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She pushes me out the door and locks it behind her, ignoring me the entire time. I follow her to the elevator, unsure what to say but too scared to let her go—like when she gets into the car it’s going to be the end of us when we’ve only just begun.
With that thought, fear drives what I do next. Reaching out, I press the emergency stop button, halting the elevator.
“What the hell are you doing?” she yells over the blaring alarm.
“Please don’t go,” I beg again, crowding her in the corner. “Please don’t get in that car and get on the plane with the purpose of running. I know I fucked up, but fuck, Bree…” I shake my head, tears pricking my lids. “I care about you so much, and I never meant to hurt you.”
“But you did,” she says so softly I can barely hear her over the alarm. Tears slide down her cheeks like twin waterfalls, and it feels as though I’m at the bottom, drowning in her emotions. “If you care about me, you’ll let me go. You hurt me, and now I’m done.”
“I’m afraid if you go, this is the end,” I admit out loud. “You’re the best thing to happen to me. For years, I was only focused on work, and it wasn’t until I met you that I realized I’d been going through the motions. You walked into my life, and suddenly, I can see an entire future I never considered before.”
“Then you should’ve thought about that.” She presses the button, and the ringing stops, the elevator continuing its descent.
When the doors open, she stalks out before me, and I follow her out the door and to the car, wishing I could kidnap her and hold her hostage, so she’d be forced to listen and let me make shit right. But life doesn’t work that way, and as she gets into the car without so much as a glance back at me, I know she’s done. And as the car drives away, I watch Bree take my heart—and Brody’s—with her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
AUBREE
“Mommy, you’re here!” Evie runs toward me, and I kneel, scooping her into my arms for a hug. “I missed you so much.” She kisses me and pulls back. “You’re not going to make us go home, though, right?”
I bark out a laugh. “Is home so bad?” I joke, setting her down.
“No, I love home,” she says, warming my heart. “But Grammy and Papa are going to take us to see the dolphins, and I really want to go.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun, and no, I’m not going to make you go home. I just really missed you and your brother and needed some really good hugs and kisses.”
Evie’s smile spreads across her face. “I’m the best hugger and kisser ever!” She throws her arms around me again, pulling me down to her level, and with each kiss she peppers on my cheeks and nose and chin, my broken heart heals a little more.
“You are definitely the best hugger and kisser ever,” I agree, kissing her back, my throat filled with raw emotion.
“Mom!” Miles yells, running out to join us. “Sorry, I was fishing with Papa.” He hugs me tight and gives me a chaste kiss on my cheek. “Wanna go fishing with me?”
“She’s going to play dolls with me,” Evie argues.
“I can do both, but first, why don’t we go inside, so I can say hi to Grammy and Papa?”
“Fine,” they both groan.
Since it’s already late, we hang out and catch up for a little while, and then, with the promise that I’ll get up early and go fishing with Miles and then spend the afternoon playing dolls with Evie, I put the kids to bed, reading them a chapter in their Harry Potter book that Beatrice has taken over reading to them every night.
Since Beatrice and Stephen are early sleepers, they show me to my room, which overlooks the ocean with a balcony attached to it, and then wish me a good night.
With the house quiet, I change into my pajamas, grab a glass of wine from the fridge, and then head out to the balcony to read, hoping to escape.
The romance novel I’m reading is about a couple who’ve been friends since they were little. They spent a heated night together, and a couple of months later, when she finds out she’s pregnant, he doesn’t remember because he was addicted to drugs and high the night they spent together.
With every page I read, as he works hard to make things right but continues to screw up because he’s broken, my heart cracks a little more, hoping the heroine will see how much he loves her, how much he wants to be better for her…for himself.
I get lost in the words, in the story, and the next thing I know, I’m flipping to the epilogue with tears pouring down my cheeks, so happy that despite all the trials and tribulations they faced, their love was strong enough to get them through it. It wasn’t easy, sometimes it was damn hard, and the odds were against them, but no matter how many times they messed up, they kept fighting for each other, for their love.
