Page 33 of Tempting Me (The Asher Family #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

SHAY

The dining room has a waitlist.

I stand back and look into the space, loving how the end result makes it feel so cozy.

I’d pulled an all-nighter the night Luca left to get it ready. I knew he wasn’t coming back to help, and despite my family selling, I needed to see it in full swing again.

People are eating, laughing, and some are taking group pictures.

It’s exactly what I wanted for this place.

It’s what I worked hard for, and it's … not going to be mine.

I sigh and head down the hallway with its fresh paint and lined with pictures from my childhood: some of the events we held back then, some just of random ones my family or Luca’s family took.

A majority of them include my family and his, and that’s okay.

The history of this place really hit us the deepest.

And soon it’ll go to another family .

I hope they have kids.

I hope they want to make memories the way I did, and I hope they don’t change everything Luca and I just poured our hearts into.

I don’t think I could come back if they gutted it.

I’m just about to turn into the office when Ruby calls my name.

“Hi.” She beams and then hugs me. “How are you?”

I know she’s asking out of pure friendliness, but the look in her eyes says she’s not just asking about my day.

“I’m doing okay.”

The truth is, I hurt. My heart, my head, every piece of me.

Luca still hasn’t called or texted or anything.

I thought he would have reached out by now.

I want to apologize and tell him that it will never happen again.

I was scared, and what I did was wrong. I fully messed up.

It’s been three days, and I’m starting to think that I’m not going to get the chance to tell him any of that.

“Are you really?”

I shrug and force a smile as my eyes start to burn with tears.

“It’s all I can be right now.”

“Oh, Shay.” She pulls me in for another hug.

The tears are uncontrollable.

She nods toward my office, and I follow her in.

“I messed up so bad,” I say, but I’m sobbing now, and I’m not sure she can understand me. “I spent the last two years giving this place my all, and I was scared that it was all about to be taken from me.”

“I know.” She rubs my back. “I know. ”

“And now I’m losing it anyway, and I lost Luca, too.”

I drop my face into my hands and just let myself cry. I cried the night he left, but I’ve felt pretty numb since then.

It’s a weird feeling when you realize that even though you gave it your heart and soul and manifested it as hard as you could, the dream you spent your whole life imagining is just … gone.

I know how dramatic that sounds, but I saw it. My life. Here. Forever. And then this summer happened, and I saw that life with Luca.

Fear makes people do stupid things and now I’m paying for it.

“Have you tried to call him again?”

I shake my head.

“I figure that after he ignored ten of my calls the first two days, he knows to call me when he’s ready. If he’s ever going to be ready.”

With a big sigh, Ruby sits on the edge of the desk.

“He’ll come around; I know he will. I just wish I could tell you when. Soon, I hope.”

“I know, and I wish there was something I could do to make it happen right now.”

A smile touches Ruby’s lips.

“Maybe we need to do something big for him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Something huge where he has to notice you and talk to you.”

“I like where you’re going with this, but what if I do something that draws attention, and he ignores me?”

“He won’t. ”

I don’t think he would either, but right now, it’s a risk I'm willing to take.

Ruby and I brainstorm ideas, leaving me to decide what I should do. When she leaves, I start to clean up my desk.

That’s when I find a letter from my mom.

Shay,

I have no words to tell you how amazing The Marina looks.

You put your heart into bringing it back to a place people can love and make memories.

Business is good—we love that. We just don’t love the idea of you putting in all the work on your own and running the business alone.

The sale is happening tomorrow, and we need to do this as a family.

Please be at the reality office at 3:00 p.m. as we say goodbye.

Love, Mom and Dad

They’re joking, right?

How did they find a buyer already? I thought it wasn’t going on the market till next week.

This moved much faster than I wanted.

And now they want me there.

I’m not going.

I refuse to watch my dream handed over to someone who won’t cherish it the way that I do.

As for my other dream, a life with Luca?

That, I can do something about.