Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,88
ground. When it was finally clad with the curved glass, to give it a shape as recognizable as the Empire State Building, she’d be able to look back and say it was her baby.
Heck, she’d be able to bring her grandchildren and show them the permanent mark she made on the skyline of the greatest city on earth.
“I’m impressed, Cass. Seriously. It’s quite incredible to stand here and look at it and know you’re responsible for all the moving pieces coming together to create something like this.”
His words hit her . . . not just their meaning, but in Jake’s tone. He was proud of her, and she hadn’t realized how much she needed that validation.
They continued on, picking up sandwiches to eat in Central Park. The things a usual tourist would do. She drew the line at getting on a tour bus, and Jake laughed at her, playfully calling her jaded.
As they sat on her sofa after dinner at a bistro down the block from her apartment, with Jake’s arm tight around her and a documentary on plastic in the ocean playing on her television, she was more content than she’d been since she’d returned from Denver.
“Hey, Cass. I have something on my mind.”
Her stomach flipped, knowing it was likely to be about the reality of their situation. She’d hoped they could ignore the inevitable and simply enjoy the day they’d had.
“What is it?” She turned to face him.
“I get it. Standing in front of The Grosvenor this morning, I finally understood. The potential opportunity for you is bigger here than in Denver. But it’s not just that.”
Cassie realized she should be more relieved than she was about his praise. It felt like a flicker of him admitting defeat. Of him realizing what she had been trying to tell him all along . . . that this is where she belonged. “What is it?” she whispered, her voice unsteady.
“It was the way you looked at that damn building. You love it. I could see it in your eyes. I could hear the pride in your voice. There was wonder to it. I get why you didn’t feel the same sense of satisfaction from extending the distillery or the hospital.”
“Jake.”
He stood and paced the apartment. “It was why I had to come see you. I mean, it’s the reason beyond simply wanting to be with you again.”
“What was? You’re confusing me.”
Jake ran his hand through his hair. “I guess I needed to see why you couldn’t stay. I’d heard you talk about it. And then I get here yesterday, and I find you living in . . . this.” He swirled his hand in the air as he gestured around her apartment. “I mean, it’s cute, love, but it’s a shoebox that you’ve done the best you can with given the price of real estate. And a dressed-up shoebox is still a shoebox. But seeing you in front of that goddamn building, I got it. It’s what you were meant to do.”
“I’m sorry.” For what, she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but the overwhelming wave of sorrow and guilt she felt rippling through her and the tears stinging her eyes all made her want to apologize to Jake for not being what he wanted.
Because if she could have given him that, she would have in a heartbeat.
“No,” he said, crouching on the wooden floorboards in front of her. “Don’t be sorry. As much as I wish there had been a chance of getting you back to Denver, I get it. Now, I need to come up with a different plan.”
“What sort of plan?” The tightness in her chest continued, making it hard to breathe.
“I’m going to leave the distillery and move here.”
He couldn’t have shocked her more if he’d stood, grabbed his things, and left without uttering another word. She knew her mouth was open, and somehow, she’d reached for his hands and was now squeezing them so hard her knuckles were white. “What?’ she gasped.
“If you can’t be in Denver, and I can’t be without you, and you want to be with me, I’ll have to move here. It’s the only option there is. But we’re going to have to get a bigger apartment, love. This place makes me feel like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs”
“Jake . . . you can’t. The distillery . . . it . . . you’re the one who . . . No. Stop.”