourite place inside the motel. Her dad hadn’t changed the wallpaper in here since it had been hers, and the small flowers and intricate vines were faded away to almost nothing. The room was now vacant, but a new guest was expected later that day and Liberty still had the bed to remake and the bathroom to finish, not to mention the other two rooms which needed checking once Fred and Ginger had finished.
“I need to be here for my dad,” she told Brett, wiping the sweat off her face with the back of her hand. Her skin looked luminous in the light shining through the turret window. It was as though she’d been treated to a facial, not spent the last hour with her head stuck down the toilet. “Not to mention it’s holiday season here, the motel is booked up for the next two weeks at least.”
“Two weeks?” Brett shouted down the phone.
Liberty didn’t have the heart to tell him that there was no way she’d be back in San Diego even after the two weeks, not with how slowly her dad was recovering.
“Two weeks?” he said again, this time sounding upset. “I’m not sure I can last that long without you.”
Liberty took a deep breath and looked at the clock on the bedside table.
“Look, Brett, I am so sorry but I really have to get on here. I’ll ring you later and we can try to sort something out, okay?”
She could hear Brett puff out air and murmur something.
“Okay, later. Bye.”
He ended the call and Liberty felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. It was unfair to Brett, she had been whisked away from him and now she couldn’t say when she’d be going back. Liberty just wished that she didn’t have the added pressure of making sure he was okay on top of looking after Pebble Cove single handedly, and watching out for her dad. What she really wanted was someone she could offload to, someone to take her hand and tell her it would all be okay. She blinked and forced away the tears she could feel stinging her eyes.
It will all be okay, she told herself as she pulled on the glove and headed back through to the toilet.
She’d barely entered the room when the phone rang again. Liberty thought about flushing it down the toilet and being done with it. Instead, she stopped her work once again and hammered the buttons with her gloved hands.
“I told you I can’t talk right now, but I promise to call you later,” she said with more force than she’d intended.
“Um… uh… I’m not sure I have the right number.” The voice at the other end of the phone was most definitely not Brett’s. “Sorry, I was looking for the Pebble Cove Motel.”
“So sorry, one moment, please?” Liberty blanched when she realised she’d answered the motel phone and not her own private mobile. She pulled off her gloves, dumping them on the bed and running down to the office. The voice on the line had been like nothing she had ever heard before. He was well spoken and confident, but with a softness like a frothy coffee. She cleared her throat.
“I’m very sorry. This is the Pebble Cove Motel, Liberty Reynolds speaking, how may I be of assistance?”
The man on the other end of the line laughed gently, but Liberty didn’t feel it was aimed at her.
“Thank you, Liberty. Sorry If I caught you at an inopportune moment.”
Liberty pictured herself with her arms down the toilet and laughed too.
“Perhaps just a little.”
“Let’s start again, shall we? My name is Nathani… Nate, my name is Nate, and I was wondering if you might be able to do me a favor, please?”
Preorder Now!
You can read My Bereaved Billionaire on October 1st! Preorder it from Amazon and find out what happens when Nathaniel Parker books a stay at the Pebble Cove Motel!
Click here to find the book at your local Amazon!
mybook.to/mybereavedbillionaire
Thank you! :-)
My Antisocial Billionaire: A Clean Billionaire Romance (My Billionaire A-Z Book 1) Page 18
