AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’d be crawling back to my mom’s house, tail between my legs, if she hadn’t done that. Sera and Victoria would have done the same if Trish hadn’t been so quick about it.
I sigh and flip back to the text from Phillip. His picture is sitting at the top of the text message. He’s got a goofy grin on his face, and he’s wearing that two dollar “saffron-stained” red shirt that I made him buy. God, he’s handsome when he looks like that. Like a silly teenager who doesn’t know how to make his own coffee or how to boil water.
No matter how “hot” he is in a ten-thousand-dollar suit, he’ll never be as sexy as when he’s relaxed and playful.
I shut off the phone’s screen, not wanting to see the man I’ve walked away from. The smart thing would be to distance myself from him. To ignore him and go back to my normal life. Become an author. Achieve my dreams.
Forget the man that showed me what it meant to smile every morning. Forget the man that showed me what it was to be happy.
Fifty-Four
PHILLIP
Balloons,cake, and a bunch of employees surround me as I eye the door. Sera’s company party is probably the last place I want to be, but it was the only way I was sure that I could see Addison. We don’t have many company parties, but Andrew insisted on this one, and I didn’t offer any pushback because I knew that she’d be here.
It’s an absolutely terrible idea for me to have come, but like so many things in my life these past two months, I don’t think there’s a better option. She told me a long time ago that she hated surprises, and this is definitely going to be a surprise. How else am I supposed to see her? Just show up on her doorstep and bang on the door until she answers? This is at least better than that.
Andrew is talking to Sera with a grin on his face. Who knew that they’d had a secret fling the first year she got hired? It makes me feel a little better about dating and promptly falling in love with Addison two weeks after she got hired.
My eyes go back to the doorway as I wait for her. People walk into the Atrium’s conference room, grinning and laughing.
They’re dressed in business casual, most of them wearing the same things they’d wear to work. Simple button-down shirts, slacks, a few dresses, and black skirts.
And then she walks in, a dress that only she’d own. God, she’s fucking beautiful. When she’s at work, she looks good in professional outfits, but the real beauty comes out when she’s wearing the things that fit her. Like this one. A light blue dress that reminds me of a fifty’s housewife. Tiny little white polka dots cover it. Does it fit “business casual”? Maybe. Does it stick out like a sore thumb? Definitely. Do I fucking love that she wore it? More than she’d ever understand.
Part of me wants to jump out of my seat and rush over to her, but for the first time since I can remember, I’m actually a little terrified. I’ve turned the world upside down for her, and she doesn’t even know it. Regardless of how she responds to me, I know that I’d do it again.
I needed Addison to yell at me, to show me just how much I fucked up when I inherited Loughton House. I needed to change it because I am not my father.
But I don’t know what I’m going to do if she pushes me away again. Well, that’s not true. I do actually know. When I was tiny, probably five or six, my mother told me something that stuck with me even though I had no intention of ever getting married. “Don’t look for the perfect woman. Become the man that the perfect woman would want, and she’ll find you.”
I know there’s only one woman that I want, and I will do whatever it takes to be the man that she could love like she did a month ago. Even if it means that I give this all up. I’ve even talked to Andrew about doing just that.
Addison walks across the room to where Sera is talking to Andrew, and Sera nearly screeches. She says something about the dress Addison’s wearing, and they hug each other.
It’s hard to look away from her. Until I hear a voice from behind me that I can’t ignore. “You’re doing all of this for her?”
I turn around and see my father sitting behind me at the table wearing the same suit that he wore at every important meeting of his life. He looks older now, like the wrinkles around his eyes have grown in the past month. Like his shoulders slump just a little more now.
“Yes.”
He nods and gives me the barest hint of a smile. “I know how that feels, son. I… I know that you probably hate me, but I hope you’ll listen to me for a few minutes.”
I want to scream at him. I can’t help but blame my father for so many things. It feels like I’ve been at war with him since that weekend I spent at that stupid motel. But I see something in his eyes that I haven’t seen in a very long time. Sadness. Pain.
“What is it?” I can’t keep the growl out of my voice. I may be willing to listen to him, but I can’t stop the anger from rising inside me.
He nods. “I’m proud of you, Phillip. Not because of your business choices. Not because you’re better than me at running Loughton House. I’m proud that you’re willing to do all of this for her.”
I frown, the anger dissipating somewhat. “What are you talking about? You’ve never said a single word about love in your entire life.”
And for the third time in my life, I see a tear roll down his cheek. His lips quiver as he begins talking. “I know everyone sees Loughton House as mine, but it wasn’t ever for me. I built Loughton House for your mother. Everything I’ve done, everything I am, is to fulfill a promise I made to her before you were ever born.”
What? I’ve never heard anything about this.
His gaze grows a little unfocused as he says, “I met your mother when she was seventeen and working at a terrible little diner. She was barely surviving, living on food the diner was about to throw out. I was in college, trying to understand my place in the world, and I met this pretty girl who managed to smile even when she looked like she was about to collapse.
“I fell in love with her, but when I asked her to marry me, she told me she wouldn’t marry me unless I could promise that our children would never be poor. Ever. Not even for a moment. She didn’t want her babies or grandbabies to struggle like she had her entire life. She made me promise that no matter what happened, no one in our family would ever have to go hungry for even a day.”
