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Maybe he’s a cold-hearted jerk.
“I need to go away.” I shake my head. “I have a lot to think about.”
She knows that I met with Royce, but I didn’t tell her that he offered me the opportunity of a lifetime. It reaches beyond the promotion I wanted.
I explained to him that I needed to talk to my boyfriend because the decision would impact both of us.
Us.
There is no us.
She moves closer. She tugs locks of my hair out from under the neckline of the hoodie I’m wearing. “Promise me you’ll be careful. Don’t swim alone, and when you go to town, you’ll call me?”
I nod.
“I’ll help you pack.”
I turn to her. “Dudley needs to go back to Keats. I don’t think Arietta will give him up.”
She wraps her arm around my shoulder. “I’ll take care of it. I’ll take of it all.”
I know she will. She did the last time I was left with nothing but empty words and a broken heart.***Charming is the word my dad uses to describe our family cabin. My mom’s positive spin on it is that it’s quaint.
I love it because it’s remote.
The cabin consists of six-hundred feet of cramped space, including one bedroom, a bathroom, a small kitchen, and three plastic chairs next to a round table.
There’s no television here. WiFi and cell service don’t exist in this part of the state.
This is the place my parents always brought me when they needed an escape from the demands of New York City.
I drop my bag and the keys from the rental car on the table.
I look around at the dusty interior of the cabin.
Pressing the light switch, I gaze up at the strings of small white lights my dad hung up years ago. It was magical to me then, and it still is.
This place is nothing like my apartment in Manhattan, but I love it here. I need to be here.
I drop onto the old blue and green checkered sofa that doubles as a pullout bed.
Circling my arms around my chest, I sob.
I cry for what I’ve lost in the past and for what I’ve lost now.
I thought I had a chance at real happiness, but maybe that’s not how my story is supposed to end.Chapter 56KeatsScrubbing my hand over the back of my neck, I glance outside my townhouse for the fiftieth fucking time.
“The goddamn package isn’t here,” I say to the guy I’m talking to. “If you delivered it, it’s fucking invisible.”
“Oh, no, Keats,” a quiet voice says.
Shit.
I turn to see Stevie standing ten feet away from me.
I shake my head, trying to mouth an apology to her. I’m losing it. I am fucking losing it because I miss Maren.
“Maybe someone snatched it off your porch, sir,” he says into my ear. “Did you ever think of that?”
I peer out the window to look at my stoop again. “I didn’t.”
“If you have surveillance equipment, I suggest you check that before you call back again.”
He hangs up.
I don’t blame him. I was a dick. I admit it.
I shove the phone into the back pocket of my jeans.
“You swore,” Stevie points out. “What’s wrong, Keats?”
Berk wanders into the room. He knows the story. I laid it all out last night for him after Stevie went to bed.
He told me to stop punishing Maren for Amber’s misdeeds.
Then he scolded me for putting so much pressure on myself to land a deal with Fletcher.
I needed the lecture.
It’s been a long time coming.
When you’re cheated on, you question your worth. I know that. I felt it.
I tied mine to my work, so whenever I’d lose a potential client, it hit hard.
That’s what happened when Earl Newman told me I was the wrong man for the job.
He was right.
I am the wrong man.
I’ve taken on too much to prove a point to no one but myself.
My life needs an overhaul beginning with my relationship with Maren.
I’ve tried texting her twice today. My call to her went straight to voicemail, and she hasn’t been at work in two days.
I want to talk to her. Even if she breaks my heart, I need to know what she wants and who she wants.
“Did you find out where the package is, Keats?” Stevie asks.
I drag myself back into this moment in time. My niece is looking for the new sneakers I ordered for her. Who the fuck knew that a kid’s feet could outgrow a pair of shoes in a month?
“He said the package was delivered. I need to check the doorbell camera footage to see if someone took it.”
Stevie gasps as she clings to Budley. “Someone stole my shoes? Call the police, Daddy.”
Berk chuckles. “Let’s try and solve this mystery ourselves first.”
She bounces up and down. “I am a super good detective. I always find your phone when you hide it.”
I nod my head in agreement. “She has a valid point.”
