"Are you ready?" Susie grinned.

"I don't know, I guess. I've been waiting for so long for this, and I'm nervous, but it doesn't feel as important as I thought it'd feel." I admitted, clicking the pen multiple times. Susie's head turned to the elevator as it beeped.

"Here she comes." Susie smiled at me, her eyes shifting towards the elevators. I hadn't heard or seen Isabella, and it was almost lunch time. I wasn't trying to look desperate for this promotion, but I was excited. I glanced over as the doors opened. Much to my surprise, James walked out of the elevator scanning the entire floor, and catching some attention from employees.

"What the heck." I muttered, standing and watching as he made eye contact and began walking over to me.

"Where's Isabella?" James asked as he approached with a full blown smile.

"She's not in yet. What are you doing here?"

"You deserve a raise, Sam." He paused, "Samantha, sorry. Abby's still talking about the party."

"It's fine." I waved my hand in the air to dismiss the apology.

"Can someone call Isabella? I need to get back to work." James clocked his watch.

Susie pulled up her phone immediately, and James' phone rang. I sat back down as I watched James walk off, "Yeah, I'm at Living Dreams."

Susie hung up, "Her lines busy." My phone rang, and I stared at it. It was my business line, and the only person to reach me was usually Isabella.

I picked it up slowly, "Hello?"

"Samantha, Samantha, Samantha." Isabella's voice carried lightly.

"Hey, what's up?" I watched Susie, her eyes focused on my lips as I spoke.

"Head over to my office, I've got some news for you."

I glanced at her office, "You're not here though."

"I'll be down soon." My brows scrunched at her words. Down?

"Okay. Also, James is-" The line cut off.

"What'd she say?" Susie asked, as James came back hold a hand over his phone's mic.

"She said she'll be down soon and to meet her in her office." I replied, standing, and moving around my desk.

"She's coming down? She was upstairs?" Susie raised a brow.

"This is the top floor in the elevator." James pointed out.

Susie and I shared a look. We were the top floor, the big offices were on this level, but there was one above us. You needed a key card, and a code to get to the actual top floor. That's where the executive meetings were held, among the chief officers and stockholders.

This was big news.

I left Susie to explain to James what a meeting on the top floor meant, and headed for Isabella's office. I lingered around Isabella's office, glancing at the one photo she had on her desk. It was a cute photo of two daughters, and a couple. I looked harder at the photo noticing the woman was Isabella. I didn't know she had children- or a husband. She was so focused on nurturing her business all the time I didn't think she had time for a relationship, or raising kids.

My attention snapped towards the door as she entered. "I'm just going to cut to the chase, Sam." She paused, appearing to wait for a response.

"I'm not going to correct you."

"Wow, I'm impressed." She laughed briefly, "If you want the position as CIO, you got it."

"Really?"

"Really. The board thinks you deserve it- actually, we know you deserve it. You're a promising employee, especially after taking this last gig and crushing it despite having no romantic experience. We all agreed I can't handle two titles by myself, too." She laughed again.

"What do I do?"

"I'll go over your expectations at a later time. Did you know James came in to rave about the party?"

"He came up before you called." I nodded.

She pursed her lips, her brows knitting thoughtfully, "I'm guessing you don't know about your guest then?"

"What guest?"

"Go see." Isabella smiled, and tilted her head towards the door for me to go. I opened Isabella's office door slowly, ready to crush the dwindling spark of hope.

"We really need to up security." Susie mumbled, I followed her gaze to Will standing by my desk.

My heart soared as I slowly walked over to him, "What are you doing here?"

"Hey." He gave me a lopsided smile.

"What are you doing here?" I repeated.

"Well, you weren't answering my calls."

"Sorry." I wrung my hands, feeling like a kid ready to be scolded.

"Or my texts." He added, before searching my face, "I know you saw Madison, Sam. That's the only reason you'd back away so fast, especially after we kissed." He straightened up, moving closer, "But I don't want anything to do with her."

I glanced around, aware of the unwanted attention we were gathering. I grabbed Will's arm, and led him into an empty office. Sure, the blind were open and people could still see us, but they wouldn't be listening to our private conversation.

Will leaned against the desk expectantly, having said his part. I sighed, "I overheard you and Madison talking."

"Okay." Will nodded, waiting for me to continue.

"I heard you say that you'd meet up Sunday morning to talk about 'us', but you were talking about you two."

