“You don’t remember your mom very well,” Richard breaks in. “She was an artist and could’ve forgiven Cruise anything, but not the stealing, or the fighting. She had a very rigid moral code.”
Cruise looks down at his feet. Adrian, seemingly bereft of any sort of conscious, pushes his advantage.
“What a disgrace.”
I can’t take it anymore
“Mr. Bancroft?” My voice comes through the room as I step inside, surprising everyone, including myself. “I hope I’m not intruding, but I have… I caught Adrian trying to get into the safe while you were gone.”
“She’s a liar,” Adrian says. “There wasn’t even any money in the safe.”
“That’s because I took the money with me,” Richard Bancroft says softly. “And how would you know there wasn’t money in the safe?”
Too late, Adrian realizes his mistake.
“I don’t, I didn’t—” Adrian splutters.
Richard suddenly looks old.
As much as I want Cruise to be vindicated, I hate that his father has to have his heart broken for it to happen. As wrong as Richard has been, I still like and respect him.
“Dad, I can explain—” Adrian begins.
Richard collapses into the leather arm chair. “No. No, son, I don’t think you can.” His face a mask of disbelief. His hands tighten on the arms. “Adrian, I’d like to talk to Cruise alone, please.”
Adrian opens his mouth to protest, then thinks better of it and skulks out of the room.
I turn to go too, but Cruise’s voice stops me.
“Maya.”
I turn.
“Stay.”
His eyes are serious, and as much as he’s hurt me tonight, I can see how much he needs me. So I nod.
“So you went to jail for your brother?” Richard asks Cruise, his voice strained, his face grey with exhaustion.
Cruise shrugs. “I didn’t think it would come to that, and even when it started looking that way, Adrian would tell me that you would relent, you wouldn’t send one of your sons to jail. I didn’t think it would happen until the end.”
“I thought you had a drug problem, and they would clear it up.” Richard wipes away his tears. “You had that incident in high school.”
“Dad, it was a bunch of guys passing around a joint. I’m not even sure I smoked it,” Cruise laughs. “The administration was just out to get me because—”
He looks down.
“Something your brother did?”
Cruise makes a face. “Yeah.”
“So you were covering for him, even back then?”
Cruise shrugs.
“You have to understand—” Richard turns to me now as if trying to decide how strongly I’m judging him. “Thousands of dollars had already gone missing. I was sure that one of the boys had done it, they were the only ones with access to the office. And…Cruise had been in trouble. I thought time in jail would straighten him up.”
Cruise is standing ram-rod straight. I put my arms around him, and he relaxes into me, just a bit.
At that, Richard bursts into true tears. Cruise puts an awkward hand on his dad’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, Dad. I mean, I’m still here. And I have Maya. I found Maya.”
Richard looks up through his tears. “Maya, after everything, will you consider staying on?”
I nod, afraid to speak.
“I’ve been ready to retire for some time, but Adrian never seemed quite ready to take the reigns. Do you think—would the two of you work to take over the management of the hotel? I’d still be around during the busy season.”
Cruise looks at me.
“I know it’s never been what you wanted, son,” Richard says. “I know that you’ve been trying to get away from the place, and the memories, since your mother died.”
“It wasn’t what I wanted,” Cruise says slowly. “But things change. I think, maybe I’m ready now, to stay here. To live here.” He smiles at me, and for the first time since I met him, the invisible burden he’s been carrying seems to be gone. His smile is as genuine as I’ve ever seen it, and he’s gorgeous.
“I’ll give you two a moment,” Richard Bancroft says, leaving the office.
Cruise moves to me. “I should have handled things differently.”
“Yes,” I say. “You should have.”
“What I said earlier was true.” His hands are on my arms now, and he’s pulling me toward him and I’m sinking into him. “I love you, Maya. I love you so much.” He tips my chin up, his eyes searching my face. “Were you crying?”
I nod.
“Fuck, Maya, I hate that.” He runs his hand through his hair. This would be the time he would usually shut down, the time he would tell me I was too good for him. Instead, he stares deep into my eyes. “No one’s ever done anything like that for me before. You lost your job because of me, you risked… you risked everything.”
I nod, because I’m too choked up with emotion to speak.
“Why did you do that?”
“Because I love you, too.”
His chest catches at the words and then he’s kissing me and whispering in my ear how much he loves me too, how he can’t believe he found me, how he can’t believe we’re going to be together.