by Layla Holt
Megan shook her head. “I said no. Luca and I are finished. I’ve got a new life now back home and I’m happy.”
The woman she would always think of as her mother-in-law took her hand and squeezed it. “I’m glad. You’re our daughter and we want you to be happy too.”
“That boy is a fool. He doesn’t deserve you. Go back to America and live a happy life,” Luca’s father said in rapid Italian. “Maybe it will make him learn and grow up.”
They stood and hugged, knowing it was likely the last time they would be seeing each other. Megan left the hospital and took her time strolling back to the hotel. The first thing she needed to do was to call her mother and let her know what time her flight was arriving.
She had her laptop with her and planned to put in some work before her flight the following morning.
Megan wheeled her luggage to the reception to check out. She had had a good night’s sleep and she couldn’t wait to go back home. Max still had not responded to her messages and she was getting seriously worried.
She checked out and one of the hotel drivers came and carried her luggage to the car. As she turned to follow him out, a familiar figure striding across the lobby caught her eye. She blinked rapidly, sure that her mind was playing tricks on her.
The he swung his gaze to her and smiled. Unbelievable. She hurried to him.
“Max, what are you doing here?”
He kissed her cheek. “I thought I’d surprise you,” he said. When he saw the look on her face, he continued, “I wasn’t comfortable with you being here alone and unprotected.”
Megan could hear the blood rushing through her head. “We spoke about this and I specifically told you that I wanted to do it alone.”
“It’s not safe for you to be here alone Megan,” he said.
Anger spiraled from the pit of her stomach. First Luca and now the man she thought was different went and assumed that her words meant nothing. Another male who thought she had nothing between her ears.
“Jaime agreed with me,” Max added. “You need protection.”
“That’s not what I need from you Max. I don’t need protection from you. I’m not a fragile little thing that cannot take care of herself. I don’t need this. I need respect. I need someone who’ll see me as their equal not as someone they need to protect.”
“You’re taking this the wrong way Megan.”
Her voice was too loud and people were starting to look at them, but she was too upset to care.
“These are the kind of things you and my brothers do.” Megan flashed her fingers at him as she prepared to count.
“You decide I need a bodyguard without asking me. You book us a weekend away without talking about it with me.”
“It was a surprise,” Max said.
“I’ve told you so many times. I hate surprises. Yeah. I’m one of those women. I like ordinary. Predictability. If it’s a dinner, let me know, then I can dress for it. And when I want to come to Italy alone, let me.”
Max shook his head as if he didn’t understand any of it. He probably didn’t. Megan’s shoulders slumped and her anger suddenly dissipated. She had rushed into this thing with Max, without giving herself time to figure out what she wanted next.
She loved him with all of her being but she couldn’t handle him now. They had reconnected at the wrong time. Megan bit back tears of grief. “I have too much baggage Max and we’re too different. I can’t do this. I’m sorry.”
“Megan, please.”
She raised a hand in the air. “Please don’t. I’ll see you around.”
She should have been excited when the flight landed at home but all Megan felt was overwhelming sadness. Max was everything any woman could want but that single trait of doing things without telling her meant that he was not the man for her.
A mistake like that had cost her five years of her life and a relationship with her family. She wasn’t going to do it again. This time, Megan was going to come first.
She exited the plane and made her way to customs and then went for her luggage. Her mother had promised to send her driver to pick Megan up but to her surprise, she saw her mother waiting for her.
She fell into her arms.
“I’m so glad you’re back,” she said as they walked out to the car. Another surprise awaited Megan.
“Where’s the driver?” Megan asked her mother as she lifted her suitcase into the trunk.
“I’m the driver,” her mother said. “I can drive you know.”
“I know you can drive mother but you rarely do,” Megan said.
“Maybe I wanted a moment alone with my daughter to tell her how proud of her I am,” her mother said.
They entered and her mother started the car.
“Why?” Megan said.
Her mother expertly eased the car out of the airport parking. “Because you left when things became intolerable. You were not afraid to end your marriage.”
“Thanks mom but I wasted five years of my life,” Megan said.
“It wasn’t a waste,” her mother said. “Look how much you matured from being away. You needed to get away from us. I see that now. We smothered and cushioned you from real life. Never look at it as a waste.”
“He wanted me to stay,” Megan said.
“What did you say?” her mother said.
“I told him that five years was enough and he wasn’t going to get more.”
“You’re a stronger woman that I was at your age,” her mother said. “When we were younger, your father did some things that hurt me terribly and rocked the core of our marriage. I wanted to leave but I couldn’t. I worried about what people would say.”
“Really?” Her parents had always been so perfect for each other. She couldn’t imagine that her mother had contemplated leaving her father at one point. She didn’t even want the details of what he had done to cause her mother so much pain.
“But you forgave him, right?” Megan said.
“After many years, and he did his best to show me that he had changed,” her mother said.
