“Best surprise ever.” Lexi clapped her hands together. “Tell me about the baby!”
“Anna had the baby?” Christina asked, taking a bite of her salad.
“Hunter was two weeks early, but already he’s my buddy. Went right to sleep when I held him, and he even smiled at me,” Vincent bragged as he proudly pulled a picture of the baby from his pocket that made Lexi and Christina melt.
“It was probably gas, Vincent.” Julian laughed as the girls continued to ohh and ahh over the baby.
“Details, details,” Lexi begged.
Vincent recapped his visit to San Francisco, passing on his family’s love to Lexi and letting her know they were getting impatient for her to visit.
They knew Lexi had been busy starting the company and building up a clientele, but they missed her terribly.
As she sat at the table, she smiled. The day she told Vincent she loved him had also been the day she quit. He had shown great compassion as she listed her reasons for leaving Hunter. He accepted that she was stretching her wings, trying to fly, and he loved her enough to let her. Elizabeth, however, was not about to accept her resignation, and Elizabeth was a woman who was used to getting what she wanted.
His mother had taken Lexi out to lunch to discuss what she could do to help Lexi achieve her goals. Lexi wanted a fresh start to see what she could do in the industry without relying on the Hunter name and without Vincent over her shoulder. She had a sizable sum of money from Harry’s life insurance that she had been saving. What she wanted was to open her own firm where she was her own boss, not under anyone’s control.
After the meeting, they came up with a plan. Elizabeth had always wanted to open an east coast branch of Hunter Advertising. Lexi agreed to allow her company, which would be called White Advertising, to be a subsidiary of Hunter, but independently owned and run by Lexi. In doing that, she could still work on her current accounts as well as solicit new ones. A month later, she was packing her things and heading across the country, terrified, but exhilarated to begin this adventure.
Leaving her in New York was the most difficult thing Vincent had ever done. There were tears shed and plane tickets already purchased so he could come back again the following weekend. The only thing that allowed him to get on the plane was the fact that she wasn’t alone. Erica had quit Reid Industries the night of Julian’s fashion show, and she had been the first person Lexi hired. The two of them had big plans for the modest office that was White Advertising and were excited to get started.
“When are we going back to San Francisco?” Lexi tugged on his arm, pleading. “I have to see this baby and squeeze those little cheeks!”
“Julian and I are leaving on Friday,” Christina bragged.
“I just want to hold him, kiss him, and smell him.” Lexi sighed.
Vincent crowded Lexi with his large body, trying to seem intimidating. “Should I be jealous?”
Not to be outdone by Vincent’s games, she crooked her finger and called him even closer. His eyes were captivated by her plump painted lips as she whispered “Don’t worry. I have a whole different list of things I want to do to you.”
Shocked at seeing Christina so over the moon with baby-induced joy, Julian panicked. “Oh great, you’ve unleashed the obsession. I can hear their ovaries screaming now.”
Christina gave him a swat. “You know the baby obsession isn’t all that bad. We should probably practice, a lot, before we actually try and do something big like that, don’t ya think?” The purr of her voice made Julian grin and start bobbing his head in agreement.
“Yeah, that’s true. Gotta practice for the big game. I like your thinking, wifey.”
“Well, I’m bummed. I probably won’t get to see baby Hunter for a month with my schedule,” Lexi complained With a low chuckle, Vincent reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of plane tickets, waving them in front of her face. “How about going out there this week?”
“Get out!” Her face glowed. “But you just flew all the way across country.” “I told you, I missed you.” He kissed her lips gently. “And I wanted to see you.” “But I have to work.”
“Work can wait. Family is more important.”
Lexi gazed at him in wonder. Sometimes she had to pinch herself to believe her life was real. The last eighteen months had been difficult, full of change and growth, but in many ways they’d been the best of her life. Vincent’s hand reached out, his fingers interlacing with hers under the table, their own private moment to share. His touch still made her stomach flip, his intense gaze made her cheeks flush without fail, and no man could set her body on fire with one wicked grin like Vincent could.
The tiny voice in the back of her head had questioned her cross country decision daily, but she knew it was the right thing. It was her chance to see what she could do. She couldn’t be Vincent’s assistant forever, she had to be something more, and in San Francisco, that was what people knew her as. She needed time and space to become more than that in everyone’s eyes.
Elizabeth and Vincent had been so supportive. Vincent answered every stupid question that popped into her brain no matter what time of day or night. Elizabeth made the transfer of her work seamless, and she made sure Lexi knew that if this didn’t work out, she was always welcome to come back to Hunter.
Work was exciting from day one, meeting people, getting to know the area. The client contacts she had made in San Francisco began to pan out quickly, and her business was up and running. When she decided to take night classes it was a big decision, but she was never happier. The one thing that broke her heart was not being with Vincent.
Their long distance relationship lasted two months, and then late one night there was knock on her door.
Lexi had been up late, working on the Garaday Restaurant project when she heard the pounding on her door. At first she thought it was coming from across the hall, but the second time, it was unmistakable. She set her laptop on the coffee table and tiptoed over to the peep hole on her door to see who it could possibly be at this hour. Who she saw standing out there took her breath away.
She hastily fumbled with the locks and threw open the door. “Vincent!” she gasped, reaching out and touching him to make sure he was real.
“What are you doing here?”
“I can’t do this anymore.” He seemed nervous as he came in and placed his suitcase on the floor before sitting down at the kitchen counter.