Dear Mr Billionaire

Chapter 26

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EJ!

Thank you for everything.

Emily caressed the words with a finger as if it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Taking her eyes from the book she met his and he could see the wonder in them as she gave a small smile and turned the page.

Her gasp made his smile, he had always hoped to meet EJ and give him the book. Deep down he realized that if EJ had indeed been a guy, like he had been telling himself all those years, the gift would have been extremely awkward.

Emily was staring at the first page, tears were glistening in her eyes as she took in the first picture. The smile ever so present on her face.

“My mom used to scrapbook, and she said that after running around cleaning after other people it was nice to come home and cut something up.” Blake informed her with a smile. He wasn't sure why he was telling her that since it had nothing to do with the book she was holding, but he felt the need to offer her some sort of explanation as to why it was a photo album and not something extravagant. When she didn't reply he felt slightly disappointed and fear began to course through him, was she expecting an expensive gift? Surely she wasn't expecting anything, but after being handed a gift from someone like Blake Redwood, he was sure she was disappointed with the outcome.

Emily continued to smile at the first image, it was a copy of the first letter she had written to Blake all those years ago, next to it was a print out of the social media image he had posted shortly after and the page next to it had newspaper clippings from that same month. As she continued to flip through the pages she realized that his biggest risk were all done days after her letters arrived.

“I had put the original letters in there at first, but I had this habit of reading the old ones in anticipation for the new month, that I just photocopied them and put those in here instead.” Blake admitted as Emily continued to flip through the pages. The tears in her eyes were the only thing he needed to know she loved the gift.

“ I thought that you were mad at me for a while, but then you thanked me for giving you a job, so I made it my mission to figure out which of the guys was you. Only I should have listened to Daliah and everyone else when they insisted EJ was a girl. And I think that I was afraid that if  you were a girl you would only want me for my money.  It was safer for me to believe I had a young man out there who wanted to be like me, than to think you had written it.” Blake explained as she closed the book backup. 

His explanation made perfect sense to her. If he had thought that EJ was a girl there was always the risk of developing feelings for someone he didn't know, only to be at their mercy if they ever met. She would have done the same had she been in his shoes and held no grudges. Instead her heart was filled with even more joy at the thought that Blake had asked her out without knowing she had written all that to him. His feelings or whatever they had was definitely real.

“How did you know I wrote the letters for the magazine?” She asked, curious to know his answer.

“I don't know, I just did. It was more sarcastic than usual, but then I remembered how you had written about “loving” road trips and it had a similar vibe to it.” Blake shrugged his shoulders “ Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but whatever it was I knew it was from you.”

She nodded in understanding and the two continued to sit quietly. Neither knowing what to say but both full of thoughts.

“Every year since you mentioned your birthday, I wrap up the book and carry it around in the odd chance I ran into you. Then afterwards when the newest letter came in  I would unwrap it and wait for the next year. It's stupid now that I say it out loud but I didn't know what else to give you.” Blake explained quietly, he knew she liked the book but he needed to make sure she wasn't disappointed in his gift.