If her parents had had such serious problems what hope was there for her to have a good relationship? They chatted all the way home. Her mother dropped her in front of the cottage. Megan opened her seatbelt and leaned across to kiss her mother’s cheek.
“Thank you for coming to pick me up and for talking with me,” she said.
Her mother cupped her face. “You’ll be just fine my dear daughter.”
They smiled at each other and then Megan got out of the car. She grabbed her suitcase and wheeled it into the cottage as her mother turned the car and drove off.
It was good to be home. Had things gone according to plan, she would have been making plans with Max to meet in the evening. Maybe she would have made dinner for him.
Megan shook off thoughts of Max. She wasn’t going to mope over what might have been. It wasn’t going to change anything.
Chapter 24
Megan sat in the boardroom and remembered that first time when she had walked in expecting to be handed the post she wanted. She smiled remembering how angry she had been and her brother Sean coaxing her into agreeing to their father’s idea that she familiarize herself with all the departments in Candin Inc.
It had been Max though who had finally convinced her to give it a shot. She had actually been considering applying for a job in other companies. Her father was a wise man. Rotating around the different departments had changed how Megan viewed Candin Inc and its employees.
They kept the wheels turning and she was privileged to be a part of it. She didn’t care now who got the head of Strategic Management in the company. It didn’t matter anymore.
“Are you with us Megan?” her father said.
She snapped back to attention. “Yes father.”
“I’m sure everyone will agree with me on the choice that Adrian, Lance and I have made with regards to who will head the Strategic Management Department. She has surprised all of us by taking on every challenge thrown at her and
she has proved over and over again that she’s a problem solver.”
Megan’s heart pounded so hard, it felt as if it would fly out of her chest.
“Megan Cohan, Candin Inc’s new head of Strategic Management,” her father said and stood up.
Megan stood up too and shook his hand when he came around to where she stood. She accepted congratulations from her brothers and the other board members.
Word spread fast and when she got to Maisie’s office, her sister-in-law drew her into a hug.
“Congratulations.” Maisie narrowed her eyes. “You don’t look happy.”
“I am,” Megan said but she couldn’t bring herself to smile. Today was special but it didn’t feel like it. She had just gotten the job of her dreams and it was her birthday.
“You miss Max.” It was a statement, not a question.
Megan nodded. It was two weeks now since she came home from Italy and the hole in her heart grew larger every day. She couldn’t bring herself to care about the things that had once been important to her, like the promotion. She was just happy to have a job at all.
She was in the same room as Maisie, yet loneliness struck her broken heart like lightning. The decision she had made in Italy kept her up at night. She second-guessed herself. Maybe she had been too hasty and Max would have changed with time.
“From what I hear, he’s not faring too well either,” Maisie said.
Megan’s resolve hardened. She had to stick to her decision, however difficult it was going to be. “I can’t be with someone who does things without consulting me. I’ve lived with that all my life. Not anymore.”
“Cut him some slack. He means well. He just assumes that all women are the same,” Maisie said. “Oh and I’m booking you for lunch.”
Megan laughed for the first time that day. “I didn’t know that people booked each other for lunch.”
“Everyone wants to have lunch with you,” Maisie said. “Just remember I asked first.”
“I wish that was true,” Megan said.
Maisie’s features softened as she stared at her. “I’m going to miss sharing an office with you.”
“We’re friends now though, so we can meet any time,” Megan said.
“Yes, we are. Who would have thought we would say that?”
Megan laughed. “I know.”
Later in the day, Maisie insisted that they go for lunch early at twelve. Megan wasn’t hungry but she agreed figuring that she wouldn’t be hungry an hour later either.
She didn’t feel like talking either but thankfully, Maisie never ran out of things to talk about. They entered the café dining room and the first thing Megan saw was three familiar faces. Her sisters-in-law seated at a circular table. Leah, Corrine and Ruby.
“Happy birthday,” Ruby said and the others repeated after her and took turns to hug her.
“What’s going on?” Megan said shifting her gaze from one face to another.
“Your birthday shouldn’t go uncelebrated,” Ruby said.
“We thought we’d make it a girls-only celebration,” Leah said.
Megan blinked back tears. Corrine opened the cover of the white box on the table to reveal a gorgeous white and black cake.
“It’s a double celebration too,” Maisie said. “Megan is Candin Inc’s new head of strategy. Too bad we can’t have some wine.”
“We’ll wash down the cake with tea,” Corrine said.
“I’ll go and see if we can get a pot from the kitchen,” Maisie said and left.
They sat around the table and teased Megan over her increasing years. As she looked at them, gratitude filled her as it dawned on her she already had ready-made female friends in her sisters-in-law.
Maisie returned with one of the kitchen workers in tow. He proceeded to serve each of them tea.
“Thank you, guys, I don’t know what to say,” Megan said later, after cutting the cake. “This is exactly what the doctor ordered.”
“Did I ever tell you about the day Max came to the art gallery to buy a painting?” Corrine said.
