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“If you’re coming in to check on me, I’m fine. Fine. Fine. Fine.”
“Well, now that I know you’re fine, I came to tell you a story.”
Frank crossed the room and Summer sat up against the headboard, leaving room for him to sit on the side of the bed. “Did you know that your mother left me?”
“What?” Not only was this shocking, it was clearly fiction. Her parents were so in love with each other that sometimes it was hard to look at them without feeling like you were interrupting an intimate moment.
“When you girls were little.”
“I don’t believe you.”
He chortled. “Trust me. It was the worst week of my life.”
“Oh, Dad.” She took his hand in hers. “What happened?”
“I wanted to grow my company to keep up with the competition.”
“I know.”
“What you didn’t know was that I didn’t have the money, so I put the house on the market without even asking her. She came home to find aFOR SALEsign on her front lawn. She tried to talk me out of it, but I wouldn’t listen. I wanted to provide everything for my family, not just be an average man. For my family, I wanted to be Superman.”
“Did you sell it?”
“Yup, and in less than a year we’d lost the company. Your mom took you girls and moved back into this apartment, and I stayed in a motel. Nine days we were apart. Nine days I thought I’d lost the best thing in my life. All because I was trying to be a big man, taking on all the responsibility. I forgot that love goes both ways, and if I had just listened to her fears and concerns she probably would have let me chase my dream, but I made a unilateral decision that tore my family apart.”
“Dad, I had no idea,” Summer said, raw and tentative grief overwhelming her.
“But it wasn’t just your dad,” Blanche said from the doorway. “I was to blame too.”
“How?” Summer wanted to know. Her mom hadn’t sold the house out from under her family and put business over love.
“Because I ran. When your dad needed me the most I was a coward and ran.” Blanche sat next to Frank and took his hand in a loving and tender way. “Worst of all, I took his babies away from him.”
That’s when Summer realized she was shedding silent tears. Her parents’ story didn’t follow the traditional romance novel plot. Or did it? They’d reached their darkest moment, and instead of working it out together Blanche had fled. And Frank hadn’t gone after her.
It was just like how Summer had fled. At the first sign of trouble, she’d broken things off and run, even though she loved him. So no, love wasn’t enough; you had to have the courage to make it work.
Wes was the most courageous man she knew. And he hadn’t let her run, he’d tried and tried to reach her, but she’d turned him away time and time again. Just like his family.
Oh god, what had she done? She’d done exactly what Wes had done—she’d let the bottom line define their love.
She threw the covers back and kissed each parent on the cheek. “Thank you for sharing your story and for having the courage to put love first.”
She hopped out of bed and put on her robe.
“Where are you going?” her dad asked.
“I need to see Wes.”
“At least let’s put on some foundation and a smidge of mascara,” Blanche said, but Summer was already sprinting down the hallway. “Lip gloss?”
Wes didn’t need makeup or a pampered princess, he needed her. She was sure of it. She burst through the front door and ran down the back steps, the concrete cold on her heels, little bits of gravel digging into her toes.
She rounded the corner to the alley and came to a dead stop. In front of her doorway was a red carpet with gold ropes zigzagging back and forth. Between them were hundreds and hundreds of people who had made it to the front of the line. And standing next to the door was Sloan Chase herself, surrounded by a team of security that could rival the secret service.
“Thank god you’re here. I’m getting mobbed.”
“Sloan?”