Page 102 of Rich Girl
She’s never looked more beautiful to me.
“I can’t believe you would show up here like this,” she rages on. “I’ve been such a mess since I left New York.”
She stops to stare me down, both hands pressed to her chest.
“Look at me! I’m a total mess. I may never recover from this, Ray!”
I want to go to her and take her in my arms, tell her that it will be okay. But she is not ready. She needs to get it all off her chest first.
I do, however, take a moment to really look at her. She looks a lot thinner than the last time I saw her, and she was thin to begin with. Her collarbones are sticking out more, and her arms look like sticks.
“I’ve been trying to snap out of it,” she continues. “But I can’t,” she sobs. “Thoughts of you consume me. And I can’t wait to fall asleep so I can dream about you.”
I am stricken by how similar what she says is to what I told Hayden when she called me for the first time a couple of days ago.
Deciding that she’s told me enough, I stand up. I smooth my jacket down and straighten my bowtie. The tuxedo I’m wearing is so far removed from what I normally wear, but it’s comfortable, and I’ve gotten a few looks of appreciation, so I know I look good in it.
Before I walk to the other side of the room to where Hayden is standing, I grab the box of tissues and a bottle of water off theside table. Once I’m standing in front of her, I open the bottle and pour some water onto a wad of napkins. She doesn’t protest when I bring it to her face and start cleaning up the smudged up makeup.
“I didn’t come here to make the situation worse for you, Hayden,” I tell her softly as I clean her face.
She is standing frozen in front of me, her chest barely moving with each breath she takes.
“The last three weeks have been a blur.”
I scrub a little harder at a suborn spot that won’t come off her skin.
“I’ve been working extra hours, hoping to fall into exhaustion every day so that I don’t have time to think.”
I dump the dirty tissues and start over with a new pile of them.
“I couldn’t wait to see you in my dreams either,” I confess. “And being awake felt like such a waste of time.”
Her eyes widen in surprise as they follow my every move, with them focusing on my lips every so often.
“Adeline called me two days ago. I don’t know how she got my number. But she told me that I owed you a date to her wedding. And she wouldn’t give me an out.”
Hayden chuckles a little but doesn’t say anything.
“I told her how much I love you. How much I miss you. How much I wish things were different between us.”
Her face is finally clean of any makeup, and she looks as perfect as ever. I drop the tissues to the side before turning back to her.
“I’ve been wrecking my brains how we could make it work, Hayden.”
A sob escapes her before she has a chance to stop it. She presses a hand to her mouth, never taking her eyes off me.
“I know money is important to you. And I can assure you that I have enough to live comfortably for a couple of lives over.”
“I don’t care about the money,” she protests, making me grin at her.
“You do, and that’s okay. I understand. Had I been born into it like you were, I’d be the same.”
I touch her hair, loving the way she leans her head into my hand, like she is craving the contact.
“The towing company was started by my grandfather.” I take a shot at explaining to her. “He raised me after my mother died and my father checked out. I made my fortune in coding and smart investments. But I couldn’t let go to the one place that gave me stability through my hardest years.”
Hayden steps into me and wraps her arms around my waist. She puts her head on my shoulder and sighs.
