Page 39 of Secrets, Scandals and Baby Shoes

“Oh, thank you.” Lucy beamed. “Our campaign has been a success, at least so far.”

“Your campaign?” Gabriel’s brow furrowed. “No, I was talking about the CEO job.”

Lucy was momentarily confused. After all, she’d been CEO, alongside Elliot, for more than a month now, and she’d met Gabriel plenty of times since then. He could have, and had, congratulated her on any number of occasions.

“It’s all right.” Gabriel smiled. “I know we aren’t supposed to know yet, but I’m processing Elliot’s exit paperwork this morning, so I know you’ll be taking over as sole CEO soon. And I know you’ll do a fantastic job. No more sharing the office, right?”

The bell dinged, signaling their arrival on their floor, and Gabriel got out. Lucy followed, shellshocked. He must have gotten some incorrect information from someone, because there was no way that Elliot would quit the job they both loved without at least talking to her first. Plus, he was still in Chicago, as far as she knew.

Lucy hurried down the hall to her office. As soon as she opened the door, the worry in her heart eased. Elliot was sitting at his desk, typing away on his computer. He smiled when she came in and shut the door behind her.

“You’re back!” Lucy said.

“I’m back.” Elliot got to his feet, circled the desk, and gave her a tight hug. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” Lucy hugged him in return before gently extricating herself. “When did you get back?”

“Not long ago,” Elliot said vaguely. “I wanted to surprise you by being here this morning.”

“Well, it’s a pleasant surprise indeed.” Lucy smiled, though she still felt confused about the interaction she’d had with Gabriel in the elevator. There was no time like the present to clear it up. “Something strange just happened.”

“What was it?” Elliot led her to the small couch at the side of their office, where they both sat, angled towards each other.

“Well, someone from HR mentioned that he was processing your exit paperwork and congratulated me on the new CEO job.” Lucy laughed, but it sounded thin even to her ears. “That’s ridiculous, right? It must be some sort of rumor.”

Instead of laughing, rolling his eyes, or telling her that it was all just gossip, though, Elliot winced. Immediately, Lucy’s blood turned cold.

“This isn’t how I wanted you to find out,” he said in a low voice.

“So it’s true.” The ice spread through Lucy’s veins as she stood. She couldn’t quite look at Elliot. “Are you really leaving?”

“Yes, but not for two weeks.” Elliot held his voice steady.

“Oh. Great!” Lucy gave a strained laugh. “Well, that’s fine then. You quit this job without talking to me, a job Dominic wanted us to do together, but at least you won’t actually leave fortwo whole weeks.”

“I know this isn’t ideal.” Elliot stood and reached for Lucy before seeming to think better of it and changing the motion to a sweep of his hand through his hair. “But the truth is that as much as I’ve enjoyed being here in New York with you, it just isn’t sustainable. I can’t run two companies at once, and my home is in Chicago. I know you’ll do a fantastic job with Borderless on your own. You’ve already been running the company solo for a week. That’s why I spoke to the board about selling my shares and giving my notice.”

So, he’d also talked to the board. It seemed that everyone had known about his plans before Lucy did.

“Wow.” Lucy could barely speak. Her heart ached, tears burned in her eyes, and her throat felt sore from holding back tears. “I can’t believe you’d do this.”

“You have to understand.” Elliot crossed his arms. “I have alifeback in Chicago. My own life. My own company. It’s all been on pause for weeks, and I can’t go back and forth like this forever.”

“And you never considered choosing Borderless?” Lucy asked. “Dominic asked you to be a CEO here. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“I know I’m leaving the company in good hands,” Elliot said simply. “Yours. And Dominic wouldn’t have wanted me to give up everything in Chicago. He would have wanted us to have our own lives!”

He wouldn’t have wanted us to be togetherwas the unspoken ending to that sentence. Lucy knew it was true, but that didn’t mean that this hurt any less.

“So, you’re going back to Chicago?” she asked, furious. “You’re done here?”

“I’ll still be available to offer advice,” Elliot said. “Any time. That’s probably what Dominic intended anyway — for me to help you but for you to run Borderless yourself. You can do this on your own. You don’t need me. And I need to be in Chicago, not goofing off here.”

That made things clearer, too. Elliot wasn’t just backing out of his CEO position. He was backing out of their relationship, too. Otherwise, he would have talked to her before doing this. He would have let her know what he was thinking before moving back to Chicago. He would have said that he would still prioritize their relationship, even if he wasn’t working for Borderless anymore.

He hadn’t said any of those things.

Lucy’s heart ached. It was true that they’d never talked about exactly how long this second chance would last, but it seemed it had reached its natural expiration date.

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