“Fine,” she said automatically. “I’m fine. Happy I won.”
“You don’t seem very happy,” Jesse ventured. There was a silence. “I didn’t know you were in love with Maxwell. But you are, aren’t you?”
Chloe let out a sound of frustration, of defeat. “I am,” she said, wiping away the beginnings of tears from her eyes. “I just had to go and fall for the wrong guy, didn’t I?”
“I don’t know if he is the wrong guy,” Jesse said with a crooked smile. “I mean, I never liked him, but what the hell do I know about love?”
Chloe let out a bitter laugh. “It doesn’t matter. He’s gone, and I—”
“Didn’t tell him how you feel,” Jesse finished. “Julia told me. Why the hell not, Chloe? I mean, I’d be the first person to say I wasn’t a big fan of him, but I saw how he looked at you. How he was with you. There’s something there. Something worth fighting for.”
“He doesn’t—” Chloe began. “He left, didn’t he?”
“He did,” Jesse agreed. “And I think you should go after him. I mean, shit, what have you got to lose? If you don’t tell him, lay it all on the table, you’ll always be left wondering if maybe things could have been different. And maybe he was waiting for you to say it. Maybe he left because you didn’t.”
Chloe let out a shaky breath. “I wish that was true,” she said. “I really do.”
“It could be,” Jesse shrugged. “I don’t know. But I do know that if you let him leave without telling him, you’ll always regret it. And I’d be a shitty brother if I let you do that.”
“You really think I should go after him?” Chloe bit her lip.
“Do you think you should?” Jesse pressed. “Do you think there’s even the tiniest possibility that it could change things?”
“It’s a tiny possibility,” Chloe said slowly. “Like, really tiny. You’d need a microscope to see that possibility.”
“Stranger things have happened in Crowley Lake,” Jesse quirked his mouth and handed Chloe her bag, her car keys jangling inside. “Just go and tell him, Chloe. I mean, you’re miserable now anyway. You may as well go all out. Elle Woods would do it. I mean, she followed Warner to Harvard, and he was an asshole. Don’t let yourself do anything less for the real deal.”
Choking back a sob, Chloe managed a watery smile. “I didn’t know you remembered Legally Blonde so well.”
“Of course I do!” Jesse clapped her on the back. “It’s a classic! Now go on; he’s probably on the road already.”
“I’m going to do it,” Chloe said, standing up and wiping away her tears. “I’m going to tell him. And even if he doesn’t…if it doesn’t change anything, at least I’ll know I’ve given it everything I can.”
“I’d expect nothing less from Central West Young Small Businessperson of the Year.”
Keys in hand, eyes bright with tears, Chloe pushed open the doors of the Carrington Hotel and stepped out into the freezing night air without so much as a shiver.
She’d give it everything she had. Maxwell deserved it. And so did she.