13. Vivienne

13

VIVIENNE

T he city moved at its usual breakneck pace, but Vivienne felt like she was standing still.

Her office sat perched above the chaos, a pristine bubble in the midst of it all. Sunlight slanted through the glass panes, spilling onto her modern desk and casting angular shadows against the cream walls. The skyline stretched beyond, all sharp lines and gleaming edges, a perfect mirror of her life—or what it used to be.

She scanned the papers in front of her, black ink bleeding across contracts and correspondence, each word blurring into the next. The coffee on her desk had grown cold hours ago, untouched, its rich aroma dulled by her mounting irritation.

“Where is the draft I asked for?” Vivienne’s voice was clipped, her gaze fixed on her assistant, who hovered anxiously by the door. “I said three o’clock.”

“It’s...being finalized, Ms. Blackwood. I’ll have it in a few minutes,” the assistant stammered before retreating.

Vivienne’s jaw tightened as she turned her focus back to the papers, the office eerily quiet except for the hum of the city outside, as if everyone were afraid of breathing around her. It wasn’t the delay that had set her off; it was everything else—the gnawing emptiness that had rooted itself in her chest since she left Colorado.

She had thought throwing herself back into work would help. It hadn’t.

Her staff walked on eggshells, their usual respect now tinged with unease. She knew her behavior had changed, sharp edges where charm used to be. Meetings felt hollow; triumphs rang false. Every time she closed her eyes, the memories crept in: the warmth of the cabin’s firelight, the sharp bite of the snowstorm, and Alex—always Alex .

The woman who had unraveled her carefully constructed life with quiet strength and maddening vulnerability.

Vivienne straightened her posture, adjusting the cuffs of her tailored blazer. She refused to cry. Not here, not now. The carefully curated image of Vivienne Blackwood didn’t allow for cracks.

But there were cracks.

She caught her reflection in the floor-to-ceiling window, faint and ghostlike against the glittering cityscape. Her makeup was flawless, her hair meticulously styled, but her eyes told another story. They were tired, shadowed by nights spent reliving the cabin and all its tangled emotions.

It wasn’t just heartbreak; it was the dissonance of being back in a life that no longer fit.

She stood abruptly, moving to the window as if the eagle-eye view could offer clarity. The city stretched endlessly before her, vibrant and unyielding, but she felt no connection to it now. She had spent years mastering this place, molding herself into someone untouchable. And yet, all it had taken was a storm and a stubborn woman in a cabin to make her question everything.

Vivienne’s fingers found her necklace, a simple silver chain with a small pendant she had worn for years. She rolled it between her fingers absently, the motion a tether to the present.

“You’re not even here,” she whispered to herself under her breath, the words barely audible.

Her phone buzzed, jolting her back to the present. She ignored it. The constant demands of her position, once exhilarating, now felt like white noise. A knock at the door followed, and her assistant peeked inside, timid but determined.

“Ms. Blackwood, the draft is ready for review,” she said, holding out a folder.

Vivienne took it without a word, retreating to her desk. She flipped it open, scanning the lines with mechanical efficiency. Every word was polished, every detail accounted for, yet none of it mattered. Not really.

Her gaze drifted to the framed picture on her desk, the one she had ignored for weeks. It held a picture of her and her brother at a gala, both smiling for the camera. She remembered how Alex had asked about him once, a casual curiosity that felt anything but. Alex had cared about the details, about the parts of Vivienne she had long since buried beneath ambition and appearances.

The memory stung, but it also lit a small flame in her chest—a reminder of something she wasn’t quite ready to let go. Not just yet.

Vivienne set the folder aside, sat down, and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. The city hummed beyond the walls, indifferent and eternal, but inside her office, the silence was deafening.

It wasn’t enough. None of it was enough.

Vivienne sat at her desk, her fingers poised over her keyboard, though the words on the screen blurred together, meaningless. Her coffee sat untouched beside her, its once-steamy liquid now cold, a reflection of her lack of focus. The latest projections for the next quarter, notes from a client meeting, and a half-written email were all vying for her attention. But her mind refused to focus. It drifted, as it always did, back to the Rockies, to the cabin, to Alex. She tried to steady herself, to rein in the thoughts that unraveled each time she took a breath, but they slipped away again, tugging her toward memories she wasn’t ready to face.

They were still too painful.

She leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples, her gaze flicking to the skyline outside her office window. The city stretched endlessly, its rhythm a steady hum beneath her feet, but it felt like a backdrop, distant and cold. Not like the cabin—wild but alive, pulling her into its embrace even when it hurt.

