Chapters (42)
- Cover
- Dedication
- • Part 1 •
- • Chapter 1 •
- • Chapter 2 •
- • Chapter 3 •
- • Chapter 4 •
- • Chapter 5 •
- • Chapter 6 •
- • Chapter 7 •
- • Chapter 8 •
- • Chapter 9 •
- • Chapter 10 •
- • Chapter 11 •
- • Chapter 12 •
- • Chapter 13 •
- • Chapter 14 •
- • Chapter 15 •
- • Part 2 •
- • Chapter 16 •
- • Chapter 17 •
- • Chapter 18 •
- • Chapter 19 •
- • Chapter 20 •
- • Chapter 21 •
- • Chapter 22 •
- • Chapter 23 •
- • Chapter 24 •
- • Part 3 •
- • Chapter 25 •
- • Chapter 26 •
- • Chapter 27 •
- • Chapter 28 •
- • Chapter 29 •
- • Chapter 30 •
- Acknowledgments
- Reading Group Guide
- ‘Meant to Be Mine’ Teaser
- one
- Continue Reading…
- About the Author
- Copyright
I sigh. “The personal stuff, we can work on. But just think about it from a business perspective. I’ve been getting incredible press lately—wouldn’t you want to be named in that? What if we cross-promoted our brands? What if we collaborated on a line together? I mean, you have to admit we’d be a natural fit to work together.”
He gives me a tight smile. “I used to think that.”
“. . . but not anymore,” I finish for him.
Blake sighs and doesn’t answer. He drums his fingers against the lid of his coffee cup and doesn’t meet my eyes. I wish I could tell what he was thinking. The silence stretches on longer than makes me feel comfortable.
“October nineteenth?” he asks suddenly.
“What?”
“The date of our wedding,” he says impatiently. “I mean, the date of the wedding. Your wedding.”
“Oh, yeah. The ceremony starts at four p.m.”
He nods carefully. I’m suddenly light-headed with anticipation for what he might say next.
“I’m not saying yes to you right now, but I’m not saying no, either,” he says, still looking away. “You’ve made a solid case, and I need time to think it over.”
He pushes his chair back and stands. This conversation is over. I skid back in my chair and stand, too. This time, he looks like he’s contemplating whether or not to hug me. I hesitate before turning to walk toward the door, but the hug never comes. Instead, he lowers his eyes and walks past me across the coffee shop.
“Goodbye, Eliza,” he says quietly. “I’ll be in touch.”
• Part 3 •
October
• Chapter 25 •
It’s Thursday. My wedding is nine days away. It’s been a week and a half since I spoke to Blake at Starbucks, and a week and a half of anxiety. I’m fielding letters and emails from Roy, the landlord, about whether or not we’ll re-sign the lease and a flurry of wedding-planning tasks that trigger actual waves of nausea, and I’ve been skipping out on Golden Years to avoid Raj, because I don’t know how to speak to him with the respect he deserves while I’m still waiting on an answer from Blake. My romantic situation is too complicated. I’m tiptoeing around Sophie and Jess and dodging my parents’ calls, because I can’t talk about the shop or our company’s finances without a lump forming in my throat. My Instagram posts have gotten more and more desperate, in hopes of squeezing out any sales possible. At this point, I would be posing naked with all the important bits covered by diamonds if it meant I could sell them. For the sake of keeping my bases covered, I’m still pretending online that the wedding will happen. If I need to cancel it, I’ll do that—but I don’t want to shut down that option before I need to.