Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 69371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“Your woman?” she repeats that part, and I suddenly think that maybe I should have worded it better.
“Um, yeah,” I say like duh obviously. “I don’t know what people call each other when they are with each other every single day and share a life together. We are both thirty. Is calling you my girlfriend not too young? So yeah, my woman sounds about right.”
“What about the girl in New York?” She stares at me, and my heart stops in my chest.
“What?” I whisper, and I think that perhaps I need to take a step back and just let things calm down. Maybe I should have made her work through things before I just jumped right into it.
“The girl in New York,” she says again, and this time, the burning in my stomach spreads to my chest, then my throat. “What about her?”
I take a second to think about what she is asking me exactly. “What about her?” The only words that can come out of my mouth at this point.
“Well, where does she stand?” This whole line of questioning is so out of the blue. My head is spinning around and around as I try to wrap my head around everything that happened tonight.
“She doesn’t stand anywhere.” I just shake my head. “Stop with this runaround and little questions here and there. Why don’t you ask what you need to ask?” She looks down at the bottle of scotch, and instead of giving her a chance to ask the questions, I just come right out. “She was nothing.” I don’t take my eyes off her. “She was less than nothing.” I feel pressure on my chest, wondering how long she’s had this festering inside her.
“Will you see her again?” she asks, still not looking at me, and I can’t even fathom how long she’s had this idea in her head.
I walk over and stand next to her, putting one hand on the counter and the other on her hip. “Clarabella.” I say her name, and she looks up at me, and I can see the tears in her eyes and the way that she is blinking to fight them back. “I don’t even know what her name was.” I tell the truth. “We met at the restaurant when she came in with friends. She flirted with me, and I stupidly went home with her. I spent maybe two hours with her before I walked out and said I would never do that again.”
“You don’t need to justify yourself to me,” she says, and I snap. The space I was giving her was gone when I took another step into her. Turning her to face me, I tighten my hand on her hip to make sure she doesn’t move farther away from me.
“I don’t need to justify myself to you,” I say softly, turning her and making her look at me. “I want to justify myself to you.” One of my hands comes up as I brush her hair away from her forehead. “Look at me, Clarabella,” I urge, and she lifts her eyes to look at me. “I don’t know what you put in your head or how long you’ve been thinking about this, but I need you to know that there is no one but you. Not now and not before.” My thumb rubs her cheek. “I fucked up six months ago letting you go.” My voice comes out softly. “And I’m not even going to be sorry that Edward fucked up the way he did. I can’t because if he hadn’t, then I wouldn’t be standing here right now in front of you.” I can’t help but bend and kiss her lips. “Tonight, when he came at you and called you a cheater, there was no way I was ever going to let people think that. Because that isn’t you. You aren’t that person.”
“I know I’m not,” she says, and I can’t help but lean down and touch her lips with mine. “I know who I am and what went down. I know in my heart that the truth will come out.” She takes a deep breath. “I just didn’t want it to come out in a shouting match in the middle of Main Street. The chatter about me being a runaway bride is starting to die down.” She closes her eyes. “And now with that, it’ll just be more shit people will talk about.”
“I’m sorry,” I say softly, looking into her eyes. “I’m sorry for not thinking of that, but I just couldn’t let him pull a scene and be the wounded party when he’s not.” I swallow down the lump that has formed in my throat. “You would be married to him right now.” I can’t even fathom that thought. “But I can’t be sorry for standing up for you. I won’t apologize for that because I would do it over and over again.” I hold her chin with my thumb and my forefinger. “So you are just going to have to get used to it.”