Her assistant’s voice crackled through the intercom, jolting her from her thoughts. “Ms. Blackwood, there’s someone here to see you. They say it’s important.”

Vivienne frowned, irritation prickling her already frayed nerves. “Is it the investor? I thought we rescheduled.”

A pause. “No, ma’am. They aren’t on the schedule.”

Vivienne sighed, straightening her blazer as she sat up in her chair. “Fine. Send them in. ”

The door opened, and Vivienne turned with rehearsed composure, ready to dismiss whoever it was. But the words froze in her throat when she saw Alex standing there, her patched pack slung over her shoulder, looking as out of place in her office just as much as Vivienne must have looked out of place that first day in Alex’s cabin.

For a moment, the world stilled. The hum of the city, the ticking of the clock, even her own breath—all of it faded. Only Alex remained, a vivid figure against the muted gray of her office.

“Hi,” Alex said, her voice soft but steady.

Vivienne’s chest tightened, a rush of emotions flooding her—relief, anger, longing, and something deeper, a trembling ache she hadn’t dared to fully feel until now. “What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t stay away.” Alex stepped forward, her boots scuffing against the waxed floor. “I needed to see you. To tell you”—she hesitated, glancing around the sleek, impersonal office—“to tell you that I was wrong.”

Vivienne folded her arms, more out of habit than defensiveness. “About what?”

“About everything.” Alex met her gaze, her own dark eyes brimming with emotion. “About pushing you away, about thinking this”—she gestured between them—“couldn’t work. I was scared. I am scared. But losing you? It’s worse than anything I could imagine.”

Vivienne’s heart pounded, each word striking a chord she’d tried to silence. But the wounds were still raw, and she wasn’t ready to let them heal so easily.

“You hurt me, Alex.”

“I know.” Alex’s voice cracked, and she dropped the pack to the floor, taking another step closer. “And I’m sorry. For everything. I thought I was protecting both of us, but I was wrong. I don’t want to protect myself from you. I want to be with you, Vivienne. No matter where, no matter how.”

The weight of Alex’s confession settled between them, fragile and heavy. She took a shaky breath, her fingers curling into her palms. “You think it’s that easy? That showing up here and saying this fixes what happened? What you said?”

“No.” Alex shook her head, her expression raw. “I don’t expect this to fix anything. But I needed to try. I needed you to know how I feel, even if it’s too late.”

Vivienne stared at her, her defenses wavering. There was no script for this moment, no prepared answer. All she had was the truth of her own heart, still bruised but beating wildly for the woman standing before her.

It wasn’t fair, Vivienne thought. How Alex could stand there, raw and unguarded, offering up pieces of her heart Vivienne had spent weeks trying to forget. The sight of her was like light spilling into a room Vivienne hadn’t realized was dark. The ache that had settled in her chest since the night Alex left flared up again, but this time, it wasn’t just pain—it was need. The need for the person who had made her laugh and taught her to let go. She wanted to reject it all, to cling to her anger, but that old defense was slipping, crumbling.

She thought of the woman she had been before—driven, exacting, and untouchable. That woman would have dismissed Alex Carter without hesitation, locking her feelings away behind the fortress of her ambition. But that fortress had crumbled, stone by stone, during those days in the mountains. Alex had done more than hurt her; she had forced her to see the parts of herself she’d been too afraid to confront.

“Why now?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

“Because being without you was unbearable,” Alex said, stepping even closer, her presence as grounding as the earth beneath them. “Because I love you, Vivi. And if there’s any part of you that feels the same, then I’ll do whatever it takes to make this work.”

Vivienne’s office felt different now, the sterile coldness of the past few weeks receding, replaced by a softness in the air. The tension between them, that heavy, unspoken thing that had been present since Alex’s sudden appearance, had started to ease, replaced by the tentative beginnings of something new.

They sat across from one another at Vivienne’s desk, close but not quite touching, the space between them filled with the cautious hope of what could be. The shiny glass of the desk reflected their images, two women from entirely different worlds, yet here, in this moment, trying to make sense of a future neither had expected.

Vivienne's fingers rested lightly on the edge of her computer, the rhythm of the city outside faintly echoing in her mind. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this weightless, this free.

The fog of the past few weeks—the arguments, the distance, the unsaid words—had begun to lift, but she knew better than to believe it was gone completely. The future was still uncertain, the unknown vast and daunting, but for the first time, Vivienne wasn’t afraid of it. She looked at Alex, the woman who had torn apart her carefully built walls and made her question everything she thought she knew about herself.

