Page 124

If the world ended tomorrow, what would I regret more: not accepting a promotion or losing the only man I’d ever truly loved?

Exactly.

As irresponsible as it sounded, there was no contest.

That was why I’d asked Dad if we had any relatives in California who could help. He reminded me that Aunty Jeanette lived in San Francisco, so I’d just called to ask if she could put the feelers out and see if anyone knew of any jobs that might be available in the next couple of months. I didn’t care what the work was. I’d happily work in a bar, restaurant or clean toilets if it meant I could earn money and be closer to Romeo.

It was a long shot, especially because I didn’t even know where in California the new hotel would be and even Jasmine wasn’t allowed to reveal the location. But living and working in the same state as Romeo would be better than being five thousand miles away in London.

I’d give it a few more days, then I’d call Romeo and tell him my plan. I didn’t want to get his hopes up if it wasn’t going to work.

Just as I was about to check my emails to see if I’d received any responses back for the jobs I’d applied for in two restaurants in San Diego, my phone started ringing. It was Stella.

‘Hey!’ she said. ‘You still on your lunch break?’

‘Yeah. I’ve got ten minutes left, so I’m heading back to the office now.’

‘Cool. So, how’s it going? Any leads?’

‘Nothing concrete yet, but I just spoke to my Aunt Jeanette and she’s going to ask around in San Fran and I’ve applied for jobs in San Diego.’

‘Great! Max has some contacts at different factories in the US too, so he said he can ask around there.’

‘That’d be amazing.’

‘I’m proud of you, Sammie.’

‘What?’ My eyebrows knitted together. ‘Why?’

‘Because you’re not giving up. When we spoke after you’d just hung up on Romeo, you were a mess and sounded so defeated.’

After I’d spent half an hour crying and still didn’t feel better, I’d called Stella.

‘Yeah, it was just a big shock and I wasn’t thinking clearly.’

Stella had tried to calm me down and I thought she was going to offer some words of wisdom, but instead she asked me what turned out to be a powerful question. She’d said, if the roles were reversed and it was her crying down the phone, what would I recommend that she do?

I’d paused then said I’d tell her not to give up. I’d say that if Max really was the one, she needed to fight for him and exhaust every option so she didn’t wake up one day with regrets and wishing she’d done more.

‘Exactly,’ she’d said casually.

And just like that, my tears had stopped.

By the next morning, there was fire and determination in my belly and I committed to finding another way.

‘I’m glad you saw sense in the end. Have you told Romeo your plans?’

‘Not yet, but I’ve kept in touch.’ I knew how shitty being ghosted felt, so I made sure I always replied. ‘In my last message a couple of days ago, I said that I needed more time and would call him by the weekend.’

That only gave me a few more days, but I was confident that I’d hear back from my aunt by then, so it’d be fine.

‘Okay, good. I just wanted to check you’re okay. Keep me posted and maybe we can meet on Sunday for brunch and you can tell me how the call went?’

‘Perfect. Cross your fingers, toes, elbows and legs for me.’

‘Will do. Although I can’t promise I’ll be keeping my legs crossed! Me and Max are going back to Sunshine Bay because I have another meeting at the Romance Library tomorrow and there’s just something about the sea air that makes us horny!’

‘It’s got nothing to do with the sea air. You two arealwaysbloody horny!’ I cackled.