“Do you want me to beg?” Jake asked. “Please. If you hate me, that’s fine, but let’s go on this trip, take these pictures. We’ll stay strictly in the friend zone, and I promise I won’t even talk to you unless I absolutely have to. After that, we can go our separate ways, and you’ll never have to see me again.”
“Jake, you put me through a living hell. I’m only here so I could tell you that in person. How could a man declare his undying love the night before his wedding, then just leave minutes before he’s supposed to walk down the aisle?” Before he could answer, I continued, “There’s nothing more I can say, and it doesn’t really matter anyway, does it? We can’t go back in time and fix things. What’s done is done, and I have to move forward with my life. I just wished you would’ve left me a box of tissues that morning instead of a dozen red roses.”
“You’re pissed, and I don’t blame you. But you’re just gonna walk away from your inheritance, your mother’s dying wish, because you can’t stand the sight of me?” he asked.
“Something like that,” I said, then turned and started making my way to the door.
“Ashly, please don’t go.”
I ignored him and hurried to my car, hoping he wouldn’t jump on the hood and confess his false, undying love for me just so he could dupe me a second time.
* * *
The next day after work, Nadia knocked on the door. When I opened it, she looked frantic, totally out of character for her.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The bank didn’t give us the loan.” She strolled into the kitchen, grabbed a glass, and poured herself a glass of wine from my fridge, then downed half the glass in one gulp. “Our dreams of running our very own fashion business are going down the drain. We don’t have any money left, and we’re going to be thrown out. Our boutique will go down in flames, Ashly! What are we gonna do?”
“Our clothes are different from the competition’s. We stick it out, Nadia.”
She poured a glass of wine for me. “Not if we can’t get noticed. Our boutique’s just starting to take off, but not enough to pay the high mortgage. I tried talking to the owner, and when that didn’t work, I resorted to flirtation and cleavage. I don’t know what a girl’s supposed to do when neither begging nor boobs works.”
“We just need to get our ideas off the ground.”
“There’s no time. We have to be out by next month, and building a fashion brand doesn’t happen overnight.”
I swallowed hard. “Yeah. I’ll ask Mr. Hanford for an extension.”
“Good luck. He’s not an understanding or flexible man, and he obviously doesn’t care about push-up bras either. He just wants his money. Our boutique is on prime property on Fifth Avenue, and he has two other business associates begging him for our space.”
“We can’t lose that spot. Location is everything.”
“I agree.” She sighed heavily. “Look, Ashly, I never would ask you this if there were any other way, but…”
I cocked my head when she paused and trailed off, wincing a bit.
“You need to take that trip with Jake. It’s the only way to save
our boutique and everything we’re working so hard for.”
“What!?” I shouted. “No! No way.”
“I know he hurt you bad, but you don’t even have to talk to him. Just give him the cold shoulder and take those crazy pictures your mom demanded. Turn them into your lawyer, and you’ll have more than enough money to keep us going.”
“No, Nadia. I mean…I just…I can’t.”
“Take the damn pictures, Ashly,” she said, patting my shoulder.
“I can’t leave you alone with the boutique for all that time,” I said, making excuses.
“I can handle it, and I can hire my sister for cheap to help out. Please take that dream vacation—for the sake of our dreams.”
I glanced down at the floor, as if it could give me answers. “You have no idea what you’re asking, Nadia.”
She pondered. “I do, and I’m sorry I had to ask,” she said. “I understand if you can’t do it though,” she said, heading for the door. Over her shoulder, she sadly announced, “We gave it our best shot. That’s the important thing.”
“Nadia!” I called, but she ignored me and ran out the door. I pondered for a few minutes, then grabbed my purse and hailed a taxi. I directed the cabbie to drive to my boutique.