Page 35 of Rejected Heart (The Westwoods #5)

LIAM

As I walked to the front entrance of the building that housed the Westwood’s offices, I did my best to take in the peace and quiet surrounding me. It was only a matter of minutes before things would turn chaotic.

Because Wyatt scheduled a meeting. That meeting would consist of at least four people—Wyatt, Tate, Cooper, and myself—with the possibility of our parents joining us. My sisters rarely joined the meetings unless there was something that pertained to them and the work they did here.

I had no clue what today’s meeting was about beyond Wyatt claiming that he and Tate had a new project they wanted to discuss. Since Cooper and I had been called into the meeting, I could be reasonably confident this wasn’t going to be a discussion about the newest marketing tactic.

The only thing I could be certain of is that this meeting was likely going to be about a project that involved some level of handiwork or construction. Truthfully, I didn’t care much about that. I’d do what I always did by attending, listening, and eventually leaving when it was over.

I let out a deep sigh as I yanked the front door open and stepped into the building. Cooper was bound to be in a foul mood this morning, because he truly despised meetings. I’d grown accustomed to it—we all had—but I wasn’t quite sure I’d be able to tolerate it today.

It was safe to say I’d been irritable for the past two weeks or so.

That’s how long it had been since I last saw Layla, since she’d finally shared the truth with me about why she’d rejected my proposal and left me eight years ago.

I hated it.

I hated her reasons. Was offended by them, really. And I couldn’t pretend she hadn’t admitted where she stood now.

No matter how eager I’d been to prove to her just how much I loved her, it wouldn’t mean anything if she wasn’t prepared to accept it, if she couldn’t trust and believe in it. So, I’d made the decision to walk away and give her what she wanted.

Ever since, I’d been miserable, avoiding everyone outside of those I needed to see and speak with specifically for work purposes.

And while I loved my brothers dearly, if Cooper came in and bitched about anything today, I was convinced I’d lose my mind. Cooper could hate attending meetings all he wanted. Unfortunately, they were necessary in some cases, and Cooper had nothing to be upset about. Not a thing.

I rode the elevator alone, soaking up the last bits of silence. Not even the soft elevator music could penetrate the wall I’d put up. When the doors opened, I stepped off and strode down the hall toward the conference room that Wyatt had mentioned we’d be meeting in.

I was about twenty feet away when the sound of their voices hit my ears. I clenched my jaw and attempted to take a few deep breaths. What I was feeling wasn’t their fault. I needed to try to remind myself of that fact.

When I stepped into the room, their eyes landed on me. “Sorry, I’m late.”

“It’s okay, Liam,” Tate insisted. “Wyatt and Cooper were just exchanging horror stories from this morning.”

My brows shot up. “Horror stories? What happened?”

Wyatt was the first to respond. “Rhea had been feeling great with the pregnancy until last week.”

Suddenly, I wondered if I’d been so caught up in the distress that I felt over my situation with Layla that I’d missed news about Rhea’s pregnancy. “Is something wrong with the baby?”

He shook his head. “No. No, it’s nothing like that. She’s simply been experiencing some morning sickness lately. I’ve spent most of my time whenever I’ve not been working over the last week holding my wife’s hair back as she gets sick over the toilet.”

“She’s okay, though? ”

Wyatt jerked his chin down to confirm she was. “Yeah. I mean, she feels lousy, but there’s nothing wrong with her or the baby.”

As I eased myself into the chair, I shifted my attention to Cooper. “What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing. Just a lack of sleep. Roselle’s had a rough couple of nights.”

My body went rigid at the thought of something being wrong with my niece. “Is she okay?”

“She hasn’t been sleeping well the last few nights.

We aren’t sure if she’s getting some teeth, or if she’s coming down with something.

Skye was up with her throughout most of the night the previous two nights, so I took over last night to give her a break and let her get some sleep.

It’s just been challenging the last few days. ”

“How’s Rosie doing today?”

Cooper let out a frustrated groan. “That’s just it. She’s happy as ever. It’s almost like she senses when the sun is about to rise, and she’s the most pleasant baby in the world again.”

“Poor girl.”

