“Thanks.”
“No problem.” Then he gave Sean a smug look. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but it’s about time something shook up your life.”
He flipped his friend the bird and disconnected the call while Thom was laughing. Then he walked over to the windows that looked down on Michigan Avenue. He’d been in Chi-Town for months and hadn’t done anything touristy after a few close calls with some fans. He’d laid low and learned what it was like to have a normal life with Paisley.
Sean had felt both at home and constrained by that lifestyle. Maybe it was good that she knew who he was. He knew that he could never live her kind of quiet life; he needed excitement and adrenaline to help keep him in control. But he had no idea how he was going to find that with her. He only knew he had to try.
Four
Paisley looked at the email offer for the third time after having deleted the message and then retrieving it from the trash folder. From a clearheaded business standpoint, there was no question that she should be typing back ayes. In fact, she should have already responded. Yet, despite the fact that this offer had come from a huge Hollywood studio and the contract had huge dollar signs tied to it, she was hesitating.
She didn’t want to be the brand consultant and image manager for Sean O’Neill on his big-budget holiday film. But on the other hand, shedidwant the Hollywood contact as she’d been trying to grow IDG and move them from a regional firm into a national one. Something she was hyperaware that Sean knew. She’d spent too many nights curled in his—or rather, Jack’s—arms, talking about her future dreams with him.
So did she spite herself and turn it down because she was still mad at him? Or did she somehow figure out how to be the bigger person and agree to it, represent him and then move on? The money would be good and she had the baby to think of now. The company was doing well enough that she didn’t have to worry about money, but still, the connection to Hollywood could open doors for IDG.
Obviously, she should choose the second option, but how was she going to convince herself—and him—that she was over him? Because honestly, it had only been three days. And it had taken her ten years to feel normal after her dad had left them. This was just—
“Morning. Got you an herbal peppermint tea instead of coffee since you’re preggers and I wasn’t sure about caffeine,” Olive said as she walked into the office and set the to-go carrier with three cups in it on Paisley’s desk.
“Thanks,” she said distractedly. Paisley wasn’t sure about the coffee thing, either. Seemed there were conflicting theories on whether one cup a day was fine for the baby or not.
“You okay?” Olive asked. Her friend was wearing a pair of checkered slim-fitting pants and a cream-colored silk blouse with a bow neatly tied at her neck. She had her hair pulled back into a low bun and was wearing a pair of glasses, which Paisley knew she didn’t need for reading, to complete the look.
“I got an offer from a Hollywood studio to be brand-image consultant onChristmas Magic.”
Olive leaned her hip against the desk and took a sip of her coffee and Paisley imagined her friend was trying to think of what to say. Finally, Olive put down her cup. “Want me to take it?”
“Yes, can you? But I thought you had Dante’s Christmas promo and your normal clients.”
“I do. But this is a big opportunity. Maybe I can get Dante’s assistant to help out,” Olive said.
“Help out with what?” Delaney asked as she walked into the office. She grabbed the remaining coffee cup from the carrier and took a delicate sip from it.
“IDG got an offer to work with the film and actors fromChristmas Magic,” Paisley told her.
“That bastard!” Delaney huffed. “I mean, I can admire that he is offering you a really big carrot, but still.”
“My thoughts exactly. I don’t want to turn it down,” she said, realizing that it was the truth. They had all been working hard to get to this point. A part of her didn’t want Sean to disrupt her life plan any further.
“I’d offer to take it but I’ve got the museum thing and it’s really taking a lot of extra time,” Delaney said. “Can you handle it on your own, Paisley?”
“There’s no reason I can’t,” she said. “I’m a grown woman—”
“No one doubts that. But I’m pretty sure it will mean working with Sean. Are you ready for that?” Olive asked.
There it was, the million-dollar question that she was avoiding answering. It was easy to sit her and stew in her anger. To think of how he’d lied to her and how livid she was, but beneath that was something more. Something that made her realize she might never be ready to see him again. She still liked Jack. She still wanted the man that Sean had pretended to be for herself and the baby. Those thoughts made her doubt herself in a way she never had before.
She’d always prided herself on being strong. She was the friend who gave the hard advice and then had the other person’s back. But even though she knew what she’d tell herself to do in this situation, she couldn’t deny how she really felt.
Moving on wasn’t what she wanted. But continuing anything with Sean would make her feel like the biggest loser in the world. Because the truth was, it was humiliating to think that she might want to work things out with a man who’d lied to her in such a big way.
“You know it’s okay to say no,” Olive said gently.
Paisley nodded. “I don’t know if I’m ready. Part of me thinks it might help me get over him,” she admitted. “Or let me see the real man.”
Delaney sighed and then shook her head. “I hate to say this, because I know it’s not helpful, but I liked him when we hung out. There was that one awkward thing when I asked about his grandmother which now I totally get. But otherwise... I mean, I know he’s an actor and all, but it felt real. Do you think he wasn’t being his true self with you?”
“I just don’t know,” she said, glancing down at the email and the initial figure they’d offered her. It was big. But money wasn’t enough of a motivation for her. Deep down, she knew she wanted to find out more about Sean. To see who he really was and to find out if he’d just used her. And work might give her a safe space to do that. “I’m going to say yes. If it doesn’t work out, I can walk away.”