Chapter 7 - The Pride of Cedar Ridge
The news of the scandal didn't hit the papers.
Grant was too smart for that.
He moved quickly to cover his tracks.
The lien was removed.
The Coleman note was cancelled.
And Vanessa moved back into my parents’ house.
I didn't answer her calls.
I didn't answer my parents’ calls either.
I focused on Cedar Ridge.
We were growing.
People had heard about the engagement party.
Not the details,
but the fact that Kimberly Allen had stood her ground.
In a town like Lexington,
that kind of strength is respected.
We signed three new major contracts with the city’s hospitals.
I was no longer "Kimberly’s little service."
I was a leader in the industry.
I spent my days visiting clients.
I spent my evenings in the office,
planning the expansion into Louisville.
One Tuesday afternoon,
Sarah walked into my office.
“There’s someone here to see you, Kim.”
“He’s been waiting for an hour.”
I knew it was Nathan.
I had seen his truck in the parking lot.
“Send him in,”
I said.
Nathan walked in,
wearing his work jacket.
He looked different.
The fear was gone.
He looked like the man I had met at the residential property during the cold snap.
“I wanted to say thank you,”
he said.
“For the note.”
“My dad... he’s back in the shop.”
“He doesn't know how it happened.”
“He thinks the bank made a mistake.”
I nodded.
“It’s better that way.”
Nathan sat down in the chair across from my desk.
“I sold my share of the company, Kim.”
“I’m going back to school.”
“Engineering.”
“I want to build things that don't need fixing every winter.”
“That’s good, Nathan.”
He looked at me for a long time.
“I really did fall in love with you,”
he said.
“Even when the debt was hanging over me.”
“Every time I looked at you,
I felt like a thief.”
“I wanted to tell you a thousand times.”
“But I was afraid of losing the only thing that felt real in my life.”
I felt a small ache in my chest.
I believed him.
But it didn't change the facts.
“I know, Nathan.”
“But we can't go back.”
“The trust is broken.”
“And I’m still learning how to trust myself.”
Nathan stood up.
“I understand.”
“I just wanted you to know.”
He walked to the door.
“Kim?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t ever let anyone buy you white lilies again.”
I smiled.
“I won't.”
He left,
and I sat in the silence of my office.
May you like
The pride of Cedar Ridge wasn't the revenue or the contracts.
It was the fact that I was the one sitting in the chair.