“No, you haven’t,” Megan said, intrigued.
“I happened to be visiting my aunt when he came looking for a painting. My aunt asked him whether he was buying it for a special lady.”
Megan held her breath.
“I’ll never forget what he said,” Corrine said. “He had such a soft look on his face too.”
“What did he say?” Ruby said.
“I’ll quote him,” Corrine said and cleared her voice. “Very much so. I’ve loved her for many years.”
Corrine’s words grew legs, kicked her hard in the belly and drove all the breathable air from her body.
Max felt like a caged animal as he sat in Dean and Ruby’s living room. They’d had dinner and were relaxing and sipping coffee. These days, he could not bear his own company. He felt trapped in his own body. When he’d told his mother that things hadn’t worked out with Megan, she had been sympathetic and told him that the pain would go away.
Except that it wasn’t going away. He had messed up badly. And the worst of it was that he wasn’t sure what he had done wrong.
“I still don’t get what I did wrong,” he said. “This guy had threatened her before. Would that sit well with you Dean? Would you happily let your girlfriend go to him, knowing he might harm her?”
“No wonder you were single for so long,” Dean said, clearly exasperated by the same topic of conversation since dinner time.
“Let me explain it in another way,” Ruby said. “Megan explicitly told you that she was fine going to Italy alone but you ignored that and went. Sneakily. Let’s reverse the roles. What if you told her you’d go alone and you bumped into her in the hotel lobby?”
Max went still and visualized the scene. As it unfolded in his mind, understanding dawned and he stopped mid-stride. “I am such an idiot.” He’d wanted to be a knight in shining armor with Megan and had completely disregarded that she was a human being with her own opinions.
“Finally,” Dean quipped. “Can we go to bed now?”
“Stop,” Ruby said.
“So what are you going to do?” Dean said.
Max paced the room. He had to show her that he got it now. She did not want his protection. What she wanted was his love and his friendship. He stopped in front of Dean.
“Can you get me Megan’s car keys without her knowing?” he said. “Please.”
Dean narrowed his eyes.
“I’ll have them back by the time she gets off work,” he said.
“I can’t afford to be charged as an accomplice,” Dean said.
Max raised his hands in the air. “It’s above board.”
“Okay, I’ll help. Reluctantly.” Dean turned to Ruby. “You’ll be a witness in court, won’t you, my love?”
Ruby giggled. “Sure.”
Max wanted the kind of relationship and love that Dean had with his wife. But it came with trusting that the other person was an adult and respecting their decisions even if he did not agree with them.
Chapter 25
Megan called Dean three times before he finally answered her call. “Did you bring my car back?”
“Yes,” he said. “The keys are with Lillian at reception,” Dean said sounding rushed.
“What happened to your car?” Megan said.
“I’ll explain later,” he said. “I have to run.”
Megan was left listening to a buzzing tone. Dean had called her that morning asking to borrow her car. She hadn’t questioned him then why he needed her car. Not that it mattered now. He’d brought it back.
Work had saved her sanity and she stayed so late working that a couple of times, she had been the last one to exit the building. Her brothers had caught wind of it and Adrian had taken it upon himself to educate her on the dangers of working too hard.
It was either that or drowning in the hole that was in her chest. She had picked up her phone to call Max several times but managed to restrain herself. What could she
tell him? She still couldn’t be with someone who did not respect her decisions. That had not changed.
Despair turned and twisted inside of her. Sometimes it came over her without warning. She would be fine for hours and then she would remember Max and her spirits would come crashing down.
The day did not get any better and at five on the dot, Megan gathered her things and left the office. Downstairs, she got her car keys from Lillian and headed to the parking lot.
Her step faltered when she saw a familiar figure leaning on the side of her car. Max. She fervently hoped that her brain and eyes were not playing tricks on her.
As she got closer, she made out the details of his face. He had bags under his eyes and he looked tired. He hadn’t shaved in a few days. Her phone buzzed with a message. Her heart pounded hard. She had missed him so much.
Her heart melted a little bit. She remembered Corrine’s words. Max had loved her for many years. Then she noticed something with her car. “My car looks different.”
“I got all the security features it had removed,” Max said. “I was such an arrogant fool Megan. I thought I knew it all but it turned out I still have a lot to learn about the woman I love.”
“Oh Max,” Megan cried, her eyes filling with tears. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“You have?” Max said in disbelief. “That makes me more than happy. You color my world, Megan Cohan. Without you, I’m just a shell going through the motions of living. You make me a whole man.”
“I love you Max,” Megan said, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.
He opened his arms and she flew into them. Joy flooded her as his strong arms went around her.
“When I make a mistake, teach me my love, but don’t leave me,” Max said minutes later, drawing back to look into her eyes.
“I promise,” Megan said.
He cupped her face. “I love you, Megan. I’ve always loved you and I always will.” Then his mouth was on hers showing her without words that she was loved.
Chapter 26
ONE YEAR LATER