Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
“I would love that. You think Nicole would mind?”
“If she doesn’t mind me being around, she certainly won’t mind you. She always loved you.”
My sister flashed a sad smile. “I love her, too.”
I love her three. I needed to get back to Nicole, especially with the way I’d left tonight, but there was no chance in hell my sister was gonna let me go that fast.
“Are you doing okay with all this?” she asked.
“I’ve upped my therapy sessions to once a week, if that answers your question.”
“It does, but I’m happy to hear you’re still seeing someone.”
“Yeah, well, I’m still seeing Dr. Jensen, but I haven’t been willing to talk about the tough stuff, which sort of defeats the purpose.” I tugged at my hair. “What? You look like you want to say something.”
“I do. But it’s nothing I haven’t said before.”
“Okay…”
“Come sit for a bit.” My sister took what was supposed to be takeout fries to a table and opened the greasy bag. She bit into one of them. “Losing Brian all those years ago taught me that nothing else matters in life if you don’t have the person you love. I never got to say goodbye, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for more time with him. There’s nothing I wouldn’t give for just one more moment, no matter how brief. I will always believe that if the person you love is on this Earth, there’s nothing you shouldn’t be willing to do to get them back.”
“She doesn’t want that, Tina. She can’t get over what happened, and there’s the not-so-small complication of her dating someone I hate now.” I felt my blood pressure rising.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Really…” I gritted my teeth.
“Really. I’m telling you none of that matters. But how you get her back is up to you, little brother. I don’t have all the answers. I just tell you what to do, not how to do it.” She winked.
I shook my head and looked at the time. “I have to go. I have to get home to Nicole.”
Tina looked at me a moment. “You realize what you just said, right? Home to Nicole.”
“It was just a figure of speech.”
She winked again. “Sure it was.”
CHAPTER 13
NICOLE
Every second Atticus was out with that woman was more excruciating than the last. I’d spent the entire time pacing. Also, most of my fingernails were gone after I’d bitten them off.
Tonight was the first time I’d been face to face with a woman Atticus had been with since me. She was pretty, of course, and blonde, my total opposite, which added insult to injury. I’d thought I was his type. Guess not.
Needing a distraction, I’d once again logged in to my computer and checked my old email account, reading another of Atticus’s messages to me.
Nicole,
I don’t understand anything anymore.
I don’t recognize my life.
Someone told me something today that I’m hoping isn’t true.
They said they saw you with Julian.
But only you can tell me the truth.
Is it true?
Are you with him now?
This is the first time I’ve really needed to get drunk since I quit drinking more than three drinks at a time. It’s really fucking hard not to get fucked up tonight.
I get why you’d want to hurt me.
I’m not even debating the fact that I deserve it.
I just don’t know what to say.
I’m broken.
I’m sorry.
I still love you.
But this one fucking hurts.
Although nothing hurts more than losing you.
Always lost without you,
Atticus
My eyes watered as I shut my laptop. It took me several minutes to decompress.
This was the email I’d selected today? It served quite effectively to remind me how out of line my jealousy toward Atticus’s “girlfriend” was. I deserved to feel this way.
Mimi must not have been able to sleep, as I could hear her moving around in her bed. I hated the thought of going in there because having to lie to her about why Atticus was gone was going to suck. But if she was still up, I needed to check on her.
After stopping in the bathroom to splash water on my face, I went into her room.
Of course, the first thing she said was, “Where’s Atticus? I don’t hear him.”
He’s out with some bimbo. “Oh, he went to get some stuff we need for the house.”
“This late?”
“Yeah…” I cleared my throat. “You know there’s that twenty-four-hour Walmart.”
“Can you tell him to get some of those mint candies I like? The green and white starlight ones?”
“Oh, um…”
No way did I want to text him. He’d think I was making up an excuse to interrupt.
“He’s already left the store and is on his way back. Sorry.”
“That’s okay, honey.”
Not sure how I was going to explain if she stayed awake and noticed he never came home tonight, which was certainly a possibility.
I covered her with a blanket. “I’m sorry you’re having trouble sleeping. Try to get some rest.”