In forty-five minutes, City Council was going to vote on Ryder’s project.

I’d spent all morning running around the city on transit. First, I’d gone to my old company, where I’d asked for my old job back. No surprise - they’d found someone to replace me. But they promised to let me know as soon as another vacancy opened up. “You know the systems in this place,” Marvin Knight, one of the friendliest partners, said to me. “We’re absolutely going to hire you back.”

“Do you know how soon you might have an opening?” I’d asked.

He’d shrugged easily. This was not a man who had ever worried about money. “Probably a couple of months,” he’d said. “It’s summer, Zoe. Take some time off. Travel. Work will still be here when you come back.”

“Sure.” I’d risen to my feet. “Thanks for your help, Mr. Knight.”

After that, I’d looked at a handful of apartments on Craigslist. None of them appealed, but I filled out a couple of applications. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, and we needed to find a place as soon as possible.

Once all of that was done, I trudged back home, trying to keep my mind focused on the tasks at hand. I couldn’t stop thinking about the city council vote. Any moment now, Ryder would be striding up to the podium to make his case. What would happen? Would he prevail?

Enough, I told myself harshly. But it was easier said than done. The more I tried to avoid it, the more I remembered little things about Ryder. The light in his eyes when he talked about work. The soft smile on his lips when he kissed me. The rasp of his stubble against my skin. The sound of his voice as he told me to take off my clothes.

“Zoe, there you are.” My grandmother’s voice pulled me out of my daydreams. “I tried calling you, but you didn’t pick up your phone.”

I’d left my phone behind at Ryder’s place. It wasn’t mine - Ryder had paid for a top-of-the-line smartphone. I made a mental note to find my old phone and reactivate it.  “What’s up, grandma?”

She cleared her throat. “Ryder dropped by. He had something for you.”

“Whatever it is, I don’t want it.” Maybe he’d figured out by now that it wasn’t me that had leaked the plans. It didn’t matter. He’d been so willing to believe the worst of me, and I couldn’t allow myself to forget that.

“He also paid the rest of the tax bill.”

I looked up at that, but even that wasn’t enough to drag me out of my funk. “That’s nice,” I said dully. “Eighty-three thousand dollars is probably pocket change for Ryder Drake, and this way, he doesn’t even have to feel guilty about the way he treated me.”

My grandmother frowned. “That’s not worthy of you, Zoe. He came to apologize. He waited here almost all morning for you. He only left ten minutes ago.”

“He did?”

She nodded. “He did.”

The gloom lifted, and a small ray of hope peeked out. Ryder would have had a thousand things to take care of before the Drake Towers vote. But he’d come here instead, and he’d waited for me all morning? I didn’t know what to make of that.

Her gaze softened. “Why don’t you see what he left you?”

“I don’t think presents are going to magically undo the last few days.”

“Zoe.” Her voice was both gentle and firm, the way it had been all my life. “Ryder made a mistake. But you don’t have to make one as well. You can forgive, you know. You can choose happiness.”

Damn it, I was tearing up again.  

* * *

He’d left me three things.

The first thing was a plan of Ryder Towers. The real plan, not the one the papers had leaked. And in this plan, the park was hard to miss, because it occupied most of the first floor, and continued in several terraced areas on the outside of the building. Fully integrated into the plans, transforming Drake Towers from beautiful to spectacular, the park was a design masterpiece.

The second thing was a note.

I have no right to your forgiveness, Zoe.

But I’m sorry. So sorry.

I’m sorry I hurt you.

I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.

And most of all, I’m sorry that when you said you loved me, I didn’t say it back.

Because I do. I love you, Zoe. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I’m sorry I fucked that up.

And the third thing? My engagement and wedding rings.

I looked down at what I was wearing. A gray pantsuit, pale blue blouse. The kind of outfit you wear when you ask for your job back. It would have to do. I reached for my rings and I slipped them on my finger. I had just thirty minutes to get to city hall. I was going to be cutting it really fine.

My grandmother was right. I could hold on to my pride, or, if I wanted, I could choose happiness.

“Grandma,” I yelled out, clattering down the stairs in a perfect storm of noise and confusion. “I’m going out. Don’t wait up for me.”

As I ran out of the door, I caught a glimpse of her. She was wiping tears from her eyes, and she’d never looked prouder of me.