The Exit Strategy by Lainey Cameron

Author:Lainey Cameron [Cameron, Lainey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: women's fiction;novel;contemporary
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2020-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

The tingly dry taste of stale red wine lingered on Ryn’s tongue when she woke on Sunday. She smiled, remembering last night at Carly’s place. They say you can judge a person by the friends they choose, and during the drive back Dev had been charming, and made her laugh most of the way. In an alternate moment, she might be drawn to those long lashes and that wry British sense of humor.

She threw her head back on the pillow. God, it had been good to open up to Carly in a way Ryn would not normally risk doing with colleagues. She laughed more last night than in months.

The one part she’d change was Carly’s disappointed expression when Ryn turned down her offer of Dev’s apartment. Why had she instantly rejected the offer? She’d dismissed the idea of them being neighbors without even considering it. Which made limited sense given today she faced the unenviable task of sneaking back into her own house—hopefully avoiding Todd—in order to feed Fergus.

She dressed, left the room, and took the elevator to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. When she declined a third cup of coffee, it hit her how insensitive her answer to Carly must have sounded, talking about impartiality. She’d never questioned the wisdom of her first boss’s advice to draw a hard line between her professional and private lives. But she and Carly were well past those type of boundaries even being relevant.

When Carly admitted her terror of public speaking, Ryn had truly wanted to help. She deserved to conquer her fear. Pops might have said Ryn was stronger than average, but Carly must be the most resilient person she’d met. She’d left an abusive ex, created a family by herself, and founded a company destined to save thousands, if not millions of lives. And she just spent her Saturday night preparing for a work event, with her sick son in the next room.

If anything, Carly’s achievements showed that keeping personal and professional unconnected was a pipe dream, because she’d become valuable, in a way Ryn didn’t know if she could ever be.

As she headed back to her room to grab her car keys, she considered whether the belief she’d inherited from Pops—you’re stronger than the rest of us—had influenced her in ways that were not so positive. What he meant during her teen years was don’t rely on him to be there to love her. Find your own happiness, because depending on others makes you weak. But she never agreed with his perspective.

The hundreds of women she helped with advice to find funding or succeed with their companies weren’t weak. Just as Carly wasn’t weak because she’d asked for help. Quite the opposite; she demonstrated true bravery signing up for something that terrified her.

But apparently, a part of Ryn still believed in offering, but not accepting help. She couldn’t think of another explanation for not giving Carly’s proposal even a second’s consideration. When she stepped back to think on it, living next door to someone who gave a damn about her sounded pretty good.

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