Alex caught her gaze, and Vivienne could see the vulnerability in her eyes, the same vulnerability she’d seen in the mountains when Alex had let her in, despite her own reservations. She hadn’t expected to feel this—this mixture of trust, relief, and something deeper, something raw. It was messy, it was uncertain, and it was everything Vivienne had been running from for so long .

“So, how does this work?” Vivienne’s voice broke the silence, steady but uncertain, as she broke eye contact and looked at the papers scattered across her desk. The weight of the question hung between them, too big to ignore. “You’re in the mountains, and I’m here. How do we make that work?”

Alex shifted in her seat, her eyes soft but determined. “I don’t know yet. But I’m ready to figure it out.” She paused, her voice taking on a slightly lighter tone. “I’m not saying it’ll be easy. I’m not asking for anything perfect.”

Vivienne nodded, her lips pressing together in a thoughtful line. “Neither am I,” she admitted, looking down at her hands. She felt the tension in her shoulders begin to loosen. “I’m just...not sure how we fit into each other’s worlds. You have your life there. Your peace. Your freedom.” Her gaze flicked back to Alex. “And I’ve spent so long building this life, my identity here.”

Alex’s smile was small but genuine. “I get that. I don’t expect you to leave it all behind for me.”

Vivienne’s chest tightened at her words, a flicker of the woman she’d been before, the one who had never been afraid to walk away from something that didn’t serve her, but now she couldn’t shake the feeling that walking away from Alex would cost her more than she was willing to pay. She met Alex’s gaze again, her voice quiet but firm. “But I can’t keep running from everything, either. From you. From...this.”

Alex’s eyes softened. “You don’t have to. We don’t have to know exactly what it looks like right now. We just have to try.”

Vivienne leaned back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest. The cool touch of the office air felt different now, more comfortable. The walls weren’t closing in anymore. “What does trying look like for you?” she asked, a half-smile tugging at her lips. “You want me to give up my life here for a cabin in the mountains?”

Alex’s expression was serious, her voice steady. “I’m not asking for everything to change overnight. I’m asking you to take a chance on something real. On us. I’m asking you to trust me, just like I’m trusting you.”

Vivienne took a breath, feeling the air in her lungs as if for the first time in weeks. The air in the room felt less stifling, the weight of the decision ahead no longer as heavy as it had seemed before. She looked at Alex, her heart pounding a little faster, a little louder. It was terrifying, but it wasn’t the kind of fear that made her want to retreat. It was the kind that made her want to step forward.

“I think...” Vivienne hesitated, trying to sort through the flood of emotions that were rising within her. “I think I’m ready to try.”

Alex’s eyes brightened, and she reached out, her hand stopping just shy of Vivienne’s. The touch wasn’t necessary, but it felt like the most honest gesture she could offer in this moment. “We’ll figure it out. One step at a time.”

Vivienne nodded, the promise of it settling in her chest like a quiet thrill. She wasn’t sure what this new beginning would look like. There was still so much left unsaid between them, so many questions yet to be answered. But she didn’t feel the overwhelming need to have all the answers right away.

For the first time in her life, she was willing to take a risk.

As they stood together, the weight of the moment settled between them—not as a burden but as something grounding, a foundation they could build on.

“We don’t have to figure it all out right now,” Alex said, her voice steady. “No timelines, no grand plans. Let’s just start with lunch.”

Vivienne blinked, her lips quirking into the faintest smile. “Lunch?”

“Yeah.” Alex grinned, her confidence returning. “Something simple. We’ll eat, talk, and see where it goes. No pressure.”

Vivienne hesitated, glancing around the office as if tethered to it by invisible strings. Her calendar was packed, her emails overflowing—but in this moment, none of it seemed as important as the woman standing before her. She could feel the beginnings of something unfamiliar yet thrilling: the choice to let go, to not have everything mapped out for once.

“Lunch sounds…good,” she said at last. “But you’re paying.”

Alex laughed, a rich, genuine sound that sent warmth blooming through Vivienne’s chest. “Deal.”

They left the office, their steps in sync, a quiet strength between them. As they stepped into the bustling streets, the city alive with the usual noise and rush, they moved together through the crowd, a united front against the uncertainty of the future. Their hands brushed together as they walked, the simple connection more grounding than anything they had said in the past few minutes. They didn’t have it all figured out, but they didn’t need to. For once, it was enough to simply be together, the rest of the world falling away.

The city felt brighter as they walked, the possibilities endless, the future unwritten but full of promise. And for the first time in what felt like forever, Vivienne wasn’t afraid to leap.