Page 484 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
“Something to say?” I asked.
“Is that why you were late this morning?”
I shrugged. “It was unacceptable how he treated you, and I had a few things to say about it.”
“A few things,” she breathed.
The phone on my desk rang. Tinsely nearly jumped out of her skin.
I answered the call, which was an invitation to a virtual conference meeting amongst several store managers and board members to iron out an emergency with product shipments and customer orders.
“I have to take this,” I told Tinsely.
She saw herself out, and I wondered why I had a heavy feeling in my chest, like someone had placed a dumbbell there and walked away.
CHAPTER 31
TINSELY
The driver the company sent for me honked. I stood in my bedroom, staring at my reflection in the floor-length mirror hanging on my closet door. I ran my hands down my thighs, appreciating the soft texture of the floor-length velvet gown—a second dress Chadwick had sent for me to wear.
It fit me like a dream. Straps criss-crossed over my back in draped, effortless patterns. The neckline was a sweetheart cut, and in the middle it plunged low, right down to my ribs, showing off a glittering pendant from Swarovski, which Chadwick had sent with the dress.
Wearing it made me feel guilty.
He and I had hardly spoken over the course of the week. The last time we’d said more than ten words to each other was on Monday morning in his office, when I told him I needed some space.
Space, I thought, the word sounding sour in my head. What had I been thinking?
If this week had taught me anything, it was that I didn’t actually want space.
I wanted Chadwick.
Ever since that Monday morning, after I saw him go to bat for me on camera, I’d lost all my Christmas spirit. I felt lost. Every task I had at work, I aimlessly wandered through. Every conversation I engaged in only had half of my attention. My mind was constantly elsewhere, drawn inevitably to memories of him—him kissing me, holding me, laughing with me.
Him draped over a chair like a king with his head tilted back while I used my tongue to make him feel all kinds of good.
I’d realized something terrible—I had completely taken him for granted while I had him.
It was a shameful thing to accept.
I’d let rumors and gossipers ruin the best thing that had happened to me since, well, I couldn’t even remember. I cared more about what they were saying behind my back than what Chadwick was proving to me with his actions.
Life without him had made it crystal clear just how happy I was when I was with him.
And all that had slipped through my fingers because of my own foolishness. Because I cared what people thought about me. Because I wanted to be liked.
The car driver honked again.
I leapt into action and collected my clutch from my vanity. I hurried out of my room and down the stairs, grabbed my keys off the hook, turned off the lights, threw a shawl over my shoulders, and hurried out into the chilly night.
After locking up, I made my way down the sidewalk to the luxury car parked at the curb. Hope swirled to life inside me as I prayed for Chadwick to be in the back seat. Maybe he’d been thinking about me, too. Maybe he wanted to have a conversation before the gala event tonight.
Maybe…
But the back of the limo was empty, and I spent the drive to the hotel near Central Park in total silence, ruminating over my most recent mistakes and wondering if I could take them back.
I have to try, I decided by the time the car dropped me off outside the hotel. I got out into the biting cold wind and hurried up the stairs into the hotel lobby, where I was escorted to the ballroom. I don’t want to give up. Not yet. There is so much left for us.
