I laugh with him and we fall quiet. I find myself thinking of Kimberley again, just for a change. This is my chance to find out how she’s coping at least. She works pretty closely with Joe and if she’s been acting weirdly, he’ll have noticed. But if he knows anything, he’ll think it’s odd that I’m asking him about her rather than asking her myself how she’s doing. Yeah, I’m just going to keep quiet.
“How’s Kimberley?” I hear myself ask him.
Dammit Sebastian. Listen to the voice of reason for once in your damned life.
“Actually, she hasn’t been feeling too well. She’s taken a few days off to get herself put right,” he says.
“Nothing serious I hope?” I say, knowing fine well there’s nothing wrong with her.
She’s just avoiding me and she doesn’t want to risk running into me at work where she can’t shut me out without risking me causing a scene.
“I think she’s just a bit run down. The merger took a lot out of her, but she’ll be back to fighting fit in no time. And after everything she did to make the merger run smoothly, she deserves a few days to recover.”
I smile and nod my agreement.
“It’s a shame she’s moving on. I think she would have been great heading up this project,” Joe says.
“Moving on?” I repeat.
Joe nods and smiles.
“Yes. She’s not leaving the company, but she’ll be going back to our London office. I can’t say I’m ecstatic about it, but when someone with her skill set asks to move, you make space for her wherever the hell she wants to go,” he says.
I nod, my head spinning. Kimberley’s leaving? No, I must have misunderstood. She wouldn’t just pack up and leave without even telling me. Would she? No. It must be a short term thing. But Joe didn’t make it sound like a short term thing. I have to know for sure. We’re almost at my floor and I turn to Joe.
“You mean she’s asked to go back to London permanently?” I say.
“Yeah. It’s what she wanted and like I say, you don’t risk losing someone like Kimberley,” Joe says as the elevator doors ping open on my floor.
I mutter my agreement and stumble out of the elevator. The doors close and it whisks Joe and his bad news back away. I lean against the wall for a moment. She’s leaving me. Again.
I shake my head. I can’t believe she’s pulling this stunt yet again. I can’t believe I was stupid enough to think she’d ever change. That she could genuinely put me before her career, or even have me rank equally to it.
I push myself off the wall and go back towards my office. I stop at Bernie’s desk.
“She’s leaving,” I blurt out. “Running off back to London. I don’t even think she was planning on telling me. Joe Benton just told me.”
“So that’s it then?” Bernie says.
I nod my head.
“That’s it then,” I confirm.
I go into my office and move towards my chair when it hits me. Kimberley is leaving me. For good this time. I stop before I reach my chair.
No. I won’t let this happen. I told her I would never let her walk away from me again, not without a fight, and dammit, I’m going to fight for her. I’m going to put myself out there and risk getting my heart trampled on. I’ll probably regret it. I’ll probably come back broken and alone. But I’m going to do it anyway. I’m going to beg her to stay. I’m going to do whatever it takes to stop her from walking away from me. To stop her from getting rid of our baby. I turn around and leave my office again. Bernie looks up, surprised to see me leaving my office again so soon.
“I have to stop her,” I say. “I swore to her I’d never let her leave again without a fight, and I meant it. I’m going to go to her and try to convince her we can make this work. I don’t know if it’ll make any difference, but I’m doing it.”
Bernie grins at me, her face lighting up.
“That’s more like it,” she says. “I was starting to think you’d never get your ass in gear and fight for her.”
“Can you do something for me?” I ask.
Bernie nods.
“Anything.”
I write down an address on a piece of paper and hand it to her. I give her a small silver key.
“Can you go here and make sure everything’s perfect?” I say.
She nods and beams at me.
“Consider it done. Now go get her.”
For the first time since Kimberley dropped her bombshell on me, I feel alive. Like there’s at least hope for us. I’m going to go to her and make her see that we can do this. That we can make it work. The three of us.
Chapter Eighteen
Sebastian
I don’t wait for the elevator. I’m too full of nervous energy to stand and wait for it. Instead, I take the stairs, running down them like my life depends on it. And maybe it does.
In my mind, I can see how this will go. I’ll convince Kimberley to open the door, and I’ll tell her I love her and beg her not to go. She’ll step into my arms and tell me she’ll stay, that she loves me too. And then we’ll share the most magical kiss.
I don’t know if that’s really what will happen, but I have to hold onto that spark of hope. And whatever happens, I’ll know I did everything I could to make this work. That I didn’t let Kimberley walk away from me without a fight this time. I’ll know that if she walks away from me again, that’s all on her.
I practically sprint from the building and to my car. I drive to Kimberley’s hotel sure I’ve broken every traffic law there is as I arrive there in record time. But