"Yeah, what we used to be. I'm not going back to her." He paused, sighing and recomposing himself before his eyes met mine from the floor, "I was lying when I said you had no influence on me breaking up with her." I gulped hard, ready for whatever he was going to say next, "After hanging around with James and Abby, I realized that it wasn't anything close to what I had with Madison, and I'm not sure it was ever going to be. She was a good friend, but an orange can't be an apple."

"What does that have to do with me? That was James and Abby."

"I didn't think I would still have feeling for you years after I left. I spend one weekend here, with you and Madison, James and Abby, and I don't it could've gotten any clearer. I felt more when you were leaning on me during your allergic reaction than I'd felt during my entire relationship with Maddie."

"Still? You liked me back then?" I hated that I felt so hopeful again, but he was finally letting me in again and giving me answers.

"Is that all you got from that?" Will laughed, bringing a smile to my face, "Of course I liked you, I was just too scared to do anything. I told you- you deserve better because I didn't think I'd be enough. I didn't want to go through what my dad went through." My eyes watered, thinking of the nights we'd spent talking about his mom's affairs.

"That wasn't your dad's fault." I moved a step closer, hesitating on grabbing his hand.

"Maybe, maybe not, but I didn't want to risking our friendship. You're my best friend, Sam. I already missed an opportunity to be more, in your life, and I won't let that happen again."

My chest was visibly rising and lowering as my mind reeled on his words. After all this time, I couldn't believe he liked me and he still does. "So, what are you saying?" I needed to hear him say he wants something more. I needed those words so I knew I wasn't assuming.

"I'll start from scratch if I have to, but I'm not letting you go. I want to be more with you- for you to be my girlfriend, but if you don't want that, I at least want my best friend back, Sammy."

"I want us back too." I nodded. He ran his hands down my arms and to my hands. I hadn't realized what I was missing- not until he came back and I let Susie in on everything yesterday,

"Do you want to go back with me to Houston?" His voice drifted off, his eyes searching my face.

My lips opened and closed, and I shook my head not understanding, "I have a job here-"

"No," He began laughing, "it's just for the weekend. I need to pack my things because I'm moving back."

"To Dallas?"

"I can't stay away from you, Sammy. I knew it would've sounded dumb and I might've scared you away if I said it before- but I love you." Will held my hand in his, rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

"I love you, Will." Even if it was as my best friend from years ago, I wasn't lying. Surprising both of us, I threw my arms around his neck, pulling him into my arms. A hot blush rushed to my cheeks as I heard people clapping and cheering on the other side of the glass walls.

"The biggest mistake I ever made was leaving you that night. I'm sorry."

I squeezed harder, "I forgive you." I was just happy to understand why he'd left me. I couldn't say I agreed, but I knew how hard his parent's divorce hit him, and I knew he was scared. "If I ask you again, just try to let me down easier." I teased as he set me down.

"If you ask me again, I won't let you down at all." He smirked, bringing a blush to my cheeks. I bit my lip at the rudimentary feelings he gave me, and the fact that I wasn't cringing at our sentimental talk.

*

"So, when's your next engagement booking?" Abby teased as she passed the bowl of mashed potatoes.

"Oh god, I don't know if I can handle another one." I chuckled, shaking my head.

"Are you kidding me? I'm going to be telling my grandkids about my engagement party!" Abby smiled, her eyes shifting over to James.

"That's 'cause it was your engagement party." Will mumbled and we chuckled. The whole experience was insane, and to think I'd pulled off a decent party after replanning it a few days before.

"Did you tell her about the time frame?" I glanced at James, who had already begun eating.

He nodded with a smile, as Abby picked up on the conversation, "Two days to plan and get everything together? That's incredible. How'd you do it?"

"I had to pull a lot of favors." I replied quietly, a feeling of nausea rolled over me as I thought of how I'd gotten those contacts in the first place. "Honestly speaking, did you like it, though? Or do you think you would've liked a more formal venue and feel?"

"No! This was perfect for me. I loved having everyone close, and at my parent's house. The whole party was perfect." She paused, "Except the part where I walk in on you two and I thought you both were cheating." Will and I shared an embarrassed smile, and I looked back at Abby, hoping he didn't catch my glance at his lips.

"Are you going to continue working engagements?" Abby looked up from her steak like the information was important to her.

I shrugged, "Shouldn't we be talking about you two? You just got engaged."

"I didn't invite you over to talk about myself. I want to know what's going on here." Abby moved her fork in the air to signal to Will and I.

"We both want to be more, but we're just focusing on catching up right now."

"Catching up on lost time?" Abby rose a brow before wiggling them. I shook my head, laughing.

"I have a better question," James paused, looking up from his plate, "When can you start planning our wedding?"