The Billionaire's Marriage Contract(69)

When work slowed even further, Amy started taking mornings to herself at home, only going into the office when she was needed. She knew there was a dark cloud hanging over her, and she didn’t want her mood to affect her employees. She was beginning to feel like her company was better off without her there. Everyone tried to avoid her as much as possible. After a particularly harsh scolding from Amy, Laura took a case on the west coast just to get out of the office for a few weeks.

Even Rich got on Amy’s nerves whenever she spoke with him. In all of Amy’s years working with him, she had never lost her temper. Since breaking up with Ethan, she had already shouted at him twice. The first time, she had wrongly thought that he had misplaced a file. The second time, he had simply asked her if she needed any help. “Do I look like I need help? Did leaving for a few days suddenly make me incompetent?” Amy had snapped back. She immediately apologized, but realized that she had to do something to snap out of her foul mood.

The next morning, she started working from home. It was like everything she had known had somehow reversed itself when Ethan had proposed to her, and, now that he was gone, she couldn’t figure out how to put it back into place. As time passed, she realized how desperate she was for someone to call with a crisis. She convinced herself that some good, hard work would turn her luck and her mood around.

When Amy’s phone finally did ring, she was ready to jump on a plane anywhere, as long as it got her out of town for a week or two. It was one of those mornings when Amy hadn’t even bothered to change out of her pajamas before walking down the hall to her home office. She was shocked when the phone rang at exactly nine thirty, and she was even more surprised by the voice on the other end of the line. “Amy, I hope this call finds you well. I know I’m probably not the first person you want to talk to on a morning like this, but I need your help again.”

“Hank.” Amy straightened up in her seat. “What trouble has Logan gotten himself into now?”

“It’s not Logan this time. I have a situation, and I need you to take care of it. It’s urgent, and it is sensitive. How soon can you be in Newport?”

Amy looked down at the mostly blank calendar on her desk. “Hmm,” she said, “if I shuffle a few things around, I could be there as early as this afternoon.”

“I sent a jet for you about an hour ago. It will be waiting at an airfield outside town. I’ll have someone get you the information if you agree to take this on.”

“I need more information than that up front.”

“A friend of mine is in a tough spot. I have a vested interest in helping him get through this situation. I know this will be slightly awkward for you given what happened the last time you were in Jackson Hole. And this might just be the old sentimentalist in me speaking, but I want to give you a chance to make things right. My wife and I never had a daughter, Amy, but if we had had one like you, I’d be a very proud father. If you do this one for me, I’ll consider us even. Either way, I hope to remain your friend. When you and Ethan visited us, I felt like you became part of our family.”

“Thank you, Hank. That really means so much to me. It’s been a rough month, but I feel like I’m finally turning the corner. I’ll head over as soon as I hang up.” Amy’s pulse jumped as she said goodbye to Hank. This was it, she thought. This was her chance to get back to normal. She’d be in her element, handling a situation, taking control. It would be good for her. She made a quick call for a cab. Sure, it wasn’t having Ethan’s personal driver bring her, but that was for the best. She could use a little dose of reality.

“Vi,” Amy called out down the hall when she arrived, “something has come up, and I have to head out of town on business.”

“I hope it’s someplace nice,” Vi yelled back. “Maybe you’ll meet a man.”

Amy laughed. “I think I’m done with men for a while.”#p#分页标题#e#

“Well, then,” Vi said, “I hope you meet a woman.”

“Call me if you need anything.” Amy walked back to her bedroom and grabbed her overnight bag. She needed to dress to make a good first impression. It was time for her to take control of her life again. It was time to leave Ethan in the past.





Chapter 25

The flight from DC to Newport was short, barely an hour long, but it was more than enough time for Amy to realize that no amount of travel would take her mind off Ethan. Instead of giving her a distraction, the calm and comfortable flight gave her too much opportunity to dwell on what could have been.