Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 83211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
A tiny smile slips across her lips.
Anxiety fills me as the look in her eyes tells me that she’s going to fight me on this. She’s not going to just let me in. She leaves. It’s what she does.
But I can’t let her leave me. I need her. I need her with every breath I take and every plan I make for tomorrow. She’s my one.
I’ve always imagined a relationship like the one my parents have—playful and loving and fiercely loyal. I can have that with Sara. Only Sara.
“Stay here,” I say softly. “Let me love on you a little bit.”
Her eyes widen.
My heart smashes against my rib cage, making it hard to hear anything other than the blood pouring through my ears. I’m already in this far. Might as well go all in.
“I love you, Sara.”
Her eyes fog. Her lips swell like she’s going to cry, and I don’t know if that breaks my heart or makes me happy.
“I’ve never told another woman I wasn’t related to that I love her,” I say. “But I love you. Completely and absolutely. And I really, truly hope that you don’t push me away.”
“I love you, too,” she says, the dark rivers flowing again. “But loving me isn’t easy like it is loving you.”
“I’ll decide that.”
She blows out a breath, her chest shaking. “Can we go get my things and then meet Maddox for the key?”
My jaw locks in place. “You’re really going to block me out of this?”
“You can’t fix everything.”
“You won’t even rely on me.” My head starts to pound almost as much as my heart. “Do you think I’m incapable of helping you? Do you think I’m a flake? What is it?”
“I think there are some things people have to fix on their own.” She smacks the water with her hand. “Besides, I can’t see your brothers after today. I can’t look at them. I can only imagine what they’d say—and they’ll probably tell you to run, Banks. They’ll probably tell you to get rid of the dramatic one, the one who hauls shitty behavior to their front lawn. You should prepare for that.”
I’m afraid I should prepare for heartbreak instead.
I want to tell her that they wouldn’t tell me that. I want to tell her that this family would eagerly envelop her, flaws and all. Maybe even Foxx. But I’m all out of words. I don’t know the right ones to use here, and I don’t think they’ll make a difference anyway.
“I think there are some things people have to fix on their own.”
A stack of towels is folded nicely in the cabinet. Sara refolded the ones that I did. There’s something about that I love. I take one out and set it on the edge of the tub and then head for the door.
“Let me know when you’re ready to go, and I’ll follow you to Sabrina’s,” I say.
“Okay.”
I don’t look at her over my shoulder. I don’t pause to give her a second to change her mind. Because if I know Sara, she’s hardheaded, and her mind is made up.
Quite possibly like the happily ever after I had dreamed up in my head.
26
Sara
“Come in,” Gretchen shouts.
I push open the door and step inside Ashley’s mother’s house. The smell of the house—roast beef mixed with peach air filters in her vents—settles something in my soul. But as soon as I see Gretchen’s face and the concern that sweeps across her features, I topple.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” she says.
I sit on the couch next to her. I’m certain my heart is bleeding. What else would explain a burn this intense?
She hands me a tissue. “Start talking because I’m getting nervous over here.”
“I don’t know where to start.”
“Pick the spot that’s most comfortable and go from there.”
I lie back against the cushions and close my eyes. They’re swollen, I’m pretty sure.
Banks followed me to Sabrina’s and loaded my things in my car. We made quick work of it. I was worried she’d come out of the house and make another scene, and I wasn’t quite sure how well Banks would take a round two.
Especially since he’s upset with me.
“I’ve never told another woman I wasn’t related to that I love her. But I love you. Completely and absolutely. And I really, truly hope that you don’t push me away.”
I don’t know how I botched things so badly between us. I was honest. Isn’t honesty the best policy? If that’s true, why does it hurt?
This is why I don’t do this shit.
“Oh, let’s see,” I say, sighing. “I’m going to give you the quick version to catch you up.”
“Go.”
“I quit my job. I lost my apartment. I got another apartment but then couldn’t move in right away. I stayed with Ashley, as you’ve probably heard, and promptly moved across the street with Maddox’s brother because, well, Ashley is in the honeymoon phase of life. Enough said.”