Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 116708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
His head tipped back, panic blazing in his eyes. “Gwen, no. Please don’t leave.”
I rested my hand on the curve of his jaw. “I’m not leaving you, but I’m also not staying here. And neither are you.”
His eyes flashed wide. “What?”
“Truett, I can’t even pretend to understand how you’ve done this for so long. We’re going to have a lot of long talks about finding you the proper help. But you asked me to give you a chance so here it is… In this house, Kaitlyn might be alive, but you are dead. This”—I waved my hands out, motioning around the room—“is the coffin you buried yourself in.”
He blanched, but I didn’t let it slow my roll.
“You have been sitting on that couch for so long the past has turned into the future, causing you to skip the present altogether.” I extended my hand, asking for his, and when he placed it in mine, I gave him a gentle tug, urging him to his feet.
He rose to his full height, his strong body towering over me.
Looping my arms around his neck, I peered into his deep brown eyes. “I love you.”
He dropped his forehead to mine, his arms folding around my hips. “Oh, thank God.” His lips brushed mine, seeking a connection I couldn’t yet offer him.
I leaned away, dodging his kiss. “I love you, but I can’t stay here with you.”
His body turned to granite. “Gwen—”
“But you can come with me. This isn’t the only place Kaitlyn still exists. You just have to let me show you.”
He stared at me; the weight of contemplation heavy in his eyes. “I don’t know, Gwen.”
“You gotta trust me, True. Do you want me to be a part of your life?”
He nodded rapidly.
My heart soared. “Then I’m going to need you to be a part of mine too.”
Truett
It was a monumental decision, but it wasn’t necessarily hard to make. I desperately wanted Gwen back in my life—whatever that took. She was right; that house was my coffin. And over the last few weeks, it had felt like it was collapsing in on me.
Sitting on that couch, pouring out my deepest darkest secrets to her, had felt like a road marched barefoot over broken glass. Yet, still bleeding and broken, I would have followed her anywhere.
She’d patiently waited for me to change into a pair of jeans and slip my shoes on, and then together we picked up the toppled-over bags of groceries she’d brought over for our “date.”
I’d thought things had changed after she’d bought the restaurant. Then again after our kiss. And most definitely after she came calling my name. But in the short time since she’d walked through my front door to the moment we walked to her car, it felt like we were two totally different people—or, more accurately, it felt like we were one singular unit again.
As we drove, I started to feel like she was more nervous than I was. She never let go of my hand, and at every stop light, she’d peer up at me and whisper, “Are you good?”
I was with Gwen, she’d told me she loved me, and she was giving me the chance I so desperately needed to hopefully win her back. It was safe to say I was the best I’d been in nearly two decades. I hadn’t asked where she was taking me, because honestly, I didn’t care, but roughly ten minutes later, as we pulled into what appeared to be a sleepy golf course community, I assumed we were headed to her place.
She parked in the driveway of a two-story brick home. It was new and nice, everything mine was not. I sat there for several beats, studying the front of her house. Her yard wasn’t large, but the grass was freshly cut and the sidewalk that led to the front steps was lined with colorful flowers. The deep porch held two rocking chairs on one end and a bench swing on the other. Flanked by two large white flowerpots, overflowing with an assortment of plants, the door was a dark blue that matched the shutters.
It looked well taken care of, cheery, and most of all, peaceful. I imagined it was a place where laughter flowed freely and love filled every space inside and out, because before our worlds had been flipped upside down, that was exactly how our house had always been.
She cut the engine. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
I looked over at her and told her the God’s-honest truth. “I don’t know. But I love you, and if this is where you are, there is nowhere else in the entire world I’d rather be. Not even the past.”
Her face softened and she leaned across the center console, pressing an all-too-chaste kiss to my lips. “If that changes, you let me know. No more suffering in silence, okay?”