’ He said offhandedly not realising the sensitive nerve he had hit in the woman still sitting at the table with him. ‘What?’ Belinda exclaimed b...fore she could stop herself. Nick immediately turned and scrutinised her. ‘I mean,’ she tried desperately to back pedal. ‘She is lovely and sweet but her suggestions are hardly an asset to the team.’ Nick roared with laughter and seeing Belinda frown he realised she had no idea what the Christmas bonus entailed despite being at the company for the last. ”“HOYT? Are you sure about me having this much of your reward money?”“You helped me earn it, William. Besides, if you do inherit the Hargrove spread, I may want to come stay with you when I’m over this way.”“You got a open door welcome, Hoyt. You can even live there if you want to ... that is, if it all comes to be.”As soon as they stepped out of the room wearing their new clothes, Sandra rushed over to William and took his hand.“William, I’m so excited about this. I still can’t believe you. I could feel the thought coming from Renée. The tension did need letting loose, but I didn't want to hear it. I held up my hand to ask for silence.I let Erin hold me for another moment when another phone rang. This time, it was Renée's. She went to my bedroom to answer it. She didn't bother looking at the caller ID; she just left with it in hand. I couldn't blame her.I pulled Erin to me and hugged her back. She molded against me and I didn't complain, become embarrassed, or get excited. I think. When that happened, I had pretty much figured that it was meant to be, and that it was time to give up on my almost life-long endeavor to win her over. As such, I began looking elsewhere, and eventually had better luck with a girl I soon met, and began seeing as often as I could after school. Sure, I still saw Teresa on average of once a week as we attended the same church together, but beyond that, that was all. She'd even made a point of coming up to say hello to me first, something she had.