Page 104 of Impossible Love

My jaw comes unhinged just as the front door opens. Dad tips his chin toward Victoria. “Come on in a minute, please.” She grabs her computer and notepad and jumps to her feet. My father shakes his head at me, yet again blocking my entrance.

“Be patient, son. I’ll call you in very soon.” He shuts the door before I can protest.

I stand frozen in place.

We had some fun?

Now it’s over?

It happens?

That’s all it ever was for her?

I don’t know what is most prominent, my anger or my surprise. I hardly have time to figure it out when the door opens. Nigel steps out first, his Hollywood hat in his hand and a thoroughly displeased snarl on his lips. Victoria exits next, her face stony and unreadable.

She doesn’t look at me.

“Cal?” My dad’s tone is matter-of-fact. “Please get Victoria’s bags and take them to the helicopter. The Backlunds are leaving.”

Chapter 55

Victoria

My feet feel like they’re encased in cement as I trudge off toward the helicopter. This whole experience has been a clusterfuck of epic proportions.

Cal is angry and hurt. He looked lost as I walked past him on the porch. But nothing can be done about it now. A clean cut is best since my life will be very messy in the near future. I won’t have time to sort out the tangled web I leave behind, or hold our mistakes up to the light, or unpack the layers of what did and did not happen between the two of us.

And anyway, why should I try to repair something that was probably doomed from the start?

Then there’s my father…

He’s gone off the rails. I hear the icy rage in his voice as he talks with the pilot. That rage is because of me, not our innocent employee. But what’s really got him hacked off is that his dirty backroom deals didn’t get him everything he wanted. He was outsmarted by a man he assumed was just a simple Nevada rancher. It’s sent him into a blind fury.

Just wait till he sees what’s coming next.

I was proud of Jamie in there. Within seconds of stepping inside, I knew he’d heard everything I’d shouted at him while the helicopter landed. I saw how Jamie remained unmoved as my father complained and cajoled and revised his terms. Jamie smiled politely, keeping the conversation brief, and then showed my father the door. I hugged Phyllis goodbye. Then I hugged Jamie, slipping him the handwritten note before I pulled away.

“Please give this to Evander,” I’d whispered.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cal approach with my bags. Instead of bringing them to me where I stand at the helicopter passenger door, Cal ducks, opens the cargo hold, and throws the bags inside. Only then does he approach me.

In his hands are my bag, my sunglasses, my phone, and the bracelets and earrings I’d accidentally left in the bathroom in my rush to put this whole mistake behind me. He dumps it all into my open palms.

“Thank you, Cal.”

Our eyes lock. It’s too much. Am I really going to let this be the last time I look into those intense violet eyes shaded by black lashes? I should throw myself into his arms. I need to tell him I love him and demand that we find a way to work it out.

What did Phyllis say? “Don’t let him push you away…”

My father has finished misdirecting his anger at the pilot and shoves past me to board the helicopter. Cal observes this with disbelief. I think he’s about a millisecond away from jumping in there and beating my father to a pulp.

Not that he doesn’t deserve it.

“Hurry up, Victoria! Haven’t you wasted enough of my time?”

“Goodbye, Cal.”

I turn to step up into the cabin and he’s suddenly by my side, supporting my elbow, making sure I’m safely on board.

---