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I’d thought having my dad believe the lies my stepmother had told him about me hurt, but today, I’d realized that it was nothing compared to having the only man I had ever loved think awful things about me.
He and Cleo should start a club.The Oakley Hater Club.They could meet and discuss all my failings, how terrible I was, and plan my demise.If I wasn’t so exhausted from crying, I’d laugh at that.
Just as I reached the bottom stair with my duffel bag, the front door opened, and Wilder walked inside.
Crap.Why was he here already?I should have gotten out of here sooner.He was going to be pissed about this.
“I didn’t steal anything,” I assured him.“There was some cleaning that needed to be done first.But I am heading out now.Your keys are by the door, and your Amex is on the kitchen counter.”I didn’t look at him as I spoke, but stared at the floor in front of me, then began walking toward the open door.
“Oakley, wait.We need to talk.”
Oh no, we did not.
I shook my head.“Wilder, not any more today, okay?Just … not today.”
He moved to block my path, and I sighed before forcing myself to look up at him.Was he trying to kill me here?Was that his plan?See how far he could push Oakley before she shattered right before his eyes?
“I came here to apologize for what you’d heard.”
Not what I’d expected.“You came to apologize for saying it or because I’d heard it?”I asked, unable to mask the pain in my voice.
“Both.All of it.”
If his eyes didn’t look so tortured, I wouldn’t believe him.Why was he struggling here?We both knew he’d meant what he said.He hated me.Did it matter anymore?Not really.
“You’re forgiven.You could have just called though,” I told him.“If you’ll move, I can get out of your house.”
“Oakley, dammit, let me talk.”
My eyes snapped from the door behind him back to his face.“I did let you talk,” I replied.
“I didn’t mean what I said.I lied.I said those things because …” He paused and shoved his fingers into his dark locks with a frustrated frown.“I said them because I wanted to believe them.”
“Why?So that you have a reason to keep me away from Sarah?That’s cruel, Wilder.She’s all I have.”I choked on the last few words and jerked my eyes off him again to glare at the wall.I was not going to freaking cry again.Not in front of him.
“No.You’re great with Sarah.You’re exactly what she needs.I’m so fucking thankful that she has you in her life.And, yeah, I hated it.Hated that it had to be you who loved my kid like she was your own.It ate me alive.And I am telling you now that I was wrong, and I am sorry about it.I messed up.I let our past get in my head.”
I swung my gaze back to his face.The sincerity in his eyes made me weak.Just like his smile made me weak or how one kind word from him or brief moment with him made me stupid.Because I would think there was hope.I’d cling to it, only for it to be snatched away once again.
“Can you forgive me?”he asked.
I already had.That was the saddest part about this.There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for him.Sure, I liked to say that the girl who had fallen madly in love with him was long gone, but it was my lie.She’d been broken, abused, and damaged.She had gotten tough.Found her independence.Fought for a life that she had security in.But she still had one weakness.Wilder.
“Yes.”That was all I could say.Any more would likely give me away.Show him too much.More than he ever needed or wanted to know.
His eyes searched my face for something, and I wasn’t sure what it was he wanted.“Come back with me.For Sarah.”
“Back to your mom’s?”I asked, surprised.
He nodded.“Unless you have a date you are trying to get to.”
I wanted to laugh.No, I didn’t because I had wanted to be here.With Sarah … and Wilder.
I lifted one shoulder.“If you call a bottle of red wine,The Holiday, and my flannel pajamas a date, then, yes, I have one.”
The corner of his mouth lifted.“You still watch that movie on Thanksgiving?”
I nodded my head.“Yep.Every year.”
