Chapter 1- Long Story Short, It Was The Wrong Guy

Willow

Five Years Later

What exactly is romance? Is it like a movie moment where he runs to the airport after realising she was the one he loved after all? Or is it her finding his letters that her mother had hidden after all this time? It could be either of those, but for me, it’s a cupcake presented to you on your birthday morning, a simple ‘good morning, beautiful’ text or the ever-popular ‘let me know when you get home’ sentence.

Not that any of the above had ever happened to me, even when I was with Alex. I just happen to liken these moments to romance or love.

“Willow,” came the voice of my boss, snapping me out of my thoughts. “I need to cancel my 2 pm appointment. Could you reschedule it for when I get back on Monday?” He asks me, and I smile as I look up into his deep brown eyes.

“Already done, sir. Samantha called yesterday.” I say with a wink and watch as he returns my smile, which lights up his tired face.

Michael was just entering his 50’s, but he was still the most handsome man at this law firm. Married for about 15 years, but most of the women here didn’t care; they still openly flirted with him even when they noticed his wedding ring. The thing I love about my boss is that he’s an absolute darling and utterly faithful to his wife.

“You are a gem, Willow. Thank you.” He says, then hugs me.

Samantha was his wife, and she called me yesterday to ask if he had anything planned for the afternoon since it was their anniversary weekend. When I said no, she asked me to clear his schedule and book a weekend away for both of them.

This was what I was good at - negotiating with companies even if their booking lists were full. I managed to wrangle them a weekend away to Paris with dinners, accommodation and picnics planned.

“You're welcome, sir, Enjoy your weekend and happy anniversary!” I gush and see the tell-tale signs of a blush entering his face. He thanked me again, and I handed over his itinerary for the planned weekend.

“You’re a lifesaver!” He exclaimed before he left the office again and headed to his first appointment for the day.

I was currently a PA for Thomas, Grayson and Sawyer, a law firm that deals primarily in business cases and one of the top 5 firms in Denver. Although all three business partners have separate PA’s who handle their meetings, I have been seen as the head PA since I started when the company opened, back when it was only known as Thomas Firms. While this may be my day job, but my true love is novel writing.

I have three published Sci-Fi books so far, with another one in the works, but lately, my editor has been pushing me to write a romance novella. Ugh, I hate the thought of writing a stupid unrealistic romance book again, especially after what happened between Alex and me. It's the whole reason I changed genres.

But, I'll see this as a challenge, and I'm sure I can do it again. People write romance novels all the time, right? Well, as soon as I went into my personal emails that afternoon, I cringed.

Rejected again?!

For weeks I have been waiting for feedback from my editor regarding this, only to be sent another rejection letter.

What the hell does he mean that my characters are not believable and the love story seemed forced? I scoured e-book websites and apps for the most popular trends in novels and wrote one based on a CEO/Billionaire trope. This one should have knocked his socks off, but he seemed less impressed with this manuscript than my previous one.

Am I missing something?

I sigh, but my chest burns with a wave of light anger when I get to the bottom of the email, “Have you ever been in love? Sweety, this is nothing like it.” I read and frown at the line.

Of course, I have been in love! But to be completely honest, I haven't been in a proper relationship since Alex. This was when I was fresh out of college five years ago. Since I was young, I figured that relationships could wait because I had my career to think of. Sometimes I get jealous when I hear that my friends have gone on dates or tell me stories of their newest conquest.

I think back and stop, Alexander. The only person I can honestly say that I had been in love with just when I started working here. I was new and wanted to impress my boss, so I hardly paid attention to my own relationship until I had gone home early and caught Alexander with another woman leaving our apartment one day.

When I ran up to confront him, he said that I had no longer time for the relationship, so he had to do this. And that was that. I sold the home he bought for us and haven’t seen him since.

At 28, I was lonely, with no one to go home to but Bootsie, my main coon cat. I suppose the road to building your career would be a lonely one.

Can I honestly say that I did not want to be in another relationship because I had my career in mind, or was it because I didn’t want to get hurt like that again?