Too squishy. " "Sophie, inside voice," Ethan reminded her. This is my inside voice. My outside voice is much louder. Viven gave her farewell speech at 9:00 p.m. Thanking everyone for their support and introducing her replacement, a brilliant woman from their Singapore office who'd been Vivien's first choice.
Then she found Ethan and Sophie near the dessert table. "Can we leave? " she asked. "I've smiled at enough people for a lifetime. " "Please," Ethan agreed. "Sophie's been eating cake for 20 minutes. We need to leave before she discovers what a sugar high is.
They escaped through a side door. Sophie carrying a plate of cookies she'd somehow convinced a waiter to give her and drove back to Viven's apartment. On the way, Vivien's phone buzzed constantly with congratulations messages and interview requests that she ignored. "You're really done," Ethan said. "I'm really done. " She sounded lighter than he'd ever heard her.
As of midnight tonight, I'm officially unemployed. How does it feel? Terrifying and amazing. Ask me tomorrow if I regret it. But tomorrow came and the day after and the weeks that followed.
And Vivian never regretted it. She spent a month doing absolutely nothing except sleeping late and taking Sophie to school and learning to cook things that didn't come from takeout containers. Then she started volunteering at a local nonprofit that helped small businesses get financing. Using her corporate knowledge for something that felt meaningful, she and Ethan settled into a rhythm that worked for them. Some nights at his apartment, some at hers.
Sunday morning pancakes with Sophie. Friday date nights that sometimes involved fancy restaurants, but more often involved Thai food and bad movies. Normal, messy, imperfect life that neither of them had experienced before. 8 months after that rainy night, when Ethan had stopped to help a stranger, he woke up in Viven's bed. Their bed now, really, since he spent more nights here than at his own apartment, and found her already awake watching him.
This is creepy, he said. How long have you been staring at me? 5 minutes. You snore. I do not.
You absolutely do. It's adorable. He pulled her close, breathing in her shampoo and the coffee she'd clearly already had. What time is it? 7.
Sophie has that field trip today. We need to get her to school early. Right. The zoo. He sat up, running a hand through his hair.
You're still coming to the shop thing this afternoon? The ribbon cutting. Of course, I wouldn't miss you officially opening the second bay. The expansion had taken 4 months, permits and construction, and Ethan's constant anxiety about whether he was making the right choice. But the shop needed it, and he could finally afford it, and today was the official opening.
They picked up Sophie, who spent the entire drive to school explaining everything she knew about penguins in preparation for seeing the real ones at the zoo. When they dropped her off, she hugged them both and ran toward her waiting class. She called me we. Vivien said quietly. "What? " When she was talking about the penguins, she said, "We're going to see them. " She included me.
Ethan took her hand. You're part of the Wii now. Get used to it. The ribbon cutting that afternoon was small, just Sarah and Sophie, Marcus and the shop's other employees, a few regular customers, and Viven. The local news had offered to cover it, but Ethan had declined.
This wasn't about publicity. It was about survival, growth, building something that mattered. Sophie got to cut the ribbon with oversized scissors, declaring the expansion officially awesome. They gave tours of the new bay, showing off the lift and the updated equipment and the office that was actually big enough for filing cabinets. "You did it," Vivian said quietly while Sophie was distracted examining tools.
You saved the shop. We did it. The heart contract made this possible. The heart contract was just business. You made this possible by being too stubborn to give up.
He kissed her right there in the shop, not caring that Sarah was watching with a knowing smile, and Marcus was pretending not to notice. That evening, after Sophie was asleep and they were back at Vivian's apartment, Ethan found her on the balcony looking out at Seattle's lights. Penny for your thoughts, he said, joining her. Just thinking about how different everything is from a year ago. How lost I was.
How sure I was that work was all I had. And now, now I have this. You and Sophie and Sunday pancakes and a life that's messy and imperfect and exactly what I needed. She leaned against him. I never thanked you properly.
For what? For stopping that night. For fixing my car when you had somewhere else to be. For seeing me as a person instead of a company. You don't have to thank me for that.
I do though because nobody else did. For years, I was just Heart Industries, the CEO, the billionaire, the woman who chose work over everything. And you saw past all that to who I actually was. Ethan turned her to face him, seeing the vulnerability in her expression. You know what I saw that night?
Someone stranded and trying to stay in control. Someone who needed help but didn't know how to ask for it. Someone who was tired of being alone. I was all of those things. I know.
So was I. They stood on the balcony, the city lights spreading out below them. Two people who'd found each other by accident and built something intentional. There were still complications. Always would be.
Schedules to coordinate Sophie's needs to consider. The lingering fear that maybe this was too good to last. But looking at Viven, seeing her smile in the dim light, Ethan realized something important. Love wasn't about finding someone perfect. It was about finding someone worth the complications.