The Undercover Billionaire's Baby by Holly Rayner

Author:Holly Rayner [Rayner, Holly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-08-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

LANA

Iwent into my interview nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I came out absolutely floating on air. Brad had come with me to Boston and was now waiting for me at a nearby café, and when he saw me coming he broke into a grin.

“I see it went well!”

“I think so. I don’t know. I’ve never done this before, so I can’t say for sure.” I sat down across from him, shivering from my adrenaline comedown. “If they’re nodding a lot, that’s good, right? And not just nodding, but adding things on? Like, I said I might put a café in the back, and one of them said her favorite bookshop has that. And this guy who hadn’t said much chimed in as well. Said it sounded cozy. Coffee and a book.” I was rattling on like a toddler, on a tide of excitement. Brad slid a tall cup across to me.

“Mint tea,” he said. “And, yeah, that’s a great sign. Sounds like you really had them engaged.”

I took a long sip of my tea and tried to calm down. But my heart was still racing from the high of success. “Shona — the director — she said she loved my ideas. She said I might hear back as soon as today. Oh, God, if I get this…” I clasped my hands together. “I don’t think I can take it, waiting to hear.”

“Then, let’s do something to distract you.” Brad took my hand. “Let’s go somewhere and celebrate. Have you seen the⁠—”

My phone chirped, then rang. I gasped. Inhaled tea. Spluttering furiously, I grabbed for my phone.

“Wait, they’ll call back! Are you okay?” Brad was hovering over me, offering napkins. I waved him off with one hand, covered my mouth with the other. Wished for a third hand to pick up my phone.

“I’ve got to— Ugh! Can you see who that is?”

Brad checked my phone. “Your contractor, I think.”

I calmed down a smidge: so, not the grant yet. Which, of course it wasn’t. I’d been out five minutes. I cleared my throat, caught my breath, and picked up the phone. And sat and listened as my happy dream crumbled.

“We need access to the upstairs suite,” Gareth was saying. “That’s where the leak is, and it’s pretty bad.”

I couldn’t breathe. “How bad? Is it— Are my things⁠—”

“We can’t estimate the damage till we can inspect it. Do you have a hide-a-key? Or can we drill out the lock?”

“Under the flowerpot,” I said, feeling numb. “Not the one with the plant in it, but— oh, you got it.”

Gareth hung up, and I sat staring, slack-jawed. Brad was saying something, but I couldn’t tell what. My pulse was thundering hard in my ears.

“I have to get back,” I said, when I could breathe. “We stored all those books up there. Our photos. Mom’s things.”

“They could be fine,” said Brad. “I had a leak once, at my place in college. The rooms underneath mine got totally drenched, but my place was fine.

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