Tragic and Wonder: An Un-Fairytale [On Hold]

Chapter 27- The Way Back

Mr. Lewis led me back to the hotel. He had a half-hug on me the whole way, trying to comfort me. Meanwhile, I was trying my best to hold in my emotions. They seemed to want to burst forth from the depths of my being. I knew why all these emotions were threatening to emerge from me now. I had not allowed myself to sit down and cry, ever. The day I left, I held everything inside and now it was threatening to burst forth like Old Faithful. I had to control these emotions for rest of the day. I had to hold them in until I got back to Grandma's. This meeting was especially important. I simply could not embarrass Mr. Lewis by being a big blubbering mess.

We made it back to the hotel in just under ten minutes. Mr. Lewis was walking so fast that I almost had to run to keep up. I knew he just wanted me to get somewhere where I felt comfortable. Somewhere I could breakdown if I wanted to, which I did not, not yet. Not until I was back at Grandma's, where I would be safe. Safe from judgement. Safe from the world. I needed to pull myself together until I got to my safe place.

"I am going to cancel our meeting today. Then I am going to take you back to Grandma Jean's home." Mr. Lewis said pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Mr. Lewis, I cannot let you do that. It is an important meeting. We always have two days of meetings. We have one day to meet with them and see what they want, then the next day we present to them ideas of how we fit their needs. You cannot cancel this meeting simply because I can't control my stupid emotions." I said a bit harsher than I had intended. I covered my face with my hands trying to hide my face from my boss. This was not at all how I planned this trip on going. I had looked forward to this trip so much, but now, I hated it. I just wanted to leave and shut myself away from the world.

"Jade...Jade. Look at me." Mr. Lewis said. When I shook my head no, he gently reached up under my chin and pulled my head up, level with his. He then gently removed my hands from my face.

"Jade. I don't care about this meeting. Not anymore. The company will be fine without this deal if it doesn't go through. What I do care about is you. I cannot stand seeing you like this. I would rather lose this deal than have to force you through that meeting while you are clearly struggling with whatever James said to you. I don't know what happened and frankly, I don't want to know because if he could do this to you simply using his words, then I would most likely run back to that coffee shop and punch the living daylights out of him. I cannot stand seeing you hurting like this Jade. You are way more important to me than some stupid meeting."

My tears just flowed after that. I could not let him cancel the meeting, but I had no control over what meetings the CEO of the company chooses to attend or not to attend. If Mr. Lewis had no desire to go, I could not force him. After all, it was his company.

"Mr. Lewis. This is a great opportunity for both companies. I would hate for you to cancel on my account. I would rather you attend the meeting without me than cancel it. They seem like they would be a good fit with us, and I would regret it if we lost it on account of me. Please don't cancel. I will be fine. I promise." I replied sniffling every now and then but managed to moderately pull myself together.

"Jade. I cannot ask you to sit in that meeting all day and I will not leave you here on your own. We both know that. So, I am going to call and cancel the meeting for today. Then, I will take you home to Grandma Jean. It is the least that I could do for you. Please, let me do this for you." He said. His voice full of conviction and compassion.

"Okay." I replied without putting up a fight for once.

Mr. Lewis canceled the meeting, to which the company was disappointed. He told them that something urgent came up and would understand if that meant they would go with someone else, but they were so impressed with him in the meeting the day before, that they scheduled a virtual meeting for when Mr. Lewis was next available.