Those Red High Heels (25 page)

When Cade returned to the bar, I was a bit more composed, but still not in any state to stay at the reception. I walked past him, going to find my purse. “Emma, what in the world happened? You're crying.”

I waved him off, and needed to get the hell out of there. “Nothing. I need to leave. I’m going to find Brynn and tell her goodnight. The party is almost over anyway, so I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Cade grabbed my arm and spun me around, so I was facing him. “Tell me what in the hell is going on.”

I leaned forward, put my head against his shoulder, and started to cry again. “Nora told Greyson that I confronted her in the bathroom, and I told her that I wanted Greyson to be with me, so I was going to make up a lie and tell him the baby wasn’t his. That Nora was cheating on him. Greyson believed her, and made me feel like complete crap. He didn’t believe a word I had said. He thinks I really said those awful things to her, and now he thinks I’m a horrible person.”

Cade wrapped his arms around me, and pulled me against him for a hug. “That ridiculous. He has to know Nora is the one lying. The truth will come out, Emma. Don’t worry, he’ll come around. He’s probably going to need time. His life has been a fucked up situation since the day he was born. He’ll come around.”

“Thank you, Cade, but I really do need to get out of here. If you need anything tomorrow, call me and I’ll help you. I need to go home.”

Cade pushed me back so he could see my face. “I have a feeling you two will work things out, but go and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

I gave him a small smile and a quick kiss on the cheek. I could tell he was disappointed that we weren’t going to have our fun night together, but that was the last thing I wanted to happen right then.

When I finally found Brynn and told her goodnight, I was more than ready to be home, sulking in my bed. I tried to send Greyson a few texts that we really needed to talk, but when he didn’t reply, I gave it a rest and called it a night.

Chapter Twenty-One

It had been exactly two weeks since the night of Brynn and Collin’s wedding, and I had never had a harder time in my entire life. I almost wished I could go back in time and erase the moment Cade and I had heard Nora’s secret. Greyson never texted me back, and I had a feeling that if there was going to be any kind of future for us, it was flushed down the toilet.

Not only was I dealing with my situation with Greyson, but I also couldn’t reach Greg to ask him about Sadie. I was so close to jumping on a plane, and dognapping my baby so I could bring her to our new home. I wondered if Greg was ignoring me, because he could tell I was getting serious about it being time Sadie moved out with me.

I also may have scoured the Internet, checking to see if my red high heels were anywhere to be found. I came up empty handed, and decided to see if my original ones could maybe be fixed. When I went to get them out of my closet, they were missing. I tore my loft apart looking for them, and decided that I must have thrown them out the other night, when I may have had a few too many glasses of wine.

There was one positive thing that happened the past week, and that was the news that
Stolen Ivory
was ready to start filming. Cade called in a few times to check on me, and mentioned that he would be coming to New York more often to help with the film. Cade understood when I told him that I wasn’t in the right place to start anything with him, and we were heading down a path that hopefully would lead to a great friendship.

Brynn sent me the occasional email with pictures of her and Collin on their honeymoon looking happier than ever. I would have bet money that their time away would maybe be the making of a baby Donahue.

When I was about to head out to spend the afternoon in Central Park, a loud knock vibrated through my loft, and I looked over at the clock trying to remember if anyone had told me they would be stopping by. I peered out my peephole, and couldn’t see anyone standing out in the hall. It was a Saturday afternoon, so surely the creepers weren’t out quite yet. I opened the door and looked through the crack, and then I let out a loud scream when I noticed what was sitting in my hallway.

“Sadie Lou!” Before I could barely get the last sound in her name out, she came barreling into my loft and jumped up and down, spinning around, like she was so excited to see me she wasn’t quite sure what to do. I bent down and hugged, petted, and went crazy with her. “What are you doing here? Did you fly out here to see me? Where’s Greg?” I’d always refused to call Greg her daddy, even though he said it made him sad and he felt like an outcast. I’d told him maybe a ring would change that situation, and as you know that didn’t work out very well.

I walked to look down the hall to see what was going on, and that’s when I noticed a box lying in the middle of the hall with a perfect huge red bow, neatly tied around it. “Did you bring me a present, too?” I asked my dog and laughed when Sadie jumped around doing a perfect 180 spin.

I bent down to retrieve my gift, and took one more look down the empty hallway, wondering what the hell was going on. I figured Greg was hiding somewhere, waiting for me to open my gift. I wondered if he had changed his mind, and was ready to try to make us work. He would be disappointed when I told him I didn’t want a life with him anymore, but I was happy to see Sadie. He did good there.

“What do you think is in here? Maybe some dog treats, or is it something for me?” Sadie sniffed the box and gave it a good lick before I untied the bow and removed the lid. “No way,” I said quietly while holding my hand over my mouth. “How?” Sitting perfectly in the box in front of me were my gorgeous red high heels. They had been fixed, and looked like they were brand new. Even the little scuffs from the wear and tear of walking around the city were gone.