“Poor girl? I’m the one operating on no sleep.”

I shot him a look that indicated I wasn’t impressed.

I’d had more sleepless nights in the last couple of weeks than him.

Plus, I didn’t think he got it. I would have given anything to have sleepless nights because I was helping my wife by taking care of our baby.

I didn’t think Cooper was upset about doing whatever was necessary for his family, but I wondered if he could truly understand just how lucky he was to have what he had .

“You’ll live,” I muttered.

When silence fell over the room, my eyes slid through the group, and I realized my comment came out harsher than I’d meant for it to.

“Everything okay?” Tate asked me.

It wasn’t.

Not at all.

But I wasn’t prepared to get into all the reasons why nothing was okay and likely wouldn’t ever be. At least not for a long while. It had already been eight years. What was a few more?

“Yeah, sure,” I lied. “So, what’s the reason for this meeting?”

My brothers all looked at me like they didn’t believe a word I’d said.

Of course, they all knew that something had happened with Layla, because I’d had Cooper cover me so I could go see her that morning.

The following day, he’d asked me about how things went with her, and I simply told him I didn’t want to talk about it.

Fortunately, he’d respected that, and I suspected he’d let Wyatt and Tate know where I stood.

None of them had pressed me on it since, but I had a feeling their patience would wear out soon, especially if I couldn’t get a handle on my emotions and continued to lash out at them with snide comments.

Wyatt took charge and finally got us on track.

“So, Tate and I have been talking about plans to enhance the guest experience here. So far, guests can come here and do a variety of activities, between the museum, touring the chocolate factory, visiting the amusement park, or relaxing and recharging at the hotel. But we want to give them more. Something that would make it so those who come to stay here don’t have any reason to leave.

And we’ve come up with an idea that we think could take this place to the next level. ”

I wasn’t going to pretend to know what it was that made Tate and Wyatt tick when it came to Westwood’s.

While I thought it was great to always improve upon the things that we had in place to give our guests a great experience, my older brothers seemed to think that consistently adding new experiences to the repertoire was the way to go.

Whenever they came up with the ideas, I sat back and accepted it. They were in their positions because they excelled in those areas. I always trusted them to do their jobs well, just as I knew they felt the same about me doing mine.

But I couldn’t say I wasn’t viewing this now with a renewed perspective.

We’d done our fair share of projects, and it was safe to say that even the small ones were costly.

This company always seemed to be expanding, and it was something I hadn’t ever really given a second thought to.

In fact, I often welcomed the extra work, because it had kept my mind distracted and busy for years.

Over the last couple of years, we’d taken on a multitude of new projects to expand Westwood’s and enhance the experience.

We’d done some expansion on the amusement park, built our sister a bakery, and constructed several villas on the land on the backside of the hotel to offer a resort-style experience for our guests who were seeking something just a bit more luxurious during their stay.

It had been a lot of work in a short time, especially considering we had our maintenance and construction staff working round the clock on the day-to-day operations at The Westwood Company.

I hadn’t ever balked at the new projects, but there was a small part of me that felt a twinge of disgust. Were we being tactless with the constant expansion, with constantly looking to do more?

I couldn’t miss how easy it was for us to do this, to do such extravagant things, while others were barely making ends meet.

My thoughts drifted to Layla, to what she’d shared with me the last time I saw her.

She’d made it clear she couldn’t look past the difference in our financial situations.

While I couldn’t argue that things hadn’t been difficult for her and her mom—clearly, they had been—it was obvious that having access to wealth wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

Sure, my siblings and I stood to gain a lot from Westwood’s, but I’d have given it all up in a heartbeat if it meant I could have had her.

Layla left me because of something I couldn’t control, because of the family I’d been born into.

I wasn’t sure if it was better knowing or having lived in oblivion all these years.

Instead of trying to figure that out, I decided it’d just be better to drown myself in work. That had worked for me this long. And right now, I could only imagine what Wyatt and Tate had come up with to make that happen .

As usual, Cooper took the lead when it came to responding to our brothers while I sat back and listened. “I’m not sure I even want to know what you two have up your sleeves. It seems like it’s been one thing after another here the last couple of years.”