Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92547 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92547 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
The fact that Chloe would only be in town for a short while was at the top of the list of red flags.
“You can get out of here when you have a safe place to stay,” I insisted. “I’m not letting you stay at some cheap motel. And I’m certainly not letting you sleep in your car.”
“Letting me, huh?” She lifted a brow as she cracked a smile.
She was as feisty as ever. I’d never forget coming home after being discharged from the Army and being shocked to see how much Chloe had grown up. It’d been disconcerting and a little exciting all at once. In some ways, this felt a lot like that time, only tenfold, maybe. Chloe was even more of a woman now, and still as off-limits as ever. I took a moment to really look at her. Goddamn, she was beautiful. She’d always been a stunner, but time had only enhanced her beauty. The same long, sandy-colored hair was painted with more streaks of blond than I’d remembered. The full lips that had always taunted me seemed even fuller. But her bright green eyes, which had always been full of possibility, were more guarded now, undoubtedly due to life experience.
“Well, hopefully I’ll find something else soon,” she said.
“Feel free to say goodbye when you leave this time,” I taunted.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think you know what it means.”
There I go again. Whenever those old feelings bubbled up, my first instinct was to protect myself by being a jerk.
“I never said goodbye to you when I left for school because I was still mad about how things turned out with us. That was just the way I needed to handle it at the time.”
“I’m playing around. I know why you did what you did. And I don’t fault you.”
Chloe tilted her head. “Speaking of goodbyes…” She lowered her voice. “Where is your wife?”
I’d been waiting for her to ask about the elephant in the room. “Ex-wife,” I clarified.
“Well, where is she?”
I sighed. “Katerina didn’t want to be a mother anymore. That’s the short version. But I can’t exactly frame it like that to my daughter because then Effie would think it was about her when it has nothing to do with her. Katerina is selfish and wanted her independence back. So she moved to California—with her boyfriend.” My jaw tightened. “I’m sure you’re wondering what I did to cause her to leave, but it wasn’t like that.”
“I never said it was, Evan.” She looked away, probably to process what I’d tried to downplay. “She cheated on you with that guy?”
“No. She met him after we’d separated but before we were officially divorced. At a certain point, she decided she wanted to move away from here and travel the world. She’s based in California now but is hardly ever in one place for too long.”
“So where is she right now?”
“I honestly couldn’t tell you.” I threw my hands up.
She gave me a look. “That’s insane, Evan.”
“You don’t need to convince me of that.”
“Does Effie talk about it?”
“Very rarely, and I don’t force her. She’s smart, though. She knows she got a raw deal. But she still loves her mother very much, craves her attention when she comes back to visit.” I ran a hand through my hair. “It’s fucking heartbreaking, but somehow, Effie never holds it against her—or at least she keeps her feelings inside. Effie clearly wants her mom back, but she’s resigned herself to accepting whatever she can get, even if that’s just a handful of visits a year.”
“So Katerina does visit…”
“Yes, for a week here, a week there. In some ways, that makes it harder. Because after she leaves, Effie is more cognizant of the fact that she’s gone.”
“That makes sense.”
“Actually, none of it makes sense.” I looked away. “It’s just the way it is.”
“When did Katerina start to check out?”
“Things were never perfect, but she really withdrew when Effie was about four. From the beginning, everything with us had happened fast. When she found out she was pregnant, it was a shock to both of us. We tried to make it work, though. Or at least, I tried. And I would’ve kept trying. I was willing to do anything for my daughter. Katerina didn’t see things that way. She had dreams away from Dry River that she thought she needed to fulfill. Said she couldn’t be the type of mother Effie deserved long term if she didn’t live her life untethered for a while.” I sucked in a breath. “As you can see, Effie and I are doing just fine. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“You wouldn’t have her mother permanently back in her life?”
“Well, of course I would want that. I meant if I could go back in time, I would do everything the same…just to have Effie.”