AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Youcan,” he assured her. “And you’re going to be amazing.” He gritted his teeth, biting down so hard his jaw ached. No emotion. No weakness. Just pure sacrifice. He wanted to tell her he would always love her. He wanted to drop to his knees and beg for her to stay with him, to build their own happily ever after.
But this was real life.
Simon gave her a firm nod and slipped out of the room before he broke completely. He made it halfway down the stairs when hurried footsteps behind him made him stop cold. To hope it was Katrina chasing him down to tell him he was making a mistake would be unrealistic, and he’d decided last night that he needed to be better at viewing the world through the right lenses.
The shuffling footsteps stopped. He didn’t dare turn around, not even when he heard Brianne’s quiet voice.
“I heard what you said in there.”
And just like that, his heart shattered.
His hand tightened on the railing at his side. Without facing her, he muttered, “Yeah, well, it had to be said.”
“I think it has got to be the most selfless thing you have ever done, and you don’t have a single selfish bone in your body.”
He couldn’t breathe. Her words were only making matters worse. What was he supposed to say? Right now, all he wanted was to be that selfish jerk who made demands, because for once in his life, he wanted something to work out for him.
No parents. No family. Until recently, nothing to call his own. And now he’d lost the love of his life. He certainly felt like the universe owed himsomething.
“Is there something you wanted from me, Brianne? I have to get back to the farm.”
For a moment, she didn’t say anything. He nearly thought she’d slipped away and left him looking like the idiot he was. Then she finally spoke.
“She doesn’t know what she’s losing.” With that, her footsteps faded away.
Simon glanced over his shoulder, finding the staircase empty. That was probably the first meaningful compliment Brianne had given him.
Slowly, he turned back and headed down the stairs. There would be plenty to distract himself with over the next several months. He would be able to dive into his work and hopefully he’d be able to forget all about the feelings Katrina had awoken within him.
He’d been telling her the truth when he told her that there was no one else. Part of him had already come to terms with this when he’d decided to come speak to her.
Katrina would move on to bigger and better things. She might find a new guy to date or even marry. She’d move up in the company she so desperately wanted to be a part of. And he’d remain the same old Simon.
There wasn’t a single doubt in his mind that he would end up alone, and he’d made his peace with it. Once he’d experienced love like he had, he wouldn’t be able to settle for anything less.
If he had to spend the rest of his days reliving those small moments, he would.
* * *
Simon did exactlyas he’d told himself he would.
He buried himself in work.
Paperwork, grunt work, and anything else he could fill his time with that would exhaust him to the point he could pass out on the bed in the spare room. There were now two rooms in his home where he couldn’t stand to be for more than a few seconds. Everywhere he looked, all he saw were reminders of Katrina, from the bedding she’d replaced to the paint color she’d chosen.
Yes, it looked nice. More than nice—that woman knew what she was doing when she pulled aspects of a room together. It was no wonder those people in Salt Lake City wanted her. She was good.
But that didn’t change the fact that he was absolutely miserable in his own home.
Three weeks had gone by since he’d seen her last.
Three whole weeks and he still couldn’t bring himself to sleep in his own bed, never mind go to town and visit any of the businesses they’d gone to together. He had to face it. Katrina was a part of his life whether he liked it or not. But what did he expect when he fell for his best friend?
He longed for the day when he could relive their moments together without the deep, heart-wrenching pain that came with it.
The folks around him treated him differently, too. He’d first noticed it when he went into the grocery store and got a few pitying looks. No one talked about Katrina. No one even breathed a whisper of the city where she now resided.
She’d left, and there was no telling whether she’d come back.
