Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
I was out of it. It was a crazy, emotional day when she gave me a gift that means more to me than anything I’ve ever gotten in my life. It was then and there I knew I was so madly in love with her that I would be broken once she left. I tried to hide it, tried to bury it, but it’s bigger than even I know what to do with it. “Yeah, I’m fine, guess I’m just tired.”
“Yeah, but you looked like someone stole your dog.”
“It’s complicated,” I finally admit.
“Oh my God,” he barks and I can hear the laughter in his voice. “Are you in love with Macy, and now that she married Joshua, you came to terms she’ll never be yours?”
I can’t help the laughter that roars through me. “Yeah, that would be it.” I chuckle. “You got me.”
He laughs with me. “So you going to tell me what’s wrong, or are we going to play twenty questions?”
“That’s just wasting everyone’s time,” I huff out, and he doesn’t say a word to me. He just sits there on the phone and waits for me to give it up. “It’s…” I think about it. “Fuck!” I run my hand over my face.
“I don’t know why, but something tells me this has to do with Elizabeth and that truce you guys were talking about.”
I look out the window. “Yeah, something like that.”
“Ugh,” he groans, “I was afraid of that.”
“It’s fine,” I say softly. “It’s all good. In a week she’ll be gone and it’ll be fine.”
“You are just going to let her leave?” Jack barks out.
“What the fuck are you saying?” I sit up. “What am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. My uncle Matthew once handcuffed my aunt Karrie to the bed when she was going to go on vacation without him.”
The gasp that comes out of me makes even Whiskey jump. “I’m not handcuffing her to bed, Jack. To some that would be considered kidnapping.”
“It was an option.”
“It was the wrong one. Can you imagine what your father would do to me if I handcuffed your sister to my bed?” I get up.
“Well, considering the two of you have hooked up, he’s going to be kicking your ass for a whole bunch of reasons.”
“He loves me like a son, he told me,” I remind him.
“Yeah, but that was before you fell in love with his daughter,” he tells me. “You can’t just let her go.”
“There is nothing I can do to stop her. I told her I was in love with her—”
“But did you ask her to stay?” he cuts me off with his question.
“No”—I shake my head—“and I’m not going to. I won’t do that to her. I won’t have her choose me or her job. I would never do that.”
“You could always leave.” I look around my office.
“I could but I’d miss your ugly face too much.” I smirk and only when he bursts out laughing do I exhale deeply. “I’m going to get going and go home.”
“I wish I had the answer for you, buddy,” he says softly.
“I wish you did too. Call you tomorrow.”
“Call me whenever. I’m here when you need me.” I close my eyes and disconnect the call, looking over at Whiskey.
“You ready to go home?” I ask him and his ears go back on his head, his eyes open, and he watches me get up. Only when I’m around my desk do his two front paws get up. He waits until I’m by the door before he saunters off of his bed. “Let’s get going.”
My stomach feels like there is a lead weight in it as we pull into the driveway. All the lights in the house off. When I enter the code and open the door, I see she’s not here. I try to fight off the pain in my chest but it’s beyond my control.
We walk in and I take off my boots while Whiskey walks to the kitchen and then comes back, looking around. “She’s not here, buddy,” I tell him. I walk to the kitchen and go straight to the Christmas tree to turn on the lights before opening the door and letting him out while I get his dinner in his bowl.
I’m filling his water bowl when the doorbell rings. I look over, turning the water off and drying off my hands before making my way to the door. I don’t even check who it is before opening the door and stop when I see Elizabeth standing there. “What are you doing?” I look at her and then look over her shoulder. “Where is your mother?”
“She left,” she tells me, her voice soft. “Can I come in?”
I shake my head, confused, and move away from the door to let her in. “Of course you can come in,” I tell her, trying to get my breathing down to normal before I start panting.