Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
But she’s gone. Her things aren’t in the drawers anymore. Her suitcase isn’t in the closet.
There’s only a note on the bed.
Conlan, I know you’ve been lying to me, and I can’t understand why. I went home to think about things for a little while. Please don’t follow me. I need space. Isabel.
I sink down onto the bed and stare at those words, my heart a burning pit in the center of my chest.
Chapter 34
Isabel
It feels weird coming home.
The place is quiet. I put some lights on, turn on the air conditioner, run the water, shuffle around the bedrooms making sure everything looks okay. The house is in good shape; my father was obsessive about maintaining everything. If the grass is a little long and the flowers don’t look great, that’s not on him, that’s because I find the whole landscaping thing a little bit over my head. Even though I try anyway.
I keep my phone turned off. There’s nobody in the world I want to talk to right now. I picture Conlan finding that note, imagine the way he’s feeling right now, but refuse to feel sorry for him. This isn’t my fault—he’s the one that kept me in the dark for his own selfish reasons.
I draw up a bath and I’m about to get in when there’s a knock at the door. I hesitate, lingering, but the knock comes again, more insistent this time. I curse to myself, pull my clothes back on, and hurry downstairs. “Coming!” I call out, and when I yank open the door, he’s standing on my front porch while it rains in the background, looking at me like he wants to smash his way inside.
“Conlan,” I say but I shouldn’t be surprised. Who else would appear out of the blue like this? I’m an idiot for not realizing, but I’m distracted and not thinking clearly.
“Why did you leave?” he asks.
“I just—” I shrink back slightly, closing the door until I’m talking to him through a crack. He doesn’t move to stop me. “I need space, that’s all. Can you just give me some space?”
“What happened to figuring it out?” he asks, voice soft and steady.
I grimace. He’s got a point. “That’s before I found out you’ve been lying to me.”
“Not lying. I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”
“Even that sounds a little too convenient.”
“Will you just open the door? We’re supposed to communicate, right? I’m here to communicate.”
“Conlan, please, it’s not just about the whole general thing. It’s about more than that.”
“Explain then.” He takes a few steps backward, out from under the porch roof, and into the rain. “I won’t come any closer.”
I open the door, about to tell him to stop being so dramatic, but I bite my tongue. “Fine, you really want to know?”
“Go ahead. I’m not going anywhere.”
“It’s everything we’ve been through. The years and years of watching you parade girls through your life, never settling for more than a night, and always coming up with a thousand excuses why it’s no big deal. Trusting you has always been hard, but I thought you were changing, at least until Allison told me that you’ve been keeping something important from me.”
He holds out his hands. But he still doesn’t come closer. “I understand why you’d feel that way, but I didn’t lie. I withheld something I wasn’t sure about. I was protecting you.”
I let to a sharp laugh. “Come on. That’s bullshit.”
“Isabel—”
“No, I’m tired of doing whatever you want. I’m not your assistant anymore, remember? You fired me, which means we’re finished.”
“I meant what I said to you. This is about more than the job to me.”
“And I thought you meant it until today. Conlan, you could’ve come to me the moment you spoke with Leyland. If we got divorced then, so what? If you really cared about me, we could’ve found a way to still see each other. But instead of being honest and up front, you did the easy thing. You kept the truth from me so that you could keep on getting what you want.”
“That wasn’t my intention.”
“You’re still lying. Come on, tell me the truth. You didn’t want our relationship to end.”
“You’re right, I didn’t.”
“That’s why you didn’t tell me. Admit it.”
He shows his teeth. “Fine, I admit it,” he says. “I kept it from you because I was afraid of losing you right when we were starting to make something real. I care about you, Isabel, in a way I’ve never cared before. It doesn’t make any damn sense and I don’t know how to handle it.”
“You could try handling it like an adult, first of all.” I shake my head. “I’m sorry, Conlan. I just need some space.”
“I don’t want to give you space. I want to come in there and drag you back home.”