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“Oh please. You’re splattered across every news outlet in Colorado, not to mention on social media. It’s kind of hard to miss,” I point out.
“I thought you didn’t watch football either?” That smirk grows wider as I curse myself for opening my big mouth last night.
But I couldn’t help it. It was like word vomit. I had this intense urge to defend him, which was absurd. I don’t even like him. Lie.
“It was one game,” I mumble.
He leans in closer. “Since you never answered my question, I’ll ask an easier one.”
God, he smelled good. It was throwing off my senses.
His eyes hold mine. “Do you love him?”
I slide off the stool. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”
He lifts a shoulder. “Why not?”
“Because it’s none of your business!” I snap. “You can’t just blow into town on a whim and show up demanding answers from me.” I snatch up the plate, dumping the remaining crumbs in the trash.
“You are my business.” He pushes up from the counter. “You’ve been my business since the first day on that lake.”
My gaze whips to his. “Don’t. Don’t you dare.”
My hands grab angrily at the skillet, tossing it in the sink. “You made it crystal clear. You made that choice, so deal with the consequences.”
“I did what was right,” he grits out.
I glare at him over my shoulder. It infuriated me how beautiful he was while still continuing to be so damn difficult.
“Thank you for breakfast, but I have it from here, you can leave.” I face the sink, praying he would just walk out.
After all, it’s what he’s good at.
I feel him watch me dunk a plate under the water. I was a stress cleaner. A little trait I inherited from my mother.
“I will never apologize,” he states.
“Of course you won’t.” I laugh, shaking my head.
I felt the warmth from his chest at my back, the tickle of his breath fanning down the back of my neck. “If you’d quit running your mouth for two seconds and listen, what I was going to say was.” He pauses, grazing his nose along the sensitive spot behind my ear. “I will never apologize for doing what’s best for you.” We both still and I close my eyes. “I know you don’t see it Rosie, and I may have done a shit job of showing you, but everything I have ever done was always with you at the front of my mind.”
His words settle on my wounded heart like a blanket, and I felt the tears well. I hated how good his words made me feel. I didn’t want to feel them at all.
The heat behind me disappears and without another word, he walks out the door, leaving me even more confused than I was last night.
Chapter 25
Tilly
Waverly’s blonde curls bounce as she jumps up into my lap. We finished her last class today and I was filled with both pride and sadness that she had completed the course.
You proud? She signs, her little cheeks round and full as she grins up at me.
So proud. I sign back before wrapping her up in a big hug.
Like me, Waverley was born deaf, but the little girl in my lap has mastered her classes and at four years old, she’s a pro. She caught on quicker than any child I’ve taught, and it fills my heart that this is my job. That I have this place.
I met my boss, Dixie, when I was just a little younger than Waverley. She not only taught me how to communicate with my hands, but how to embrace who I was. When I was old enough, I started to volunteer, and when I was graduating high school, I knew exactly what I was called to do. Teach.
