Chapters (50)
- Cover
- Full Page Image
- Dedication
- Playlist
- Prologue
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Part Two
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Part Three
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Bonus Scene
- Marni’s Midnighters
- Spoiler Group
- About the Author
- Also by Marni Mann
- Sneak Peek of When Darkness Ends
- Sneak Peek of Even If It Hurts
She climbed off and walked around the large space, looking at the framed pictures of Boston’s top athletes—who were clients—the art I collected, and the bar in the back, next to my closet and personal restroom. She ended the tour with my diploma from Tufts University and the certificates I’d achieved over the years before standing frozen in front of the oversize windows.
“Wow. Just wow.”
“The view?”
“All of it, Caleb.” She turned to face me. “Your office—which is bigger than my entire apartment—this building, the hundreds of people who work here”—she pointed at the photos and my collection of certificates—“you.” She shook her head, her brows high. “You weren’t handed this office; you worked your tail off to get here since you were nine years old. How many people can say that?”
“You can.”
I watched the emotion pass through her eyes as she realized what I was referencing, and she made her way back over to me.
“I hope you’re proud of yourself when you look at these walls—the same pride Alfred, your parents, and I feel when we look at you.”
I squeezed my hands over the armrests, the leather worn from where my fingers used to lie during meetings, in an office I’d spent more time in than my condo. “I don’t know how I feel.” I glanced past her, taking inventory, things I hadn’t paid attention to in so long—and not because of my absence. “But I know I was moving so goddamn fast; I didn’t have time to appreciate much.”
“And you lost yourself.”
There were those words again. The ones that hit home every time I heard them.
She sat in the chair across from me. “You’ve reached the stage of your life where you need to find yourself again and figure out what’s best for Caleb.” She pushed herself to the end of her seat, resting her arms on my desk, her chin on top of them.
I’d already caught my breath, but as the truth in Whitney’s eyes stared back at me, I found it even harder to inhale. “You’re right.”
“I know.” She smiled. “Now, get to work and don’t mind me. I’m just going to sit here and gawk at my ridiculously handsome boss.”