Page 12 of Once Upon a Beast

The tension that had been a weight on my shoulders since my father called me lifted. I still wasn’t sure if this was a good idea. I wasn’t convinced that this would work, but as I looked at Nic, I wanted to see if it could. I wanted to do it for him. It came down to the simple fact that I missed my friend, I missed what we had and I wanted it back. If doing what he was asking gave me that chance, then I would do it.

“I missed you, Lay, more than you’ll ever know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I honestly thought I was doing the right thing. I hope you can forgive me. I also hope that we can move past this. And I really hope that you’re willing to help me out of this jam because I do think you’re the only one who can.”

Chapter 7

Nicodemus

I wanted to think that I knew Layla; I wanted to believe I knew how she was going to respond to my question. But as I stood in front of her and waited for her to answer, I wasn’t totally sure. We had cleared the air, somewhat. I thought she understood why I had stayed away. It seemed so obvious to me. But I hadn’t ever thought about how it would have felt or looked from her side. I had been too wrapped up in my own pain to think about hers.

It was wrong and I was going to try and make up for it. Hopefully, she would let me. It was selfish, but I missed her; I hadn’t realized how much until we were alone together. There was a calm about her that just made me feel better. Even when she was yelling at me, I was just happy to be in her presence. She had always done that for me, even when we were younger. I was glad to see that it hadn’t changed.

Spending time with her, talking to her, looking at her, only made me want to have this work. Not just because it would help my business and the project but it would have her in my life. I had kept her away for so long, now that she was back, I didn’t want to let her go.

“How would this work? What would we do? Are we going to make an announcement that we are engaged? Do you even have a ring?” Layla asked.

She was still mad at me, there were still things that we would need to discuss in regards to our friendship but she was willing to move past them for the time being. She was ready to talk about helping me and I was glad to know she was at least considering it.

“It can be however you want it to be. Well, you would need to pretend to be engaged to me. Your father thinks it would be good if we were seen out, going to dinner, plays, museums, hanging out with friends,” I said.

“You have friends?” Layla teased. At least I wanted to think she was teasing me. She wasn’t wrong. I had turned myself into a bit of a recluse.

“Well, you do. It might be good to be seen with them. Even go on a double date with Ella and Dax.”

“You honestly think that Ella or even Ara would spend any time with you? They might but only if it involved them dismembering your body.”

“They hate me that much?” I asked. I had expected Ara and Ella to stand by Layla but I hadn’t expected it to turn into hate.

“I wouldn’t say hate but they aren’t your biggest fans. They were there for me when you ghosted me. Their loyalty is to me and I’m not sure how much I want to lie to them about us being together.”

“Then don’t lie to them. Tell them the truth,” I stated.

Layla tilted her head and glared at me as if I had said I wanted to move to Bali and start a yoga studio.

“I wouldn’t expect you to lie to your friends. Mainly, because you’re horrible at it and they wouldn’t believe you. Second, I wouldn’t want you to. Ella and Ara mean the world to you and I wouldn’t want to put you in a situation where you had to deceive them.”

“You would trust them with this secret?” Layla asked.

“I’m trusting you with this secret. Or I guess we’re trusting each other. If you trust them, then I, by proxy, trust them too.”

“That will mean a lot to them and will go a long way to restoring their faith in you.”

“It isn’t their faith in me I want to restore.”

Layla didn’t answer me but gave me a slight nod. I held her gaze and it was a few moments before she looked away. “So when would we do this? Does Steve or Dad have a statement ready for us to send out? What story are we going to tell people?”

“James is ready to make the announcement. Something along the lines that he is pleased to announce the engagement of his daughter to his long-time business partner and friend. Yada yada yada.”

“You don’t think that will be enough to stop the story?”

“Do you want some wine? Do you drink wine? I might have a beer or some Scotch sitting around. Can I get you something to drink?”

Layla contemplated the question for a second before answering, “I would love a rosé.”

“Let me see what I have.” I walked into my kitchen and my wine fridge. We had been standing as we were talking. There was still a lot that Layla and I needed to discuss and I wanted us to be more relaxed and at ease with each other so we could figure out the next steps.

“This should work,” I pulled out a rosé from a small winery in Long Island. I hoped that Layla would see the sentiment in me choosing such a wine. “Have a seat on the couch. I’ll bring it over. Are you hungry?” I kept the comment easy but I was nervous about what she was going to say.

“The wine is fine,” Layla answered.