"What does your boss in New York say about this? Are you in trouble for missing work?"
I let out sigh. "Yes. There's a huge event tomorrow night. Bianca's running it but I was supposed to be there to help out. She had to hire someone else to help and says it's going to come out of my pay."
"Seriously? She can do that?"
"She can do what she wants. I have no power. And I'm trying to stay on her good side. I can't argue with her. I'm just lucky she agreed to keep this from Beverly, the lady who owns the company. If Beverly found out I missed an event, she'd fire me."
"That's just wrong. You can't help that you have to do this. It's court mandated."
"Unfortunately, that doesn't matter to them. My job comes before anything else. But the good news is, if your company's event next week goes well, I might get the promotion I've been waiting for."
"What does the client dinner have to do with it?"
"Didn't Celine tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"I'm in charge of it. It's the first event I'm doing on my own. Bianca said if I pull it off without any problems, there's a good chance Beverly will give me the promotion. I'm surprised Celine didn't tell you. I've been working with her all week."
"She didn't mention it."
"Did you not see her much last week?"
"Not after Wednesday." He takes a sip of his wine.
"Because you were busy with work?"
He sets his glass down. "Because I broke up with her."
I stare at him, thinking I must've heard him wrong. Did he just say he broke up with Celine? How is that possible? I met with her this morning and she never mentioned it. And she didn't seem sad or depressed, like most people would be after a breakup. Does she not care? Did she want the breakup as much as Aiden did?
"You broke up with Celine," I say, confirming it.
He nods. "Last Wednesday night."
"Was she upset?"
"She didn't take it well but she'll get over it." He pauses. "That's one of the reasons I came up here. To talk about this. To talk about where we go from here."
"I don't understand. I thought you came here for work."
He smiles, leaning toward me across the table. "When I said I had business to take care of, I didn't mean work. I was talking about you. About us."
Chapter Fifteen
Sophie
I look back at Aiden, confused by his words. Is he telling me he came here for me?
None of this is making sense. Before he showed up here tonight, I assumed he was still with Celine. I was trying to convince myself that being with Aiden was just a fantasy I needed to get over and put out of my head. And now he's telling me he's single and drove all the way up here to see me?
"Sophie. Say something."
I blink away my shock. "I don't know what to say. Are you telling me you came here because of me? That stuff about the inn wasn't true?"
"It's true. I'm meeting with Tom tomorrow but only because I needed an excuse to explain why I wouldn't be at a sales dinner tonight for work. Roger wanted me there but I told him we were getting close with the inn deal and I needed to race up here before Tom changed his mind."
"But you didn't really need to race up here, so why did you?"
"Because I needed to see you." He reaches across the table and takes my hand. "I missed you, Sophie. I thought about you nonstop since we said goodbye last weekend. Pete told me you broke up with Tanner, and maybe that has nothing to do with me, but even if it doesn't, I needed to come up here and tell you how I feel."
I swallow, my throat feeling dry, my heart beating out of my chest as I wait for him to continue.
"I like you, Sophie, and I want us to be more than friends. When I'm with you, I'm happy. The kind of happy I haven't felt in a really long time. It's like this calmness comes over me whenever we're together. At first I thought it was because of where we're at—being out in the country, away from the stress of the city. But then I realized it's you making me feel that way. I realized it the night you showed up at the bar back in New York. I was stressed from a long of day of work and a fight I'd had with Celine, and then you walked in and I felt the stress just go away. I didn't want you to leave, and when you left with Tanner, I wasn't okay with it. I knew I had to be because you weren't mine, but I wanted to stop you. I wanted to run out the door and tell you not to go. But I couldn't. Because of Celine. Because I needed to end things with her before starting something with you."
I'm speechless. I never thought this would happen. I knew he felt something for me but I didn't think it would ever go anywhere. I was certain he'd never break up with Celine. I was even more sure of it when he let me go out with Tanner. Aiden's the one who set us up. He invited me to the bar that night to meet his friends, knowing I was looking for a date.
"I don't understand. Why were you trying to set me up if you wanted to date me?"
"Because at the time, all I could think about was how to get you out of my head. I had a girlfriend, and I felt guilty when my mind kept going to you when it should've been on Celine. I thought if you were with someone else, I'd finally stop thinking about you."
"And did
