Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“Yes. I know.” Her cheeks felt hot.
Finally, Fernsby patted her hand. “You were young.”
She hadn’t felt young after the break with Ransom. She’d felt as old and haggard as the ages.
“The young often see things in black and white. No gradations. But perhaps our young man—” Again, Fernsby stressed that word. “—should have known better.”
Gabby jumped in. “Yeah. He should’ve known better. I remember how you were back then. Totally devastated.”
Fernsby added, “And you buried yourself in your studies. You graduated with honors, I know. Then you grew your business into what it is today.”
Her deep breath actually hurt. “I’m starting to wonder if I worked so hard all those years just to prove something to Ransom.” As well as her parents.
Gabby shook her head, her hair flying before drifting back down over her shoulders. “Maybe that was part of what drove you, but from where I was sitting, it looked to me like this was always something you wanted to build. You didn’t do it for him. You did it because you had a dream. You hated that dreary place, and you wanted to make the lives of older adults better.”
Ava looked at her sister with new eyes. Gabby had been so young then, but perhaps she’d also been the wiser one.
“Maybe I’m still trying to show him.” She thought for a moment. “For this catering issue, I took him down to the San Juan Bautista home. He asked to see the facilities his people would be working in, but… okay, I wanted him to see what I’d built.” She put her hand over her mouth, emotions roiling inside her. “I drove him down there in the Pantera because I wanted him to see how well I handled the car. The car he’d always dreamed of owning. I see now that I was trying to show him how far I’d come.”
“Oh my dear,” Fernsby said with more feeling than she was aware he had. “You don’t need to show anyone what you’ve done. The miracles you’ve brought about are self-evident.”
Her eyes misted. The man had never been free with his praise. And what he said made her feel almost as good as Ransom’s admiration had.
“I wanted to show him. But over the last few days, as we’ve worked on menus and logistics, he’s revealed a lot about himself too.” She pressed the corner of her eye before a tear could trickle out. “He feels that what I’ve created is brilliant. He made it very clear he was impressed with how I’ve made my dreams a reality.”
She had to take a sip of her champagne before her throat closed up.
“But it’s not just what he thinks I’ve accomplished. It’s what he gave my residents. He actually painted Myrtle’s nails while I painted Edith’s. He knew how to paint a woman’s nails. I didn’t even know he used to do it for his grandmother. And he does it for his niece too.” The words seemed to rush out of her then. “You should’ve heard how he talked about his brother. He really loves the guy. And he loves his brother’s family. In fact, he adores them. Then there was the way he jumped into the wedding, producing that meal at a moment’s notice.” She raised her eyebrows. “He didn’t scrimp on one thing. He gave Rosie and Gideon that fabulous champagne for a wedding present. He made something spectacular out of nothing, and he did it for Gideon and Rosie.”
Fernsby added, “And perhaps just a little for you too.”
“He might have,” she acknowledged. “He pulled an all-nighter to get the catering plans for the residences back to me the very next day because I told him I had only two weeks to put everything in place.”
Her mind raced with all the generous, warmhearted things Ransom had done this week—the times he’d just been himself, not a billionaire celebrity chef.
“On the way back from San Juan Bautista, we were caught in a terrible traffic snarl and had to spend the night down there.” At the look in Gabby’s eyes, she added quickly, “In separate rooms. But we didn’t have any clean clothes for the next day, so he took me over to Supermart.” She smiled at the memory, at the feelings that swamped her now, feelings that had swamped her that day and, if she was honest, had swamped her since the moment she’d walked into his office to ask for his help. “I’ve never had so much fun. I bought a pair of glittery platform tennis shoes.” She looked at Gabby. “You would love them.”
Suddenly, she heard herself gushing about a man. About Ransom.
“The next morning, we went for pancakes. I’ve haven’t had pancakes like that in years.” She almost said she hadn’t eaten them since she was with Ransom. “We shared them. A ten-stack of chocolate-chip pancakes, and we finished them all.”