Chapter 19
Alex
I walked into the office the next day with a huge smile on my face. I had to pick up some files on a new prospective client. I practically felt like a new man. I was making my way down the hall toward my private corner office when Alicia suddenly came out of my father’s office and stopped me in the hallway.
“Alex, hey,” she said, pausing in front of me and looking up into my face. “Um, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Without really waiting for an actual answer from me, she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into one of the small copy rooms, shutting the door quickly behind us.
“What’s up?” I asked. I was uncomfortable being alone with her again—uncomfortable with what she was feeling, and worried about how this might look to anyone who happened into the copy room.
“Well, I just wanted to take a moment to talk about what happened on Friday night, that’s all,” Alicia replied. The expression on her own face appeared to be one of uneasiness but the tone of her voice had deep sincerity in it.
“Okay,” I said. “What about it?”
“I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to apologize, you know? I mean, I really did think that back when you were talking about wanting more romance in your life and you know, we drank those shots together and everything… I just wanted you to know that I really did misunderstand the situation. I walked into your condo and I saw everything all set up and I knew that you knew I was coming over to drop that file off for your dad and I just…” Her eyes started to tear up a little bit.
“It’s okay, Alicia, really...” I started to say but she interrupted me to continue her statement.
“Just let me finish, please. I just really need to say this—get this off my chest. Because, you know, we’re going to be working here together pretty much every day and I just don’t want there to be any weirdness between or anything,” she explained. “I actually feel a little bit embarrassed about this whole thing. I mean, I’m still kicking myself and wondering how I possibly misconstrued the situation so absurdly. It’s just, I’m just really sorry, that’s all.”
She looked up at me with solemnity in her baby blue eyes. She really was a stunning woman. She just wasn’t the woman for me. She wasn’t Holly Shaw.
“Apology accepted,” I said sincerely. “And I, too, want to offer my own apology for unintentionally misleading you. I just want you to know that I didn’t mean to give you any mixed signals or anything—just so you know.”
“Sure, no, I totally get it—apology accepted,” she said just a little bit shyly.
“Also, uh, I finally talked to Holly and we were able to smooth things over, so…” I explained.
“Oh, that—that’s great. I’m really glad that you guys were able to work things out and everything. Good, good,” she said with a nervous smile.
“Well, I’m glad we had this little talk, then,” I told her, reaching out to offer her my hand.
“Oh, sure, me, too,” she said, grabbing my hand and shaking it firmly.
Even though the conversation had taken place in a somewhat awkward manner, a wave of relief washed over me after it happened. I think I took the longest, deepest breath I’d ever taken in my life after she’d turned around and went on her way.
* * * * *
Work couldn’t have ended soon enough that day. I had a huge surprise and I was damned near about to burst with excitement from wanting to reveal it to Holly. I had already told Joana about it, and the only thing left was to tell her.
Last night, I’d had to fight with all my might not to spoil the surprise while Holly lay in my arms, right where she was supposed to be.
After my final meeting of the day, I called her up and told her I wanted to pick her up after her school day was over. She agreed, and I went to pick her up from the school right around four p.m.
“Hey,” she said with a wide grin as I pulled up in front of the main entrance.
“Hello, beautiful. How was your day?” I asked as she climbed into the passenger seat.
“It was nice, actually. With the end of the school year almost here, the kids are getting a little bit antsy,” she explained.
“Well, I have something very special that I want to show you,” I said, barely able to contain my excitement.
“You are always so full of surprises,” she teased, as the smile on her face widened.
“Oh, honey, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” I replied with a wink.
A few moments later, we pulled up in front a large building—the empty, brown brick building that used to read Sanello’s Sweetery. But now, as of today, a temporary banner hanging over the sign read: Holly Shaw’s Bakery.
When she looked up and saw the sign, she almost fell out of the passenger seat of my car. Her eyes widened and her jaw nearly hit the ground.
I helped her out of the car and the two of us stood in front of the building, gazing up at the new sign.
“Wh-what is this?” she asked, glancing over at me in confusion.
“It’s your new bakery, Holly,” I explained, looking deep into her beautiful brown eyes. “And, it’s also my way of asking you to stay here in New York—with me. Now that you have your own business, you really don’t have any reason to leave anymore, right?”
Just then, Joana came out of the front door of the bakery, holding a bottle of champagne.
“Surprise!” she exclaimed.
Holly placed her hands on her cheeks and tears filled her eyes.
“Oh, my God! You were in on this? You sneaky bitch,” she said to Joana, laughing.
“Well, kind of. He told me about it a couple of days ago,” Joana explained.
“Oh, my God,” Holly said again. “Alex, this is…this is just…” She couldn’t even complete her sentence before the tears of happiness filled her beautiful eyes and began to flow.
I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in close. I held her as she shook, feeling a wave of happiness wash over me, waiting patiently for her to regain her composure. Joana came over and joined us in a little group hug, as she wrapped an arm around her best friend and flashed a huge smile of approval.
Finally, Holly backed away. “You guys, this is—this is the most wonderful, amazing, most incredible thing anyone has ever done for me. I love you both so much!” she exclaimed.
“Well, Alex is the one who bought the place. I just helped him set it up,” Joana replied, nodding her head toward me.
Holly opened her up her purse and pulled out a small handkerchief. Using it to wipe her face, she smiled through her sniffles as she gazed up at the sign.
“Well, what are we all waiting for? Let’s go inside and get this party started!” she finally exclaimed with a wide, excited grin. “I can’t wait to see the inside!”
Holly opened the front door of the building and Joana and I followed her inside. Joana flashed me a wink and mouthed the words, “Good job!” to me as she walked in ahead of me. Inside, we had a table set up with three fancy wine glasses and three chairs. I clicked on the celebratory music and we all sat down at the table. Joana popped the top off the bottle of champagne and proceeded to fill the glasses.
“This is, by far, one of the happiest days of my life and I couldn’t think of two other people I’d rather be spending it with,” Holly said as we all raised our glasses and cheered to a brand-new start.