“You were stolen from?” Ted asked.
“Long story,” I said, murmuring.
“Then,” Colin said, chuckling. “In a bizarre coincidence, we found ourselves on the same plane a few days ago, flying out of Minnesota to come here. And guess what?”
Laughter rolled through the audience as Ted, Maggie, and Rohan all chuckled alongside me.
“The storm grounded our plane, and once again, I was on a road trip with this woman. And once again, I found myself learning two very important lessons.”
Colin looked back at me and he offered me a bright smile before he continued.
“I learned that it is possible to change, though change is gradual. It doesn’t happen over the course of a few days, or even a few weeks. It takes time and practice to implement changes once they’re brought to your attention, and that’s assuming you even want to change.”
He turned his body back out towards the crowd as the very breath I was breathing caught in my lungs.
“The second thing I learned was that I had fallen in love.”
“Did he just say love?” Rohan asked.
“Oh—my—gosh!” Maggie said, sounding out of breath.
“You old son of a bitch,” Ted said, smiling.
I felt my heart go silent in my chest as tears of joy started welling in my eyes.
“I had fallen in love with the most intelligent, eccentric, infuriating woman on this planet. I learned that love could be found in the most unexpected and strangest of places. On our first trip, we lost ourselves in each other in dingy motels with flickering power and little to eat, and when I saw her get on that plane in Minnesota a few days ago, I knew I had a second chance to get right what I had failed to get right the first time.”
I pulled my hands from my pockets and threw them to my mouth as a giddy smile crossed my cheeks.
“Abby Thompson, you mean the world to me,” he said, as he looked at me. “You gave me a new perspective on life and you showed me that it’s possible to change. That it’s possible to be the man I’d always wanted to be, yet still be the businessman I know I need to be. You changed me, Abby. For the better. And there isn’t a moment we’ve spent together that I would ever take back.”
I started giggling into my hands as tears started streaming down my cheeks.
“That is what you guys don’t know about the woman in that photograph. That is what the press will never be able to tell you. Abby Thompson did not acquire her job because of her romantic disposition with me. She acquired her job because she was more than qualified for it. And if there’s anything you can take from her story, take this—none of the greatest things in life are easy to come by. Thank you all for attending this year, and we hope to see you again next year.”
The crowd erupted into applause and jumped to their feet as Colin waved at them from the stage. I could feel my entire body shaking as he turned and made his way off stage. I watched as he exited and turned back towards me, his eyes begging me to stay there.
But then, the press descended onto him like vultures and Rohan grabbed my arm.
“Come on, we need to get you out of here,” he said.
I was speechless with happiness but still paralyzed with embarrassment. I allowed Rohan to drag me from backstage as Ted and Maggie hustled me out of the back of the building. A car was there to take me to the back of the hotel so the press standing outside wouldn’t find me, and I found myself alone again as Maggie shut the door.
Colin’s words were echoing heavily in my ears as the car pulled away from the conference building and went to take the long way back towards the hotel.
The hotel that was right across the damn road.
The second thing I learned was that I had fallen in love.
Colin had fallen in love with me.
The impossible man with the impossible Christmas dreams and the impossible demeanor I had broken through loved me.
Chapter 21
Colin
I stepped off that stage and hoped Abby would stay put. I wanted a chance to look her in the eye and say it. I wanted a chance to wrap her up in my arms and whisper it in her ear. I wanted to whisk her back to my hotel room and lay with her one more night. One night with everything out on the table and neither of us fearing what other people might think.
But when I finally made my way over to her side of the stage, she was gone.
The media was all over me the moment I stepped off stage. People were asking me questions, drawing conclusions, wanting official quotes, and scurrying to change their stories. Rohan was wanting me to give an official quote to Hadley to run in an article of our own and Ted was trying to congratulate me on things. My investors were calling me incessantly, wondering how this was going to affect our bottom line and talking to me about how I should’ve informed them of my relationship with an employee first.
I told them if they really thought my love life was going to affect their money, then they were more than welcome to take it elsewhere.
I was desperate to find Abby. I wanted to take a picture of the two of us so we could have something
