Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 59913 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59913 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
“Point taken, forget I said anything.” She could argue till her face turns blue I’m getting the both of them out of here first chance I get. There was litter on the sidewalk for fuck sake.
The building wasn’t the worst but it wasn’t anywhere near the best either. I followed her up the stairs because the elevator was broken and barely restrained myself from yelling at her.
“How do you plan on getting Amber up the stairs?”
“By carrying her of course.” I closed my mouth and followed her inside.
I stopped short in the little hallway by the door. “Is that him?” The wall was covered with pictures of a younger her and a man.
There were also a ton of photos of the little angel I’d met in the hospital, from birth to maybe a few months ago.
“Yes! She walked away and headed into the kitchen with the bags. I contemplated waiting for her to return before following her. She was standing at the sink drinking a glass of water.
She looked totally worn and tired from her hectic week. I wanted nothing more than to take her in my arms and tell her everything was going to be okay.
The specialist had done a good job of convincing us that everything was going to be okay.
Since he was known to be the best in the field if anyone knew how to cure her child of this illness I had no doubt that he could, so that was one less worry.
But right now I wasn’t thinking about that. I’d finally come face to face with her past and I couldn’t wait another second until I knew what I wanted to know.
I followed her out of the kitchen and down the hall to what I guess was a bedroom, stopping her outside the door.
“Tell me about him.”
“Who, Richard? What’s there to tell? We fell in love young, got married young, and then he died in an accident two weeks before the baby was born.”
She opened the door and walked in and I headed into the living room to wait. Hearing her say she’d been in love with him made me irrationally upset.
I didn’t want to hear that shit, but the proof was all over the place. Apart from the photos there were medals and awards with his name for his photography. The damn place was like a shrine.
I wanted to tear them apart and throw them out the window. I wanted to obliterate him and the more I studied his pretty boy looks in the pictures, or the ones where he had his hands on her, the more livid I became.
Stop being an ass Evan; the man is dead. Yes, but he’d had her. She’d smiled at him, shared a bed with him; had his child…
A dark haze clouded my eyes and I stumbled back away from the wall where I’d been studying his face.
I have to get the fuck out of here; I’m about to lose it. I knocked on the door and pushed it open. “Let’s go, I can’t breathe in here.”
I turned and walked away choosing to wait for her downstairs in the car. If she found my behavior strange she’d just have to deal with it, I couldn’t stand another second in there with him.
13
She came down five minutes later looking none too pleased. That makes two of us. “Why do you still have so many pictures of him?” I don’t think I meant to say that or maybe not in those exact words.
“Excuse me?” I gave her a look because she heard exactly what the fuck I said. She made a huffing sound and flounced back against the seat.
“Answer me.”
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“I’m making it my business.”
“Listen, just because you paid…”
I hit the button to roll up the partition window between us and Stanley the driver and turned to her furiously. My hand wrapped around her throat and pushed her back against the seat.
“Don’t go there, don’t fucking go there. One has nothing to do with the other.”
“Let go.” I stared into her eyes as she clawed at my hand and only when I saw the tears in her eyes did I come to my senses and release her.
I sat back in the seat and looked out the tinted window trying to calm down. I watched out the side of my eye as a tear fell down her cheek.
“Come ‘ere.” I pulled her across the seat and onto my lap. She tried fighting me of course. “Stop crying come on.” I wiped her face with my fingers and kissed her cheek.
She wasn’t talking and her body was stiff as a board. I wrapped my arms around her so she wouldn’t get away from me and whispered in her ear.
“I know you’re mad but I still want to know. Are you still in love with him?” I held my breath painfully as I awaited her answer.