Chapter 133

Feeling embarrassed and abandoned, I push my way through the dance floor and return to Cynthia’s side.

“I want to leave,” I tell her, my voice shaking. I’m instantly sober, but I still feel shaky. “I want to leave right now.”

Cynthia, without question, flags down the bartender. “Check please.” To me, she says, “Are you okay?”

“Not really.”

“Okay,” Cynthia says. “Okay.”

When the bartender arrives with the check, she quickly signs it, leaves a tip, and then goes with me to the door.

“Did something happen with Chuck?” she asks.

“Chuck is an asshole,” I tell her.

Cynthia huffs an annoyed breath. “What an ass.”

I haven’t even told her what he did wrong yet. Her blind loyalty warmed me some and helped remove some of the chill from the experience.

We take a taxi back to Cynthia’s. Immediately, I head to the bathroom to shower of the makeup and sweat and change back into my comfortable clothes. Then I meet Cynthia back in her kitchen.

She’s still in her club clothes, pouring herself some wine. She offers me some when I enter, but I shake my head.

“No thanks,” I tell her. “I’ve had enough for a while.”

She nods. “Are you finally going to tell me what happened?”

I take the seat across from her at the kitchen island and do just that, starting with Chuck getting handsy, before quickly moving into Miles’s timely rescue, and ending with his kiss.

Cynthia’s face becomes more and more slack as I continue, her eyes going wide, her mouth falling open.

Even as I tell the story, even though I lived it, it still feels like something out of a fantasy. Miles was there with his fiancé, yet he still came over to me. Yes, were hidden in plain sight among the crowd, but anyone could have seen.

Including his fiancé. Who was there.

“I hate myself,” I say. “I never thought I’d be the other woman, but whenever I’m with Miles… everything I believe goes flying out the window.”

Cynthia leans forward. “I still think you need a rebound.”

“I’m not going back to the club,” I say definitively.

“No. You go to the club for a hookup. I thought some sex might help you move past Miles. What I’m seeing now is you need someone more series. You need a guy who will actually look after your heart and want to take care of it,” Cynthia says. “That’s the kind of guy who will help you move on.”

“Where would I even find a guy like that?” I ask, miserably.

Cynthia laughs a little, sadly. “Girl, if I knew that, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

“What about that guy you were seeing?” I ask, surprised to hear her so down. “The one you went on vacation with?”

“Oh, we had a good time, sure, but it was never meant to last. He wanted a luxury vacation, I wanted arm candy. We had a good time for a while.”

I deflate, disappointed on her behalf.

“Nothing good ever comes easy,” Cynthia says.

I’m not drinking, but I hold up an imaginary glass to toast to that.

The next morning at work, I’m surprised when my phone rings to find the caller is Mrs. Pine, my realtor. We made an offer on that little house, but when I didn’t hear back right away, I assumed we’d lost it.

“The seller had some back and forth,” Mrs. Pine explains. “The other potential buyer was offering more money, but didn’t want to actually use it as a house to live in. It was an investment property to them. The seller raised kids in that house. She didn’t want it to be used like that. So she picked you.”

“I’m so relieved,” I say. “I genuinely thought we’d lost it… And after the girls finally agreed on a house they liked.”

“Oh, I know how difficult it’s been,” Mrs. Pine says with a lighthearted chuckle. “But you can rest easy now. The worst part is over. We can have the closing as early as tomorrow. With luck, you can start moving in on the weekend.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Pine. I mean it. This is a new chapter of my life and I… I feel like I can finally begin it properly.”

“You are so welcome, Esther. I’m very excited for you.”

After I hang up, the excitement of the call lingers within me, giving me a jolt of energy for the rest of the day.

Yes, my personal life is a mess. I have feelings for an engaged presidential candidate, which I have to keep secret from the rest of the world. I still live with my ex-husband who only actively doesn’t make my life miserable to keep our children happy. My sister is pregnant, presumably with my husband’s baby, but who knows for sure?

At this point, I’ve been half ready to move into a cave and break contact with the rest of the world.

Mrs. Pine’s call is the first piece of good news I’ve had in a long time. I try riding that high for as long as I can.

Around midday, Kimberly gives me a stack of my printed out articles and asks me to deliver them to Hugo.

“You should see his reaction to these yourself,” she says. “This is some of your best work.”

Another bit of good news that helps lift my spirits.

“Thank you, Kimberly.”

She waves off my apology, gesturing to the door. “Go before he has his afternoon meetings.”

I follow her commands. Carrying the stack of papers, I make my way for Hugo’s office. I knock on his door.

“Come in,” he calls.

I open the door, step inside, and close the door behind me.

“Esther. What a pleasant surprise,” he says, smiling at me from where he sits behind the desk.

I move toward him with a tiny spring in my step.

He notices right away.

“It’s nice to see you with such high spirits,” he says.

I can’t hold in the secret for long. “I’m closing on my own house tomorrow. Oh, I’m so excited, Hugo. I’m finally going to be out from under Garnar.”

“That’s wonderful,” Hugo says, and his smile widens.

Standing from behind his desk, he comes around it to stand nearer to me. He doesn’t touch me, but his closeness gives the same warmth as if he had.

Hugo has a way of making me feel safe and comfortable without even needing to create that physical closeness.

He’s such a good man. It’s really a wonder that he’s not married. It’s a crime that he’s single.

Wait. He’s single.

The minute the thought crosses my mind, I freeze.

Hasn’t Hugo always been the kind of man I’ve been looking for? He’s kind and caring. He’s gentle with me and my heart. He offered both his embrace and his tissues to me without ever really needing to.

Any woman would be so lucky to have a man like Hugo love them and want to care for them.

Could he… If I asked…

It’s messy with him being heir to the company. He might just turn me down flat.

But isn’t it worth the chance to ask?

Could Hugo be the man to help me forget Miles?