Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Gabby’s blue eyes rounded. “I never thought I’d say it, but he actually sounds like a keeper.”
All Ava could do was stare. She felt how wide her own eyes were, how fast her heart was beating.
“And since that seems true,” Gabby added dryly, “then I want to know why you still look like a deer caught in the headlights.”
Ava wanted to think it was the sex in her office. But it was also the things Ransom had done. And it was Gabby, her staunchest supporter, who’d called Ransom every name in the book. Gabby, who’d refused any opportunity that would have allowed her to work with him and advance her career. How could it be that now Gabby thought Ransom was a keeper?
It left her wide open, like a deer jumping into the road, blinded by the lights.
Fernsby, who seemed to know everything, said quietly, “Even when someone has shown that they can change, the pain of the past still lingers.”
The man was wise. Maybe he actually was a hundred years old. How else could he know exactly how to explain what she felt to Gabby?
Ava had wanted to skewer Gabby the moment she’d seen Fernsby seated at the table. But now she wanted to take her sister in her arms and hug her tightly.
Because Fernsby was a godsend.
Then the wise man gave her the softest, saddest smile. This from a man whose number of smiles she could count on one hand. Just when she thought she’d controlled her tears, her eyes misted all over again.
“You must take as long as you need to get to a point with Mr. Yates where you are even willing to think about love again. Love isn’t something you rush.” He wagged a finger. “Love is something you must earn, especially after you’ve wronged somebody. It takes time to earn that trust again.”
A soliloquy on love. From Fernsby. A man who never dated. A man she thought had never been in love.
“I know this might be hard to hear.” He patted her hand. “But I believe you need to regain his trust as well. Because love is a two-way street.”
With anyone else, her hackles would have risen, and she’d have gone in fighting. But this was Fernsby, and the man knew things. “I truly am starting to see that. But I still don’t see exactly why I need to regain his trust.” She needed Fernsby’s insight now more than ever.
He blinked, the corners of his mouth lifting in what might actually be another smile. “Even though Mr. Yates didn’t do the right thing,” he said, “it doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt him to lose you just as much as it hurt you to lose him.” He was silent a long moment, letting her absorb those words. “You didn’t stay to talk it out. You didn’t compromise. You walked away. He made an offer you didn’t like, but—correct me if I’m wrong—finding a middle ground wasn’t even an option, was it?” He said it so softly she felt herself straining to listen.
She licked her lips. She swallowed. Then finally she shook her head. “No, it wasn’t. When I didn’t like what he said, I was outta there.”
“You were out of there,” he echoed. “And neither of you came up with a way to make it work. He didn’t call you. But you didn’t call him. Your feelings were hurt and you left. His ego was bruised, so he left too. But if I were he, it would have broken my heart to lose you. To watch you walk out of my life and never look back would have shattered me. If I were he.”
A single tear fell from her eye at his heartfelt words.
“If you will humor an old man, I would like to tell you the story of when I fell in love many years ago.”
Ava shared an astonished look with Gabby. Fernsby as a young man? Fernsby in love? It didn’t seem possible. Both she and her sister nodded for him to go on. Ava was sure Gabby was dying to hear the tale as much as she was.
“I was so certain our love couldn’t be real. I wondered how a woman like Mathilda could love me.” He put a hand to his chest, as if even he couldn’t believe he’d had the thought. Then he gave what sounded like a short bark of laughter, except that Fernsby didn’t laugh. Ava wasn’t sure he even knew how. She’d thought his laughter vocal cords had frozen long before he’d gone to work for Dane.
Still with his hand on his chest, he said, “Of course, I wasn’t the man you see sitting before you today. I was flawed. And perhaps too arrogant for my own good.”
Fernsby was still arrogant. But he was also wise. And Ava hung on his every word.