Chapter 24

Daisy

Iwork like a maniac for the next few hours after my confrontation with Hart. It’s the only way to ensure I don’t curl up in a ball and rock forward and backward.

He’s hurt me. Badly.

And I brought it on myself.

I’m the stupid one for developing a full-blown crush. I’m the idiot who fell for him. I’m the moron for believing I had the power to invoke a change.

Men don’t change. Any woman worth her XX chromosomes knows that. But I foolishly believed otherwise and now I’m paying the price.

I did the same with Casper; trying to invoke subtle changes in the hope he’d love me the way I loved him. But nothing I did was ever enough and I’m now dealing with the same emptiness, like my heart has been drained and stuck back in my body. It’s aching. Not a metaphorical ache but a full-on pain in my chest that won’t quit. It makes me work harder because focussing on work rather than my stupidity can only help.

After three solid hours, my work is done. The Gem Island campaign is complete. All I need to do is hit a few buttons for the website and the preloaded social media posts to go live and I’m set to go.

But I need the client’s final approval to do that; a physical signature on company documentation.

Damn. The last thing I want to do is face Hart again but I’ll keep this professional: get the go-ahead, thank him for his business, and be on my way.

However, when I reach his office, he’s not there and his right-hand man, Kevin, is behind Hart’s desk.

‘Hi, Kevin. Is Hart around?’

‘No, sorry, he’s gone to Melbourne.’

Shock makes me almost drop my laptop. ‘When?’

‘He left a few hours ago.’ He hesitates, as if evaluating the wisdom of saying more. ‘And I don’t know when he’s coming back.’

My heart plummets and I know it has more to do with how appalled I am that he’d leave things so badly between us than wondering how he’ll sign off on the campaign now.

‘He’s a headstrong young man, but I’m guessing you already know that?’ Kevin beckons me in and I step into the office, trying to avoid looking at the desk where our mutual anger sparked sensational sex.

‘He certainly does have strong opinions,’ I eventually say when Kevin stares at me expectantly.

‘For what it’s worth, I’ve never seen him look as happy as he has recently.’

Heat flushes my cheeks. Kevin knows? I can’t imagine Hart telling him so that means we’ve been too obvious despite trying to keep our fling under wraps.

‘Being back on the island has probably helped,’ I say, my nonchalance failing when Kevin flashes a knowing grin.

‘I think his happiness had more to do with you than Gem Island.’ Kevin leans back in his chair, his expression that of a benevolent god controlling his minions. ‘You’ve been good for him and he needs a woman like you in his life.’

I remain mute, not willing to corroborate his theory in case he’s fishing for information regarding his boss.

‘You’re as strong-willed as him. You’ll stand up to him and not take any of his crap. He needs that.’

I finally break. ‘What he needs is a swift kick up the ass.’

Kevin laughs. ‘See what I mean? You’re perfect for him.’

Unfortunately, only two of us feel that way, and we’re both currently in this office.

‘I need to discuss business.’ I also need to get this conversation back on track because dwelling on what can never be isn’t helping my already fragile state. ‘If Hart’s not around, can you help me?’

He nods. ‘I’m the new general manager, so sure.’

‘You’re in charge?’

Wow, Hart really has done a runner. I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s exactly how I’d expect him to deal with anything unpleasant. We’ve been doing a weird push-pull dance for a while now and this ultimate withdrawal should cement what I already know.

He’s not a keeper.

Then again, he never professed to be. He warned me right from the start and I agreed because I couldn’t keep my hands off him. More fool me for expecting things he was never willing to give.

‘I am in charge, so what can I help you with?’

I place my laptop on the desk, flip open the cover, and type in my password, before sliding the paperwork out of my bag. ‘The campaign is ready to go live but I need final approval and only the client can do that.’

Kevin stares at the screen for an eternity before shaking his head. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t approve this.’

WTF? I’ve put in countless hours of work on this project, it’s the best work I’ve ever done, and I need to see it through to the end. It can’t stall now.

‘What do you mean?’

Kevin closes down my screen. ‘What I mean is, even though I’m the new general manager, I can’t give final approval on a project that is essentially Hart’s baby. He needs to approve this, not me.’

He’s looking way too smug and for a moment I wonder if this is some lame ploy to push us together.

‘But I need his physical signature on the paperwork.’

‘Then I really think you should get his approval in person.’

And I really think Chris Hemsworth should be my personal butler for a week. Neither is going to happen.

But I ask the question regardless. ‘Why?’

‘Because if you give up on him now you’ll be yet another in a long line of people who’ve given up on him and we both know you’re not a quitter. If you were, you would’ve already left the island the first time he tried to push you away.’

I gape, stunned by his insight.

It shifts the cogs in my head…is that why Hart left, so he could leave first? Does he feel something too? Has this been more than a fling? And the biggie, what will happen if I do as Kevin suggests?

I’ve already put myself out there for a guy before. I followed Casper: to a new suburb, to a new house, to a new life. I was the perfect fiancée; and he crapped on my dreams regardless.

He took what I gave and more, with no regard for what I really wanted. And when I tried to articulate my dreams, my needs, he laughed in my face.

My folks are wrong. I didn’t quit on Casper, I made a calculated choice for self-preservation. I should do the same now.

Going after Hart isn’t a smart move. He’s emotionally closed-off and I don’t have the energy to make a guy like me. Been there, done that, had the three-carat whopper to prove it.

I can’t do it again: risk losing another piece of myself. Especially not with a guy who’s already made it more than clear he doesn’t want me. I’m many things, but a masochist isn’t one of them.

I’ve always done the right thing my entire life. My parents relied on me to set a good example for my two younger sisters. My sisters used me as a buffer between their antics and my folks. Casper must’ve taken one look at me and thought, ‘perfect trophy wife’ he could easily control and jerk around.

Being perfect isn’t always a good thing, but isn’t that what my fling with Hart was all about? A long-overdue, much-needed shot at being bad?

Following him would be beyond pathetic.

I can’t do it.

But if what Kevin says is true, am I willing to fall into Hart’s stereotype, that I’ll leave him like all the rest?

I flung his abandonment issues in his face as a way to shake things up, to get him to admit the truth: that he’s emotionally repressed and too damn scared to take a risk on us. Then I envisaged reassuring him and professing my feelings and…who knows after that?

But he didn’t give me a chance. He shut me down and now he’s shut me out by leaving, ensuring we’re over.

What if I prove to him we’re not by showing him I won’t quit on us?

‘You’re a smart girl, Daisy. You’ll do what’s right, for both of you.’ Kevin makes a grand show of glancing at his watch. ‘Now, if you don’t mind, the new general manager has some other tasks to approve.’

I knew it.

He’s pushing us together.

But I’m not angry anymore. I think he’s right. I am smart.

Time to start acting like it.