My whole body stilled.
“He said that the first person should make a huge offer," Isaac reminded me, "then the second person counters with a reasonable alternative. And if they don’t, the first person has to walk away.”
Holy heck. I’d been propositioned by a world class negotiator. He’d anchored high and I’d balked, offering no concessions. I’d said no, full stop.
I dropped my head into shaking hands as I realized how I might have reacted if I hadn’t gone into fight-or-flight. How differently things could have ended. Or not ended.
My breathing hitched. Elijah steadied my arm. Isaac brought me water.
“But, how can I, what could I even, how could we —?”
“A man like that,” Rachel said, then corrected, “A love like that … it doesn’t come along every day. You’ve got to grab it when you find it.”
“Call him, sis,” Isaac said. “It’s not too late.”
“Go to California before the paperwork clears for Ruby,” Rachel suggested.
“I can be right with you, if you want backup when you call," Elijah said.
I looked around, panic wracking me. “But what would I say?”
Isaac smiled. “Tell him you’re ready to negotiate.”
Alex
“I broke her brother’s nose,” I confessed sheepishly.
My soft-spoken brother’s laugh was nearly a howl. “Quite the impression on your future in-laws.”
That sobered me more than the vomiting. “It’s over. She told me to leave.”
“No, you idiot,” Nick said. “She told you she wouldn’t go with you.”
“Same difference. They finally offered me partner, I can’t just leave.”
“And why do you want to be a partner so badly?”
“Fuck, I don’t know,” I growled. After nearly a decade of working nonstop, he asked me this now?
"Why do you want it, Alex?” he repeated firmly, pressing on a bruise.
“To prove I could get it,” I snapped.
“So the pursuit was more about the title than desire to lead.”
I groaned in annoyance. “Why do you have to be so goddamn insightful?”
“Guess playing the God of Truth is rubbing off,” he said, the cocky bastard. “Making partner is a Pyrrhic victory. The sacrifice is worth more than the win.”
“So what do I do now, genius?” I sneered.
He ignored my attitude. “Redefine your victory conditions. Right now, what would winning be?”
“Grace,” I answered emphatically, clearly, without reservations.
“Then go get your girl,” he said. “She’ll be worth the discomfort of the call you know you need to make next.”
Oh shit.
After hanging up with Nick, I stared at the bathroom wall for almost an hour.
Did I really need to call her? Couldn’t I do this without her?
Maybe I could ask without saying it aloud. I’d send a fruit basket, or a trophy with a tongue sticking out and an engraved plaque: ‘Yep, you told me so.’
But those took time. And I didn't want to waste another day without having Grace in my life. Recounting the story to Nick reminded me of all the ways I'd messed up, all the reasons I'd have to grovel … and planted a kernel of hope that since she was the most generous woman on the planet, she'd find a way to forgive me and give me another chance.
But I had to figure out how to make it up to Grace before I called her.
Which meant I had to make this uncomfortable call, now.
My fingers shook as I pressed the green button.
"Lex?" her normally peppy voice answered cautiously.
Knowing she would gloat about this for the rest of our lives, I blurted out: “You were right and I was wrong.”
“What else is new?” my sister said dryly. “You've finally come to your senses?”
