Page 5 of The Billionaire's Second Chance
Without waiting for a response, he strode to the front door, stooped to get the key, and quickly went in. Once he was safely inside, he leaned back on the door as his bag dropped to the floor.
She actually thought he hated her success. He’d told her over and over that it wasn’t about the success. It was about her making it the only thing she was living for. All Link had wanted her to do was carve out space for him. It didn’t even have to be Link-sized. He would have hunched over if it meant being with her. He didn’t want her breaking their dates, which had dwindled to maybe twice a month at the time.
Pushing off the door, he raked his hand through his hair. A small part of him had quietly hoped that— He squashed the sentence. Yeah, he’d hoped, and she’d snuffed it out. There was no “them”; there never would be. It was past time for him to accept that. Once his vacation was over, one way or another, he was moving on. For real this time.
Chapter 5
Aweek later, Hadley was still fuming about the fight she’d had with Link when they first arrived at Luck Lake. Since then, she’d actively avoided him. Oh, he’d tried to talk to her, but she’d made it abundantly clear she wasn’t in the mood to talk. He’d eventually taken the hint and left her alone.
Aside from that, it had been a surprisingly relaxing week. Well, as much as she could between calls. There weren’t fires, per se, but they still needed the attention only she could give. Unlike ex-boyfriends who were now billionaires, she couldn’t just ignore phone calls.
This was a vacation, though, and her plans—despite anticipated calls—didn’t include dwelling on an ex. Shaking her head to clear the thoughts, she tried to focus on the book she’d picked out from the book-filled shelves in the tiny house. They ran along the top of the wall, starting where the kitchen ended, and formed a u-shape in the front half of the house. At first, she’d wondered how anyone could reach the shelves, and then she’d figured out that the accent chair facing the couch held a stowed-away stepstool. A cool little feature.
She was still amazed at the efficient use of space. From the living room, which occupied the front half of the house, the kitchen could be seen. It had a neat little rack situated over the sink that held pots and pans so they could drain after being washed. The living room was to the right of the house, and it sported a couch lining the wall and a small chair facing it. She could see the kitchen on one side and a door leading to a bathroom on the other side, tucked under the stairs.
While it was very impressive at a little over three hundred square feet, it had only taken a couple of days to realize how much she loved the spaciousness of her apartment in California.
A knock came from the door, and she pushed off the couch. With just a few steps, she reached the door and opened it. “Hey, Pierce!”
“Hey,” he said, embracing her. He leaned back, smiling, and then dropped his arms to his sides. “I’m so sorry it took me so long to get over here.”
The same day Hadley got to town, Pierce had called to say he was leaving town for the week with Bethany. Her seamstress had called about her dress, and there had been some misunderstanding with the measurements. Bethany had been panicked, and Hadley couldn’t blame her.
“It’s okay. You made up for it with the stocked fridge.” She laughed. “Is the dress okay?”
He nodded. “Yeah, it’s all worked out. Did you have a good trip? Link said you rode here together.”
“We did.” She returned to the couch and sat.
Pierce lowered himself into the accent chair. “Wow. That’s the first time you two were together since…”
“The breakup? Yeah, and I wish I hadn’t—” Her sentence was interrupted by her phone ringing. “Let me get this real quick.”
She grabbed her phone sitting next to her and answered it. “Hi! Hadley Shaw of Shaw Reality speaking.”
“Hi, Hadley. This is Mary Smith. I’m so sorry for calling, but I wondered if you had the number for the house warranty. Our water heater died on us this morning just before Rich and I took showers.”
Hadley puffed a piece of hair from her face. Rich and Mary Smith were nice people as long as Hadley did whatever they wanted. She’d sold them a home over a year ago, and they were still calling her about anything that went wrong. How many times now had Mary called for the warranty number? Didn’t they keep paperwork like that? Hadley knew she would.
“Hi, I’m not in the office today. You’ll need to call my assistant, Melinda. She’ll have the number for you.” While she’d received calls from the office the entire week, this was the first call from a client. She’d emailed her list of clients every week for a month, letting them know she’d be on vacation and that her assistant would be happy to take calls.
“Oh, well, since you sold us the house, I thought you’d be the one to call. Besides, that Melinda gal is rather flighty. I don’t trust her as much as I trust you.” Mary’s tone always had an edge to it, and when Hadley didn’t jump like she was supposed to, it was worse.
Hadley palmed her forehead, quietly took a deep breath, and let it out slowly through her nose. “Right. I’ll get the number and text you. Is that okay? That way you’ll have it in case you need it again.”
The woman huffed. “I guess that’ll be okay.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
“You’d think with the money you made from us purchasing this house, you’d at least be willing to help us without complaining about it every time.”
Biting her tongue, Hadley forced out, “I apologize. I will get the number to you as soon as I can.”
“Good. Talk to you soon.” The line went dead as the last word was spoken.
Hadley groaned as her hand dropped to the couch, letting the phone dump onto the cushion next to her. “I’m so sorry. Some of my clients are seriously high-maintenance.”
Pierce chewed his lip and looked at the floor. “We need to talk.”
