“It's not really up for discussion,” Paul interrupted. He grimaced. “I'm sorry, Christian. You know how much I hate for things to come to this, how much I've been fighting this for years now. But there's nothing that I can do.”
I grimaced. A week later, I found myself standing behind a podium, giving a formal apology for all the things that I had supposedly done.
“To all of our shareholders, and our consumers, and our supporters,” I said, “I thank you for your patience. I know that my conduct over the past few years hasn't been exactly what you've desired. I know that there have been many times that you've…” I trailed off, staring down at the script that had been placed in front of me. Then, I threw the note cards off to the side.
“Let me be real here,” I said. “I know that when you're looking for a real estate company, you're looking for someone who you can trust. You're looking for someone who can see the vision of you growing old there with your wife, of you spending time there with your kids. And I haven't delivered on that promise lately.”
I spotted Paul in the audience; I could see the way his eyebrows rose. “I haven't respected you the way that you deserved,” I told them. “And we all know it. And I'd like to fix that. I'll be taking some time off, at least from now until the end of the year, probably longer,” I told everyone. “And don't worry, I'm leaving you in incredibly capable hands. I'm sure you've all heard of these guys before. And-”
“All right,” Paul said, suddenly catching my elbow and leading me off the stage. “That's enough,” he said under his breath. “We do still want you to come back next year.”
I took a deep breath and smiled bitterly at him. “But over the next few months, you're going to realize that you don't need me,” I told him.
“Bullshit,” Paul said succinctly, and it was very rare that I heard him swear.
I couldn't help smiling a little. “If you say so.”
“I do,” Paul said. He shook his head. “Don't spend your whole trip worrying about what's happening around the office. Have fun. Come back when you're good and ready.”
Chapter Six
Gretchen
I sighed and stretched, still feeling a bit sleepy but knowing that I had to get out of bed before it got too late in the day. I had never been the type of person to laze away the entire day in bed. That was just a waste, as far as I was concerned. Anyway, it wasn't as though there was anything worth staying in bed for.
Even though it was Tuesday, I didn't have any appointments on the schedule that day. I still wasn't entirely sure how that had worked out, but hey, I wasn't complaining! Instead, I grabbed a book and went out to my front porch, lying down in the hammock that I had strung up out there. For a moment, I just swung there, enjoying the warm breeze and smiling at the palm trees, at my tropical life. Then, I opened the book to where my bookmark was and began to read.
I was getting into it when Mina hopped up the steps onto my porch. “What a beautiful day, huh?” she said.
I smiled and put the bookmark back into my book. I was right in the middle of a juicy scene, but I knew that Mina wasn't going to give me time to finish it. Sure enough…
“Why do you read those things anyway?” Mina asked, getting a glimpse of the cover of the book. “You'd be better off keeping up with world news. Those silly romance novels are just filler.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Because you do s
uch a good job keeping up with world news?”
“Yeah. I watch The Latest religiously, and I read a bunch of different magazines, and-”
I burst out laughing, unable to help myself. “Mina, entertainment news hardly counts as world news,” I told her.
Mina shrugged. “It's news, and it happens in the world. It's world news. And you never bother to keep up with any of it. You can't imagine how much drama has gone down just this week.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, I don't care about any of that stuff,” I told her. “Who kisses whom and who wore what. I just don't see why any of that matters.”
“Well, how are you ever going to meet a hot millionaire if you don't even know who the hot millionaires are?” she asked, a twinkle in her eye.
I laughed again. “You're ridiculous,” I told her succinctly. “Sure, there are plenty of millionaires who come to Hawaii probably, but they don't hang out in the places that we go. They'll be at the fanciest restaurants and the fanciest clubs and the fanciest, well, everything!”
Mina shook her head. “But seriously, if you're going to read anything, why romance novels?”
I bit my lower lip and shrugged. “I guess I just like to have hope,” I told her. “It's a nice escape from reality, and it's nice to think that maybe, just maybe, there's-”
“Some Prince Charming who's perfect for you, who holds the door for you and brings you breakfast in bed and is 100% perfect? You really believe in that stuff?”
I blushed a little. “I don't believe in that,” I said. “I don't think there's a perfect guy or anything like that. But it's nice to think that there's someone out there, that there is true love. Can you imagine having a feeling like that? I was talking to a woman in my shop a while back, and she was telling me that if she had to go back and do her whole life over again, she'd still pick the same guy and would still do everything exactly the same. Don't you want to have that feeling?”
“I don't want to think about living life all over again,” Mina said, shaking her head. “I'd rather just focus on the life that I'm already living and do the things that I want to do now. And right now, I'd like you to go get changed so we can go surfing!”