AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She walked out of my office, looking back twice. I should have said more. Reassured her in some way. But I wasn’t there.
I was losing my dad.
My mom.
In chaos.
The reins were slipping from my hands.
Joey wasn’t mine.
Catherine didn’t live here.
Out of my control.
This was why I didn’t do this. I didn’t open up to more people than I had to because I couldn’t control the outcome. Business made sense. I could predict market fluctuations. People weren’t so easy. Falling in love didn’t guarantee she would stay or even fall too.
Now that I had them, I wasn’t willing to lose Catherine or Joey, but I had to get my head straight. If I didn’t accept that I couldn’t control everything, I wouldn’t be good for either of them.
Catherine’s house was beautiful.
I hadn’t seen it since she’d started working on it. In fact, she had forbidden me from coming, wanting it to be a surprise.
And it was.
The new wood floors gleamed. The walls were freshly painted and crisp. She had a kitchen. A really nice kitchen.
With Joey in one arm and my hand clasped in hers, she pulled me through the house, enthusiastically detailing everything that had been done, pointing out how Miles had helped, what Raymond’s cousin had done, the projects she’d worked on with Raymond and Davida.
“I tiled that backsplash, Elliot.Me.” She beamed, her cheeks glowing rosy.
“Amazing.”
It was. She’d put her all into fixing this place up, literally dirtying her own hands to bring these walls back to livable conditions. More than livable. A nice family home.
It made me sick.
She looked so fucking pleased, and I couldn’t bring myself to match her enthusiasm.
But if she wanted this, I’d give it to her, even if it killed me to let them go. Catherine had to make the right choices for her and Joey, and if she thought living on her own was it, I wouldn’t stand in her way.
Her smile wavered. “Let’s go upstairs. Maybe you’ll be suitably impressed with my bedroom.”
“I’m impressed already, sweetheart. You wanted this, so you made it happen.”
She kissed my knuckles. “Without any help from you. Don’t you appreciate your independent girlfriend? If it weren’t so cringe, I’d call myself a girl boss.”
“Ah, good thing you told me it was cringe. I’ll return the girl boss mug I bought you.”
Her teeth nipped at my knuckles. “Don’t joke about that, Elliot Levy. That’s not funny.”
“It’s rose gold,” I teased, but my heart wasn’t in it. Not even a little bit. I felt like I was losing her and she was right fucking here.
I had to get over it. Give her the life she wanted. If it was this, she’d have it.
Puffing her cheeks, she released a heavy breath. “You know how much I love rose gold, but no.” Another kiss on my knuckles. “Come on. Let’s go check out the rest of the place.”
With my hand in hers, I followed like a dead man walking.
