Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 87911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“Good.” She sighed. “What do you want from me, Alfie?”
“The chance to make this right. I know I fucked up all those years ago. I know I’ve got no right to ask for you to give me a chance, but I’m begging you for it. I want to make this work. You’ve not been with anyone else.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know you, Chloe. I know what it took for you to give yourself to me, and you don’t give easily. Not after what we went through.”
“The only reason we went through it was because of you. Why did you do it, Alfie? Why?”
“I was a fucking prick, okay? I didn’t know what I was doing. I thought I knew the kind of woman you were, but I was wrong. I wasn’t going to see it through. Not just because of the club but because of you. I got to know you, and I realized how wrong I was to have judged you. You’re not that person, and I know it now, Chloe. I want to make it up to you. The night you gave yourself to me, I loved it. You made me feel whole, and since you’ve been gone, I’ve felt empty inside, like a piece of myself has been torn away from me and there’s nothing left.”
“Alfie, please, don’t do this.”
“What you saw at the diner, I’ll do it every single day if I have to, to prove it to you.” He stepped up to her, staring into her blue eyes. There was so much he’d missed about this woman.
He shook deep inside and knew he couldn’t let her go, not now he finally had her back.
Slamming his lips down on hers, he kissed his first woman in over five years, and her lips were everything.
****
Chloe pushed her mother toward the elevator later that same evening.
“He kissed you, and then what?” Lily asked.
“His cell phone rang. The club needed him, kind of reminded me a little of Dad, and he had no choice but to leave. He walked me to my door, kissed me again, and left. I spent the afternoon passed out on the sofa, until my cell woke me up. I’ve already texted Eagle, I got his number from him in case you were wondering. Let him know I was coming to see you.”
“I can’t believe he kissed you.”
“It was just a kiss, Mom, nothing to think about.” She pressed the buttons to the ground floor.
“Nothing to think about? A kiss can be so much more, if only you’ll allow yourself to feel it.”
“Just the other day you told me I shouldn’t think of coming home. Now you want me to think of the kiss.”
“I didn’t want you to come home while you still had your dreams and aspirations in the city. You will always come first for me, Chloe, you know that.”
“I know you love me and care. You have not one but two broken legs, and city life had stopped agreeing with me.”
“Since when?”
Chloe leaned against the wall waiting for the doors to open. “After I graduated culinary school. Reginald demanding I go on a date with him, and not giving me the chance to turn him down. A whole lot of stuff. I don’t want to talk about it.”
The doors opened, and she pushed her mother out, finding the signs to take them both to the gardens. The nurse mentioned how nice it would be for her mother to get some fresh air, and she agreed. It would be good, for the both of them.
“I want to know what is going on in your head, missy. You can’t just push me to one side like this.”
“I’m not pushing you anywhere, apart from taking you outside to enjoy the fresh air.”
“See, pushing me.”
She chuckled. “Mom, you’re a hoot.”
“I know. So, tell me all about it, come on. I want to hear every single little detail.”
She told her mother exactly what had happened. She couldn’t remember word for word what Alfie had said, and by the time she made it to the garden and sat down on the bench beside her mother, she was exhausted.
“Now tell me what you want to do about it,” Lily said.
“There’s nothing to do about it. I don’t know if I can come home.”
“Why not?”
“I’d be looking for work, and I don’t want to work at the diner, not with Katie working there.”
Lily wrinkled her nose. “You should see her coming onto all the men. It’s kind of gross.”
“I don’t know what I want anymore. I’ve loved being away and finding myself. I love cooking and baking. I love being in the kitchen, but the city, it’s not home, you know. It always feels different when you’re with me, but you won’t move to the city because your life is very much here. I’m so confused.” She pressed her face against her hands.