Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114467 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114467 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“Fuck no,” he says and then looks at me. “I didn’t even know that I was in love with her until she showed up at a bar and saw me talking to another girl.” He puts his hands up. “It wasn’t my finest moment, but it made me see that she was the one. She is everything.”
I don’t say anything else as I park in front of Zoe’s house and walk in. Without her here, I feel like I’m invading her space. “Do you want to run up and get the bag?” I ask Max, and he looks at me.
“Are you insane?” He looks at me. “What if I see her bra or, fuck it, something more personal? That is not my woman,” he says and motions me with his head. “You go get it, and I’ll wait for you here.”
I walk up the stairs and then turn the light on in her room. I look around, and I can smell her all around me. I walk to her bed and see that her pajamas are in a puddle at the end of the bed. I pick it up and bring it to my face and smell her. I sit on the bed now and take in her private space. A space I’ve never been invited into, a space that is hers. Her little touches are everywhere. Pictures on the side table of her and Zara and another of her whole family that looks like it was taken at the baby shower. And then a little picture in the back of the ultrasound of Zara’s baby.
I sit on the bed and wonder if I’m going be the one who will have this picture with her. Will I be the one who makes her my wife? Is waiting really going to change anything? Will our baby look like her? The thought of her having this with someone else makes my heart stop beating right.
“What is taking so long?” Max says from the doorway. He sees me sitting on her bed, still in my fucking gear from the game. “You okay?”
“No,” I answer him honestly and put the picture back where I took it from. “Not in the least.”
“Do you need me to call someone?” he asks, and I look up at him.
“What if she’s with someone?” I ask him the question no one has answered for me or talked about. “What if she’s dating, and she’s with someone but hasn’t told you guys?”
“She would have told her sisters,” Max says. “Trust me, she isn’t with anyone.”
“What if she doesn’t want me?” I ask him. “What if all this is too much of a burden for her to carry or too much for her to handle?”
“You aren’t giving her enough credit.” He leans against the doorjamb.
“What if she freaks out when I wake up gasping for air in the middle of the night?” I ask him. “What if she gets tired of always wondering if I’m going to fuck up today?”
“What if she holds your hand during all that?” he counters. “What if she is the one who makes tomorrow a better day?”
“Yeah,” I say. Getting up, I go into the closet and see all her clothes hanging, and then there in the corner is the Burberry bag she told me about. “We should go,” I say to him and turn off the lights.
We walk out into the night, and the roads are almost empty. I park now, and I get out of the truck with the Burberry bag in my hand. It feels so heavy, and my mind is playing tricks on me, going back and forth about me being here.
But when I step off the elevator and walk with Max down the hallway and into the room, I see her turn to look at me, her eyes full of tears and a huge smile on her face while she holds her niece in her arms. I know that the decision was already made for me.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Zoe
The nurse takes me back to see Zara, and she looks exhausted. Her face is still very pale, and after she cries she wants her baby, I semi threaten the nursing staff until she was sitting in bed holding her daughter to her chest.
“You are so perfect,” she says, kissing her hand. “Look at her,” Zara says to me. “Look at her eyes.” Then she takes off her hat, and we see that she has blondish hair. “I wonder if she is going to have our hair color.” I don’t say anything because I can’t. The words are stuck in my throat over the huge lump. Zara looks at Evan. “Should we tell her?”
“Yeah,” he says and smiles at me.
“I’d like you to meet Zoey with a y Richards,” she says, and I put my hand in front of my mouth. “Aka your goddaughter.”