Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
I started with the kitchen. The experience of living alone had done wonders for my housekeeping skills. It took fifteen minutes to clean the kitchen and another fifteen to mop the living room and kitchen floors.
I rearranged the living room and opened the windows to bring in some fresh air. The last thing I did was to make myself some coffee, after which I settled at the kitchen table with my laptop to get some work done.
Time went by fast and the next time I checked my watch, it was noon and my stomach was gnawing with hunger. Charlotte’s fridge was not promising. I decided to make a grocery run, which I’d intended to anyway, to get stuff for dinner.
For the two days I would be in Woodfield, I would try and help make Charlotte’s life easy. Despite the pain she had caused, a part of me still loved her and still wanted to protect her. It was insane and I should have been running in the opposite direction.
She had always had a hold on me from that first moment when I saw her. I wasn’t going to fight it. It was only two days after all, and then I would go back to my own life.
I drove to town and parked at the grocery store. There was something homey about the small town. It reminded me of our home in Grantsville. We had known just about everyone in the town.
Charlotte and I had such a good life. How could she have picked lust over that? Clearly, it hadn’t been love. You couldn’t love someone and then leave them when they got pregnant.
Protective feelings came over me. All I wanted was to take care of her but I knew the danger of that kind of thinking. Despite her gorgeous looks and charming manner, Charlotte was a woman who thought nothing of trampling on someone’s heart and leaving without a backward glance.
I had fallen in love with an icy woman. Not that she came across as cold on the surface. On the contrary. She seemed like the warmest, sweetest most loving person. But her actions told a different story. Being the recipient of that, I had no intentions of being hurt again. I was wiser when it came to love.
I picked what I needed for a few dinners, paid and carried them to the rental car. It had been years since I’d felt as carefree as I did at that moment. I even fucking whistled on the drive back to Charlotte’s place.
Charlotte
I loved the fifteen-minute walk from work to home. It gave me time to relax and switch from work mode to mommy mode. But I wasn’t thinking about Kayden as I walked home. My thoughts were on Alex.
I wanted him to go back to New York but a part of me stupidly hoped he would stay a little longer. With the shock worn off, it felt so good to see him. He was still sexy Alex, even if I couldn’t see the details of his face because of my eyesight problems.
But more than that, feelings I’d wrestled with after I left come back to haunt me. I had taken great care to ensure that I left no trail behind but deep down, I’d always hoped that Alex would see through the letter I’d left behind and come find me.
He was a lawyer and a good one at that. Lawyers looked at the evidence and questioned things. The evidence of my love had been there. Our lives had been perfect. Our marriage had been full of laughter and passion. How could he believe that I had fallen in love with someone else?
Why hadn’t he realized that it must be something else and given me the benefit of the doubt and looked for me? Alex knew the people to employ to find a person who did not want to be found. If he’d wanted to, he would have found me.
That hurt then and it hurt now. I reached the same conclusion I’d reached two years ago. Alex had been relieved that our marriage was over and I’d given him a way out of it.
Hurt and anger gripped me. I rounded the corner and saw his car. What was he doing in my house? I remembered his comment about the keys. I wanted to march right up to the house but my gait was deliberately slow.
It had taken falling flat on my face to realize that eyesight worked hand in hand with balance. By the time I pushed the front door open, I was boiling with anger. The first thing that struck me when I stepped into the living room was how clean and neat it was.
Not that I was a dirty person but keeping a house in such pristine conditions when you had a toddler and a job, was near impossible. Delicious scents filled the living room, teasing my senses.