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“When you’re ready, we would really like the chance to sit down and have dinner with you,” he declared. His eyes slid to Kane’s. “The both of you.”
“Thanks for understanding, Dad.”
He dipped his chin. “I love you, Ellery. And despite my failures, I’m so proud of the woman you’ve become.”
I appreciated his words, and I loved that he was able to see what I needed now in my life and was willing to give me the space and time to do it on my own.
“We’ll come to visit you,” my mom offered. “When you’re ready, we’ll come to the both of you.”
Nodding, I replied, “I’ll let you know.”
While I knew that my parents wanted to spend more time with me and to get to know Kane better, I couldn’t give it to them immediately.
Kane wanted to give me everything.
I wanted him to be able to do that.
So, as soon as the authorities gave us the okay to go, I bid my parents and my sister farewell and promised to catch up with them as soon as things could settle down a bit for me.
Maybe that was wrong of me. I didn’t know.
What I did know was that I had spent entirely too much of my life living it for someone else. I wasn’t angry with my parents about it, and it certainly wasn’t Ainsley’s fault. I’d made my decision, and nobody could have talked me out of it.
I simply wanted some time to just live the life I wanted for a bit.
For now, that involved going back to Steel Ridge and heading to the Steel Hideaway at Short and Sweet.It involved making love to the man who’d saved my life in more ways than one. And it involved starting the process of ending what had kept me from finding true happiness for far too long.
“I can’t believe even half of what you just told me. I’m so sorry to hear you went through all of that, Ellery.”
I sat on the couch opposite of Hanna and smiled at her. “Thanks. It was upsetting in the moment, obviously, but it’s all good now. I’m just so relieved that it’s over.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. “I’ll bet. But on the bright side, you learned that you’ve got such a great man in your life now.”
My smile grew. She wasn’t wrong about that. While I already knew that Kane was the best thing that had ever happened to me, there was no denying that what he did for me when it came to the entire situation with Patrick was a true testament to the kind of guy he was.
It had been a couple of days since the incident with my sister went down in West Virginia. There was still a lot that was up in the air at this point, but Patrick was in custody, and I felt safe.
Even Kane was at ease, because he was currently at work. He finally felt okay with leaving me alone while he went to work. Today, I took advantage of the time I had and decided to visit with Hanna. We were enjoying having girl time, and I’d just filled her in on all that had happened.
It wasn’t surprising that she was shocked to hear all that we’d gone through a few days ago. It also wasn’t shocking to me that she recognized the kind of man I had in my life now.
“I’m really lucky to have Kane,” I said, agreeing with her.
“I’m so happy for you, even if this all means that I’m probably not going to have you around much longer,” she replied.
My brows knit together. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “I just assumed that since you’re no longer in hiding and you’ve got this great guy in your life now that you’d be looking to settle yourself down permanently here in Steel Ridge.”
Nodding my understanding, I shared, “Yeah. I do think I’m going to start looking for a place soon, but I’m not doing it immediately. I want to work out the details of the divorce, and confirm everything with an attorney before I just start buying property. Regardless, whether I move in a month or three months, I still would love for us to remain friends. I’d even like to come back and visit on game nights.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Hanna, you were the first true friend I had when I moved here to town,” I noted. “You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”
Something warm moved through her expression. “I’m glad you’re sticking around, Ellery.”
“Me too,” I told her. “What about you?”
