Take Three (The Jilted Bride #2)(63)

She looked at me and raised her eyebrow. “Miss Thatcher, can I call you back please?” she moved her phone away from her ear and crossed her arms.

“Your name is Joan, correct?” I asked.

“Yes. Can I help you with something?”

“I hope so. My name is—”

“Ethan Lockwood. I know who you are. What do you want?”

“I need to speak with Selena.”

“She left for New York a couple minutes ago. Would you like me to deliver a message?”

“Yes…Could you please tell her that I’m very sorry and I need to talk to her in person? As soon as possible?”

“I can do that,” she suddenly looked sympathetic, “but I can’t promise she’ll listen.”

I’m unfortunately well aware…

“Thank you Joan.”

Without Selena in Fayetteville, I had no reason to be there. I didn’t want or need to stay another day.

I called Barry and let him know I was coming back tonight.

I wasn’t sure if Lola had gotten her hands on the latest copy of Fortune so I decided to stop by Autumn Wonder.

I walked through the employee entrance and the staff said their usual “Hey new coffee bean” and “What’s up Ethan” as I headed for the back office.

“Ethan Reynolds!” Lola jumped up and down as I approached. “It’s a good thing you stopped by tonight!”

So she doesn’t know…

“Guess what?” she clapped her hands together and beamed.

“What?”

“Team! Gather ‘round!” she motioned for me to follow her to the front.

The rest of the staff gathered around the front counter and Lola stood atop a chair. The customers that were sitting in the store shot curious glances over to the group.

“I am happy to let you all know that Mr. Ethan Reynolds has officially,” she looked like she was about to cry, “earned his black expertise apron!”

She bent down and pulled a black and gold apron from a cardboard box. The rest of the team cheered loudly as she instructed for me to put it on.

Once I tied it on, she took a picture of me with her camera and gushed. “I am so proud of you, Ethan! I’m so proud! You grew up so fast!”

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Lola made me take a few more pictures with my coworkers, and allowed me to do the “honors” of cutting away my old green apron over the trash bin.

After I had a piece of celebratory pie, I remembered why I was there. “Can I talk to you in the back for a second, Lola?”

“Sure,” she picked up a slice of pie and followed me to the office.

“What’s going on, Mr. Black Apron?” she sat at her desk.

“I want to let you know that I’m going to Boston tomorrow.”

“Okay…Family emergency? I can get Sarah to come in and cover for you. We can reschedule you for—”

“I’m going there permanently, Lola. I’m sorry for such short notice, but I have to leave…But before I go, I wanted to personally let you know that as CEO of Autumn Wonder, it has been an absolute pleasure working with you. I was here undercover for some research and well…your passion is definitely one of a kind.”

Her jaw dropped. “You’re the CEO?”

I took the Fortune magazine out of my back pocket and slid it across her desk. “Yes. And if you ever want to talk to me about any of your ideas for moving the company forward, I’d be more than happy to fly you up and listen to them…In fact, whenever you want to leave the retail sector let me know. We could use somebody like you at our corporate office. You wouldn’t have to do an interview or anything, just call me when you’re ready.”

She jumped up and hugged me. “I trained the CEO of Autumn Wonder? Oh my god! Oh my god! How awesome is that? Thank you so much for your offer! I’ll take you up on that soon!”

“I hope so,” I handed her my business card. “Just promise me you’ll never work for Starbucks.”

“I promise!”

I arrived in Boston around midnight. I reached for the bourbon in my liquor cabinet and quickly put it back.

Selena…

I needed scotch. A whole bottle.

I grabbed a bottle of Double Black and headed to my bedroom. I didn’t even bother pouring it into a glass. I took ridiculously large gulps and searched for something to watch on TV.

There was nothing on but late night celebrity news shows, and I couldn’t bear to risk hearing Selena’s name so I turned the TV off.

I picked up my phone and called her. She didn’t answer.

I decided to leave a message. “Hey Selena, it’s me. Ethan…I…” I hung up.

I didn’t even know what to say.

Chapter 25

Selena

“Selena Ross! Selena Ross! Have you spoken to Phillip Hartford since the tape was released to the public? Have you reconciled with Matt Sterling? Will you be in the sequel if Phillip Hartford directs it? Where did you hide out for the past eight weeks? Are you still in love with Phillip? Talk to us! Turn around! Selena! Selena!” the paparazzi welcomed me back to my apartment.

Instead of entertaining a few of their questions like I normally did, I strolled right past them, not paying them any mind as I walked up to my condo.