Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 88456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
“I’m sure she’ll come out eventually,” I mumble to her as I make my protein shake.
“Are you okay?” she asks, and I turn to look at her standing there in my kitchen wearing shorts and a tank top. One foot on top of the other, her hair wild and free around her face, and I have to think she’s never looked more beautiful since I’ve met her.
“You tell me,” I ask, “are you okay?”
She picks up her cup, brings it to her lips, turning to the side and nodding her head. “Then I’m okay,” I answer, but the truth is I’m far from okay. I hate this. I also know I’m not ready to push her to have this conversation because what if she says things I don’t want to hear? What if she is ready to throw in the towel on this marriage, and I’m not ready to hear the words? What if she’s making plans to move back to her life in New York? What if dickhead is in the wings waiting for her? The what-ifs are making me fucking sick. I barely mix my protein shake. Unlike yesterday, when I took it upstairs and then we fucked in the shower, when I walk upstairs, she’s in the bathroom with the door closed, which is also a first.
I turn around and head over to the spare bathroom, turning on the shower and then seeing her cat has followed me in here. She looks up at me and meows. “She’s in the other room.” I point at the door. “Go find her.” I bend down and pet her. “I thought she would be so happy to have you,” I tell the little cat, who I’m sure has no fucking idea what the fuck I’m saying. I pick her up and take her back to the bedroom, seeing Zoey walk back out of the bathroom. “I found her, or more like she found me. She followed me into the other bathroom.”
“The other bathroom?” she asks, confused.
“Yeah, the door was closed, and I didn’t want to bother you, so I was going to shower in the other one.”
“Oh. Well, I’m done. You can have the bathroom.” I stare at her and see her nose is a touch red. I don’t say a word. Instead, I nod at her and walk into the bathroom, not closing the door, and starting the water, hoping like fuck she comes and joins me. She doesn’t. When I come out of the shower, the bed is made, and she’s not in the closet. I get dressed with dread, and when I head downstairs, I hear her.
“We have to leave to go to work, but you have a couple of toys to keep you busy, and I’m going to leave food and water out, and even leave the faucet in the sink on, just in case.” I smile at her voice and see her wearing pants and a shirt as she holds the cat in her arms.
“Ready?” I ask when I walk into the kitchen. She nods before kissing the cat and putting her in the basket of the cat tree she built.
I wait for her to walk out of the house, like I do every single morning. “I think I’m going to come home at lunch and check and make sure she’s okay,” she tells me as I get into the car.
“You can even work from home in the afternoon.” I start the car, and the rest of the ride to the office is done in stone-cold silence. The tension in the car is so thick my chest feels like it’s being constricted. When we get to the office, she walks ahead of me for the first time, barely holding the door open for me.
Lulu greets us with a smile as Zoey smiles at her with a fake smile before walking over to her side of the office. Lulu just looks at me confused, and I’m pretty sure everyone is going to think we’re fighting.
I walk into my office and close the door, something I’ve not done often, so if Lulu didn’t know we were fighting before, she will definitely know now. Pulling out my phone, I call the one person who will sort of help me make sense of this or maybe not.
He answers after one ring. “Caine Griffin,” he says, and I roll my eyes.
“How you still do not look at the call display is still a mystery.” I put the phone to my ear, leaning back.
“It’s a force of habit,” he says, “you should try it. Sometimes it is better than yo or ’sup.”
I chuckle before I hear his voice go low. “You okay?”
I look at the closed door before I answer him, “I have no idea.”
“What happened?”
“I wish I fucking knew,” I answer him honestly. “It was going so good until her ex sent her flowers, and then she got defensive about being surrounded by women who want me,” I hiss. “Then I got her a kitten, and she got pissed at me because in ninety days, we could be divorced.”