“No, Faith. You have to listen to me,” he persists. “I’m going to show you everything, and if you still don’t believe me, I’ll go. I’ll sever my ties with your father and take the loss. I’ll recover from it. But I’ll never, ever recover from losing you.”
His words seem to worm their way into my chest—warmth beating back the cold. But I remind myself that Lance is a smooth-talker. He didn’t get to where he is today by not knowing the right things to say. If I give him a chance, he could convince me of anything.
“Please, Faith. Will you listen to me?”
No.
No, I can’t. I can’t…
EPILOGUE
FAITH
FOUR YEARS LATER…
“COME ON, guys, let’s get this order done so I can go home!”
“The boys,” as I like to call them, Chris, Ryan and Tommy, all glance up from their stations and give me their patented smirks.
“Sure, boss.”
“Got a glass of red wine waiting for you at home?”
“Or maybe a boy toy?” Ryan, the snarkiest of the group, suggests with a wink.
“Hey,” I reply, pointing a finger. “Don’t make me fire you, mister!”
The boys laugh and go back to their boxes. We’re packing up and shipping a big order of lemon drops today, along with a sample shipment of our new lime drops which we’ve just finished testing. They’re delicious, and if we get the big order in that I know we will, Have Faith Candies will go from just a small, successful, mom-and-pop style company to a big competitor. Hell, I could probably even take on Frost Sweets if I wanted to.
It’s crazy to think back to when my dad got me a job with Lance. I know he was doing it because he wants what’s best for me, but I wonder if he would have had he known what was going to happen.
It took him a long time to get over being angry with Lance after he saw how upset I was that day at the house, and even longer to go back into business with him. Luckily, Lance was happy to wait for my dad to be ready. And once he was, Lance proposed.
Of course I said yes. After he showed me the ridiculously absurd e-mail chain between him and Danielle, from the beginning of the joke to the final message that almost broke up our relationship, I realized I really had nothing to be mad at him about. In fact, I was mad at myself for overreacting. If I had just asked him about it and been open to listening, I could have spared us that overly-dramatic chase scene through the woods.
But then again, we wouldn’t have that awesome memory of our overly-dramatic chase scene through the woods to look back on and joke about now.
I took Lance up on his offer of course and brought him in for 20 percent of my company in exchange for him taking care of the one-year lease and a substantial cash investment to get things up and running. I worked hard, hired two employees, and within four months, had a working manufacturing chain churning out lemon drops 12 hours a day.
It was incredible.
People started ordering them from all over New England. Every store in New Hampshire wanted them, and we started shipping up to Maine and down to Boston, even hiring our own vans to make deliveries. Lance offered to give us a distribution deal through Frost Sweets, but I told him no. I wanted to do this on my own, and he understood completely.
But now, three and a half years later, Have Faith is a success. And beyond that, my life is a dream.
“Momma!” The sound of my son’s voice behind me makes my heart melt, and I turn around to see Lance walking in, little Tyson in his arms.
“Hey, honey!” I scoop my son up and nuzzle my nose into his neck, making silly snorting sounds that always make him laugh. Lance wraps me up in a strong arm and pulls me close.
“He’s been dying to see you all day,” he chuckles. “I told him Mommy was very busy and he’d have to wait, but you know how he can be.”
“Oh, do I ever.” I smile, kissing him all over. So I’m a bit of a smothering mother right now. Sue me, okay?
Tyson has his father’s face but my eyes. He’s going to grow up to be a definite heart-breaker, but I do my best not to think about that now. Right now he’s just my brand new little man whose giggle makes my heart melt.
“Come on,” Lance whispers in my ear as he squeezes my ass. “Daddy’s been missing Mommy too.”
I glance up at him, my eyes hooded with instant desire. “There’s still so much work to do—”