Almost relieved, I place my phone on my desk. I’m probably overreacting, I decide. Maybe the invitation isn’t a big deal. It made sense for me to be at the opening, I’d written an article about the hotel, after all.
I start as the sound of my ringtone breaks into my thoughts. Landon’s name is flashing on the screen. I hesitate for a moment, not sure anymore that I want to talk to him, but finally I pick up the phone and accept the call.
“Hello.”
“Rachel.”
There’s something about the way he says my name. It makes me weak and emotional. I swallow, suddenly at a loss for what to say. Now I can’t remember exactly what I was angry about.
“Rachel,” Landon says again. His voice is cool and controlled, a far contrast to the turmoil I’m feeling. How can he be like that, when I feel like I’m being torn apart?
“I received a delivery of an invitation to the opening of the Gold Dust,” I say, keeping my voice as aloof as I can manage. “I’m assuming it’s a mistake.”
His deep chuckle is followed by a short silence. I shouldn’t have called, I realize suddenly. I could have ignored the package, but I’d wanted any excuse to talk to him, and to hear his voice. I sigh inwardly. He probably knows.
“Why would you assume that?” he asks finally.
I swallow. “Because there’s no reason for me to be there?”
“I want you there,” he says, “with me.”
There’s no doubt in his voice, and the confidence, the certainty… it does things to my insides. “Why?” I ask, my voice low.
“Do I have to tell you?” I hear him sigh. “I want you by my side, and not just at the opening. In fact, forget the invite, Rachel. Just tell me what I have to do, let me know what you want from me.”
I try not to imagine being at his side while he opens his beautiful new hotel. I try not to fall in love with the image of us together. I try not to want it desperately.
“I don’t want anything from you,” I say softly.
“You’re lying,” he says. “I can hear it in your voice.”
“No. I’m not.” I steel myself. “It’s over Landon. It should have been over the moment I left your apartment that first night.” I sigh. “You should never have tried to find me, and I should never have accepted your ridiculous proposal. That’s the truth. What did you think? That you’d ask me to fly across the country with you and suddenly I’d forget…” I trail off.
“Forget what?”
I’m quiet. That I can’t be with you. That I can’t keep on being in love with you. “That I’ve moved on. Because I have moved on, Landon. And you should too.”
He doesn’t reply. “I have a meeting,” he says after a long pause. “We’ll finish this conversation later.”
He’s gone before I can respond.
THERE’S no conversation to finish. There’s nothing else to talk about. By evening, I’m still on edge. My phone is like a bomb about to go off any moment as I wait for Landon to call me back. What did he mean about finishing the conversation? The conversation was already completed.
When my phone rings just as I’m getting ready to go home, my heart jumps, but it’s only Laurie.
“Hello,” I breathe, my voice weak with a mixture of relief and disappointment.
“Hey,” she says. “You ready to leave?”
“Just about.” I frown, “Why?”
“I’m downstairs in the lobby,” she informs me. “I decided to walk, and I thought you might like to join me. So, you need some company for the long walk home? I know I do.”
“I’ll be right down,” I tell her, gathering my things.
In the reception on my floor, there’s a familiar figure stepping into the elevator in front of me. “Hold the elevator,” I call out, the same moment he turns around and I realize that it’s Chadwick.
“Chadwick!”