Earlier today I had called to see if I could come home. Distance and perspective seemed to be something I needed.
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I took a deep breath. “I may, if that’s okay. I miss you and could use some downtime.”
My head snapped to the right as shoes were dropped noisily on the tile. Harris looked at me without blinking as my aunt continued to speak. “You come anytime you want. I’ve got that thing that I found and have been dying to show you. You’re going to love it.”
I gave Harris a straight face and he looked at his watch. Rolling my eyes at his behavior and curbing my thoughts of throwing his shoes at him, I focused back on the conversation at hand. “I can’t wait. You’ve definitely got my curiosity piqued. Maybe you should tell me. I’ll still come down.”
Aunt Leelyn chuckled. “I want to see your face when I show you. It’s sitting on my desk and will be waiting for you. Keep me posted. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Love you, Ashlin.”
“I can’t wait. Love you too, Aunt Leelyn. I’ll call you tomorrow. Night.”
“Night.”
We disconnected the phone as Harris continued to look at me. Hurt passed over his features briefly. “Are you almost ready?” His voice didn’t match the sadness his eyes had displayed for a brief moment.
“Yes, I’ll be ready in just a few.”
He nodded and left. I added my lip gloss before discarding my robe and getting the cocktail dress off the hanger from the back of the door. Underneath the black sheer fabric of my dress was a deep crimson red. I added matching red heels and walked out of the bathroom. Harris secured his cuff links when he looked at me in the mirror. My golden-blonde hair was to the side in a waterfall braid.
He turned. “You’re beautiful.”
“Thank you. You look quite dashing yourself.” The grin that spread across my face was automatic at Harris’ praise. “Are you ready?”
Harris matched my expression and held out his hand for me to proceed through the door. “Yes, let’s go before we’re late.” I walked as Harris switched back to business mode. “This is potentially a multimillion-dollar real-estate deal. It’ll surpass the most profitable year of the company by four times. The people we are meeting with are family-oriented and they want to meet the future Mrs. Huntington. At some point we’ll need to get engaged.”
My mood soured as we made our way down to the limo in front of our building. I didn’t respond. My relationship was not going to be treated like a business transaction. Planning our engagement like it was an acquisition did not suit me. We got into the sleek white stretch limo and I slid over to the far side as Harris kept talking to me. Basically, I was to look pretty, smile when appropriate, and be the doting soon-to-be fiancée. Blah. Blah. Blah.
“Ashlin, did you hear me?”
I glanced back toward Harris who was working on his phone. “No, sorry. I didn’t.”
Harris glanced up. He was gorgeous, but the beauty now was only external as the inside of him dissipated into nothingness. “When are you available next week to go ring shopping? We’ll work with my PR team to make a formal announcement. We need to maximize the exposure.”
Since he’d been voted one of the richest bachelors in some stupid magazine, the public relations campaigns to capitalize on his title were absurd.
I squeezed the bridge of my nose and prayed like hell for patience. “Harris, now is not the time to be discussing this. Let’s get through dinner. Then we need to talk.”
“What are you saying, Ashlin?” The disapproving tone from Harris did nothing to help the situation.
Looking back out the window, I responded, “I’m saying we will talk about everything after dinner.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that we need to find some time next week. I don’t understand why you’re being difficult on this. I figured you’d want to make it official.”
I didn’t respond as my blood boiled. This was not the life for me. There were some things money couldn’t buy, and sacrificing my happiness was not worth all the dollars in the world.
A few moments later, I could hear Harris’ fingers resume their fast typing as he worked. Why couldn’t the stolen moments like we had in the bedroom this evening be my reality? My heart physically ached, knowing what was coming later tonight.
Dinner had been boring, but I had done my duty and conversed when needed. It was late as we drove back to our place. As soon as we got home, I was going to lay it all out on the line like I should have months ago, instead of trying to be supportive as Harris found his footing in this new lifestyle he craved.
This was possibly the last time we would be together in a car. We were seated on opposite ends of the back bench of the limo. The lighting casted a faint glow on his face. Harris’ eyes were closed and his head was laid back. His face slowly relaxed with his phone held in one of his hands.
This would be hard tonight. I felt the internal struggle within me and I hated it. As we approached our building, my phone vibrated. Taking it from my purse, Unknown Number flashed across my screen.
I pushed Answer.
“Hello?”