us will work by your side and ensure that not only is our investment being used according to plan, but you are utilizing the best approach to success.”
I tilt my head and glance around the room. “Uh, okay.”
He continues, his gaze not leaving mine. “We take a hands-on approach. Financially and physically. We’re there every step of the way the first year you’re in business. Put simply, we’re experts in business. Each of us has started or been a part of a business that’s just beginning to grow. We know what it takes to make a business successful, and in Pueblo, we want all businesses to be successful. It’s our home. Where we all live. We don’t just give you the capital and walk away hoping you’ll do well. For the first year, we make sure of it.”
“Yes, that sounds reasonable.” I push a lock of hair behind my ear.
But Cam isn’t finished. “And the foundation has a stake in your company. Once our contribution is paid back in full, the foundation we represent owns ten percent of your company until you can afford to buy us out. This helps put money in our coffers for future business startups as well as keeps our community and economy ripe with money-making and tax-paying companies.”
“Ten percent?” My voice rises with this new bit of information. I thought once I paid back the loan I would be done. But I understand why they need to make something out of it. Otherwise, why would they do it?
He nods. “If you can agree to those terms, we’ll discuss your proposal and come to a decision while you sit in the waiting room.”
Milo reaches out his hand and covers mine, squeezing it. Camden sees the move and scowls before looking away.
“It’s a good deal, Suda Kaye. Your sister would approve as well.” Milo leans his head toward me as he whispers.
“You think?”
“I’m in finance and this is an excellent offer,” he confirms.
I swallow down the fear and take a deep breath. “Your terms are acceptable.”
* * *
My stomach twists and turns, and I swear if I think too much about the double whammy of seeing Camden after ten years on top of going into business for the first time in my life, I might throw up all over the pristine waiting room floor.
“This will go only one of two ways,” Milo declares. “Yes or no.”
I close my eyes and lean my head back against the wall. Without warning, flashes of Camden and me together back when we were teenagers rushes through my mind like a spinning wheel of fortune. So much love and laughter. And the smiles. My goodness, when the man smiled, my entire body warmed with light. Until I put that light out.
After I left, I only allowed myself that first year to regret the decision I made to leave Camden and Evie. It was easier with Evie because I knew I’d see and talk to her again. When I walked out on Camden and disappeared, I hadn’t planned on ever seeing him again.
I’d spent a full year telling myself that leaving him was the right choice. The only choice. I had to see the world, live life free, and he had to stay here, go to college, and work in his family’s steel empire. It was all planned out. There was no wiggle room. He wanted a woman who would keep his home, make his dinner, and raise his children to be the next line of steel-empire-running men and women. I wanted to travel, take risks and chances on things I’d only every dreamed of.
We weren’t meant to be. No matter how much love we had, my mother was right. She knew what I needed before I did. Until now. Being here is so far outside of my comfort zone, I’m nowhere in the vicinity of feeling at peace with the decision I made all those years ago or the one I made recently by coming back.
Seeing him again brings it right to the surface. The hope and excitement about the future we shared. It took my mother dying and her letters for me to accept my fate, to have the courage to walk away. And here I am, standing in front of the only man I’ve ever loved, asking him to commit to my future when I wouldn’t do the same for him ten years ago.
“This is horrible.” My hands start to shake, and I grip the chair arms so tight my