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She glares down at her lap and then she glances up at me from under her long, dark lashes.
“How is your dad?”
I jump but push the anger down. She’s not trying to hurt me. “He’s still in jail. Where he belongs.”
“Have you gone to see him?”
“No. And I’m not going to.”
“Never?” She asks me, her eyes wide.
I huff and turn to look at her pretty golden eyes. “I’m not gonna forgive him, princess. What he did isn’t meant for forgiveness.”
“It might help you.”
“It won’t. I don’t need or want anything to do with him.”
“Okay. But….”
I catch her hand up and tug her over to me, studying her fearless eyes. “You always rush in when other people try to dodge the scary issues. Why?”
“I think you should forgive him for you. It’s not good for your heart to hold onto something like that.”
“You are such a pollyanna sometimes. I’m not forgiving him. Never ever. He killed my mother because he’s a selfish man. That doesn’t change because he’s in jail. I will never trust that man near anybody I love.”
“Do you love someone?” She asks.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does.”
“No, it doesn’t.” I eye her hopeful gaze and know that I need to cut this off right now.
“I don’t intend to ever love any woman and you know why.”
“Why?”
I sigh and grumble, “My father loved my mother. It was a complete and utter disaster when the two of them got together. I don’t want to risk that with any woman.”
“I see.” She frowns and nibbles her lips again.
“How about we go ahead and get ready for bed, princess? Hopefully we can get out of here tomorrow.”
“Sure.” The two of us settle down and I bank the fire a little and pull the bed out of the couch and push it down. The pile of bedding that they gave us is very quick to put on and then I crawl into the bed and groan when I lie down and immediately get a spring in my back.
“Are you okay?” She asks quietly.
“Yeah, princess. Get some sleep.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath, pulling her sweet scent into my lungs sadly.
This is probably going to be as close as I ever get to being with the woman I’ve been in love with for years and the last thing I want to do is fall asleep but my body betrays me and I slip under, smiling and holding onto the pillow that was on the bed. A pillow that she lay on and that now smells like her.
It’s the best sleep of my life.
CHAPTER7
Portia
