"This is going to be the last time," Brett said heavily. The last time that he was going to ask me to do this? Probably because once he signed, he was effectively taking away the single reason that anyone from Porter Holdings had to go and see him. That was no problem for me. After all this, he could get that peace and quiet he wanted so badly. I had told the man what had happened last time, could he really think that I wanted to be anywhere near Cameron again in my life if I could help it?
"If it's an official matter of business, I think that there might be a way to get him to be present in the office," I tried, not even believing myself as I said it. He wasn't coming. His finally being able to sign away the company wouldn't be enough to bring him down off his mountain. Nothing would.
"You need to go to him," Brett insisted. "He made the decision when he was angry."
"He made the decision years ago. He's felt this way most of his life. When I asked him the other day, he had been angry, sure, but not about this, about me. I'm the last person he wants to see."
"I don't think that's true. If anything can change his mind..."
"Brett," I sighed, not wanting to fan the man's hopes. There had been something there at one point, but it was gone now. Maybe if I hadn't completely broken him by proving him right about all the people he hated, he wouldn't be so angry, but I had. If he still felt something, anything for me that wasn't hate or resentment, I would have been more hopeful, but he didn't. "I think it's too late to hope for a change of heart."
"It won't hurt," he said positively. He hadn't been there to see how much I had hurt Cameron; if he had been, he wouldn't have been hopeful of a turnaround at the last minute. It wasn't coming, and that was my fault. I didn't think that Cameron would make a decision like whether to sell the company or not on a whim because of a woman he liked in any case, and he did not like me.
"When do I have to leave?"
"Today would be best," he said carefully. Of course, it fucking would, what had I been expecting him to say?
"The weekend is coming up. Is there a way I could go then?" I asked. No, I didn't particularly want to go back to the mountains, there was that, but I also didn't feel like missing out on more work. He just shook his head.
"Today. We need it today if he's giving it to us."
"The sooner we're done with this, the sooner we can leave him alone to live his best life out there," I said under my breath. I woul
d have argued, but why? I wasn't looking forward to this, and if I put it off, I'd still have to do it later. As soon as his signature was on those sheets, I never had to see him again. The thought hurt but was good at the same time. I knew how much he never wanted to see me again, and because of that, I couldn't put what I wanted before what he did.
I had prioritized my feelings over what would have been the best for him before and knew better now. This time though, there was nothing between us to destroy.
"I'm hopeful," he said. I wasn’t. I wasn't looking forward to coming back and bursting his bubble.
I left the office immediately because I wanted to be back by nightfall. Spending the night wasn't even an option anymore; I had made sure of that. I hadn't felt great since coming back from Cameron's, but the reality of going back to see him wasn't doing great things for my anxiety or general sense that everything was going to work out.
How had I managed to get this unlucky? Who would have known that just one bad decision weeks ago to hide the truth from Cameron would get me here? Ready to drive my ass back up that mountain again to talk to him. I wasn't ready, but that didn't matter. I should have thought about that before I screwed the man over. I was just fixing what I fucked up. If it had to be anyone's responsibility, it had to be mine.
Maybe between here and the cabin, I would have talked myself up enough to face him, but right then, I needed some moral support. I didn't bother texting or calling Kasey ahead because she would probably be working on a client. When I got to her salon, she had someone in her chair. I decided that I could spare the half hour or so it would take to finish on them since it wasn't even noon yet and waited.
"I hope you don't need me to do your hair," she said as we walked through to the back where her office was. "I'm totally booked up today."
"I wish that was all I needed."
"Let me guess," she said. "You're going back?"
I sunk into the small sofa in her office. It wasn't a very big room, but it was nicely furnished. Its modern, colorful aesthetic matched the design of the main salon floor.
"I don't know what to do."
"It's not like you have that many options, is it?" she asked. I scowled at her. "No, I don't mean like that. I mean, at this point, all you can do is just tell him the truth, right? What else is there?" I had told her about the disaster that happened a few days ago when I had finally been upfront with him. She had told me then that I was on the other side of all that now and it was time to start moving on. Here we were a few days later, and I was being thrown right back into the mess.
"I'm supposed to give him the paperwork to sell his share of the company. Totally sell out. Basically, take that business that his father and grandfather grew from nothing and hand it over to strangers."
"You can’t be more sentimental about his family business than he is, Nat," she said gently.
"I know that; I just feel like this could have gone differently. Is it wrong that I think this wouldn't be happening if I hadn't lied to him?" I asked.
"You said he's felt this way for a long time, Nat," she said. Of course he had. Of fucking course he had. I knew that. Fuck me, right? Me and my incredible ability to fixate on the wrong thing at every point.
"I know. I just wish it had never come to this."
"It's not like you need to stay out there long. Just get him to sign the thing, and then you leave."