The sound of a man clearing his throat snapped me back to reality. Just when I was ready to turn and see Greg standing by my front door, I had to do a double take when I saw someone I never thought would be in my apartment again. “Greyson?” I asked and stood to head over to him. “You did this?” I pointed down to my red heels, and then over to Sadie who was now bouncing her way to say hello to him.

“I owe you a huge apology, Emma. I didn’t know what else to do to show you how very sorry I am. The way I spoke to you at the wedding is inexcusable, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to truly tell you how ignorant I feel about the whole situation.”

I stood there, wanting him to continue to grovel, because he hadn’t called or texted me in two weeks, putting me through hell. He needed to say a few more sweet things to me. I motioned for him to go on, which earned me a small smile.

“I was upset at the wedding. I couldn’t watch you with Cade, and Nora was acting extra agitated that night. When she came back so upset, I knew something had to have happened. She isn’t usually an emotional person, so I could tell she wasn’t faking it. I lost it, and I took it out on you. I’m so very sorry for that.”

“So, you flew out to Chicago to get my dog?”

“And to look for a pair of those red high heels. Which were impossible to find. That’s when I decided I needed help, so I enlisted Brynn to find a way to get them out of your apartment. I found the best shoe repair place in Manhattan. You can’t even tell they were broken.”

Thinking about Greyson searching through Chicago for a pair of red heels did seem amusing, and then thinking of him taking the time to find a way to get my heels out of my loft without me knowing, had me close to giving in and telling him he was off the hook. However, I needed a few more seconds of groveling. “I texted you so many times, and you never replied. I’ve been in hell.”

Greyson walked over and tentatively grabbed my hands. “I knew I was wrong to talk to you like I did at the wedding, and I wanted nothing more than to come over and tell you I found out the truth, that I knew you didn’t say those things to Nora, and that I wasn’t having a baby with her. I needed to get a few things taken care of before I came over here, to show you how sorry I was.”

“How did you find out? Who told you?”

“It was Cade. He found me the next morning and told me everything that happened. I blocked a few parts out he told me about that night, but I was so glad to hear the truth, what I knew all along. I should have known the timing didn’t match with her pregnancy. I’m sorry, Emma. I can’t go another day without you. Please forgive me, please move forward with me so we can finally be together?”

Sadie must have understood every word Greyson was saying, because her loud bark made us both laugh, and broke the silence I had created after his question. It was a no brainer. “I’ll forgive you on one condition.”

“Anything.”

“The first thing we do together is you can finally take me on our next date, the one you've been promising me for over three months.”

“The Empire State Building.”

I nodded and looked into those eyes I knew I would be waking up to for a very long time.

Greyson leaned down and kissed me like he couldn’t get enough, and showed me things that I truly thought I would never be able to experience again. He also kept his word, and took me to the Empire State Building that next weekend. We wanted to go the very day he came back to me, but we ended up staying in.

He told me about flying out to Chicago, and talking Greg into letting Sadie come back with him to New York. He took Greg out to lunch and told him all about our situation. Greyson said Greg was also in a new relationship and his new girlfriend was very allergic to dogs. It sounded like a win-win for everyone.

When I looked out the window late one night, I watched the twinkling lights of the city skyline and I thought how crazy life could be. Then I looked over at my sweet and rambunctious Sadie Lou sleeping on my couch. She must have sensed that I was looking her way because she slightly raised her head to look over at me, but then quickly laid it back down and fell back to sleep.

I had the man of my dreams lying beside me, snoring softly, with his arm draped over my chest. His father had taken the news of Nora better than we had expected and was slowly warming up to the fact that I was going to be a part of Greyson’s life, whether he liked it or not. Greyson and his family were starting to get along, and I could see signs that maybe things would improve. For now, Greyson was still planning to take over his father’s business, but he was planning to make a few changes that would make it more his own.

You never know what life is going to throw at you, but I truly believed that everything happened for a reason. Buying those red high heels was still one of the best purchases I had ever made, because they walked me straight to the man I knew was my forever.

Epilogue

Greyson Lyons

“Open your eyes, it’s about to start.” I pulled on Emma’s hands, and she slowly brought them down to her lap.

“I still can’t believe it’s finally here. I’m so excited!”

I let out a low laugh and watched my beautiful girlfriend cross her legs in the movie theatre chair, causing her dress to sneak up, while grabbing her water to take a quick drink before the previews started. Collin and Brynn were sitting on the other side of us, getting ready to watch yet another masterpiece they had created. Cade was sitting behind us, with what looked like his new flavor of the week. I may have wanted to punch him right in his fucking nose when he was kissing and dancing with Emma at Collin and Brynn’s wedding, but I also knew I had put Emma through hell when we couldn’t be together. I called it a draw.

We were at the world premiere of
Stolen Ivory
, sitting in a theatre in Los Angeles, getting ready to watch a film that had all of our hands involved. Collin and Cade had scored some big Hollywood names for the film. One of the main characters recently won an Emmy, so everyone was on the edge of their seats, ready to watch her next film. There had already been buzz that the film could be nominated for an Academy Award, and we all agreed it was well deserved.