The Dating Plan(80)
Dread slid icy fingers along her spine. She wanted to run, to hide, to sink back into the oblivion of unconsciousness where her nightmares couldn’t come true. Unbidden, her mind took her back to the day her mother left. They’d put the last touches on redecorating her bedroom, coordinating the bedspread and pillows with the bright pink walls. A kiss. A hug. And then her mother packed up the car and drove away. At seven years old, Daisy hadn’t understood it was forever. She’d sat at the window for hours waiting for her mother to come back until Sanjay had come home and read the note on the kitchen table. Even then she couldn’t wrap her mind around it. For two weeks, she returned every day to the window, waiting for her mother to come home while Sanjay shouted and raged, and her dad sat on the couch and cried. Little had she known that in ten years, she’d be sitting at that window again, waiting for someone else to come back to her. Had she not learned her lesson? Why had she put herself in this situation again?
“So after everything, you’re just walking away?” She stared at him, incredulous. “What about Organicare?” It wasn’t the question she wanted to ask, but the words wouldn’t come from her lips.
What about me?
Liam frowned. “I’ve done everything I said I would do. Once Brad finishes the rebrand, I’ll make sure it gets to the Evolution partners for consideration with my full recommendation. I’ve been called back to New York to discuss partnership, but because of the conflict of interest I won’t have a vote—”
She stared at him, aghast. “You’re moving back to New York?” She hadn’t seen that one coming.
Act III: Liam Pulls a Devastating Hat Trick
“I hadn’t decided if I was going to accept the offer, but I made my decision today.” His gaze dropped to the floor and he shrugged. “It was my dream. I wanted to show the world that a guy with nothing and no college degree could make it to the top.”
Her face fell. It was happening too quickly, spinning out of control. Caught in a maelstrom of emotion, she could barely breathe. “And what?” she demanded. “That’s it? You’re just walking away? What about the distillery?”
What about us?
Liam shrugged. “My dream of saving the family legacy was just that . . . a dream. I never really thought it through. But you’ve shown me I need to be practical. I need a plan for my life moving forward. I can’t run a distillery from New York. What you have—people who love you, who care about you, who made sure you were never alone—that’s a legacy. What am I really trying to save?”
Us. But there was no us. It was a game. A charade. A made-up relationship. It wasn’t real, and it was never meant to be. He had been honest about that from the start. She just hadn’t expected it would end so soon.
She had rules about getting too close and she’d broken them. She had a life plan and it didn’t include relationships with motorcycle-riding bad boys who had once broken her heart. She had learned her lessons about love and yet she’d made the same mistake again. Except this time, she had a chance to do it right, to say what she wanted to say, to answer the question that had haunted her the two times she’d been left before: What if they knew?
Act IV: Daisy Throws Herself on Her Sword
“I love you, Liam.” Tears misted her eyes. “I have always loved you, except for the ten years I hated you. But then you came back and I fell in love with you all over again. I don’t care about partnerships or careers or inheritances or distilleries. I care about you, and the kind of person you are.” She drew in a shuddering breath, twisting the sheet in her fist. “I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. You’re a good person, a kind person, someone who makes me laugh and feel good about myself and who I looked forward to seeing every single date. You are funny and sweet and generous, protective and strong. You made me feel both normal and special at the same time. You followed my rules but you also made me break them. You encouraged me to step outside my bubble and be the best person I can be. I like who I am with you. Somewhere along the way, this became real to me.” Her voice trembled. “I want it to be real.”
“God, Daisy . . .” His face crumpled. “Please . . . don’t . . . You can’t love me.” He crossed the room in two steps and took her in his arms. She clung to him, buried her face in his chest, breathed in his scent one last time as she soaked his shirt with hot, wet tears.
Act V: The End
“I love you, too,” he whispered as he released her, and his words tore a hole in her chest. “I will never stop loving you. That’s why I have to go.”
? 27 ?
“BETA! I’ve brought more ice cream.”
Layla pushed herself off the couch, patting Daisy on the knee. “Move those bowls of candy out of the way and I’ll go get it from your dad. One carton or two?”
“One. And tell him to be quiet. I’m starting Iron Man 2. This is the one where the palladium core of the arc reactor that protects Iron Man’s heart is starting to break down. He’s in an impossible position—either he slowly lets his body be poisoned or he dies by the shrapnel piercing his heart.”
“Very apropos.”
“Isn’t it, though? If it were me, I wouldn’t have even built an arc reactor.” She tucked her pink princess blanket around her. “Then I would have saved myself the pain of being slowly poisoned by someone I knew I shouldn’t get involved with in the first place.”