Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
There was nothing soft or romantic about our kiss. It was desperate, clinging. Mournful. He kissed me like he was about to put me on the last available lifeboat. Like he knew, deep down, that it was the very last time.
It can’t be, I told myself firmly. I cannot run this time. Please, don’t run this time.
I pulled back and didn’t try to disguise my tears. “I’m not going to screw this up for us.”
“I know you’re not,” he whispered. “That’s why you’re going.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
“I will do anything for you,” he swore. “Anything you need me to do to make this work, I’ll do it. For as long as it will take.”
“I know.”
But I didn’t. And that’s why I had to leave.
I pushed the button to open the elevator and stepped on. “I’ll call you when I get in.”
“I love you,” he said as the doors began to close.
“I love you, too.”
It’s not final. You can press that button right there and call it all off. That’s all it takes. A press of that “open doors” button.
No. There had to be a moment where there was no turning back, and this one was as good as any. I held in my tears until the doors completely closed, then let them fall.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
(Matthew)
My apartment had never seemed empty before. Not like it did now that Charlotte had left.
I called the office and said I wouldn’t be coming to work. It was okay, since I owned the company, but I felt like a jackass going back for a single day after my long absence, only to stay at home with a broken heart right away.
And it was foolish for my heart to even be broken in the first place. She hadn’t left me. She’d gone home. There had never been any understanding between us that she would stay past the week we’d agreed to. So what if she’d cut things three days short?
This isn’t an indication that she doesn’t want to be with you, I tried to convince myself. It’s normal to not move in with someone the instant you start dating.
All of my past relationships had moved fast. Too fast, considering their duration. And Charlotte had left because she wanted to protect us from making the same mistakes. I should have been thrilled that my girlfriend was willing to pump the brakes for our own good, when I clearly wasn’t able to.
But Charlotte also had a history of running. Scott had said so. Fuck, she had said so. And the way she’d come to this decision so suddenly, in the middle of the night, put my nerves on high alert.
Everything had been fine, until she overheard her brother and my sister. Then, something had sent everything into what felt like a downward spiral.
I couldn’t put my finger on what.
Though I’d canceled with my trainer that morning, I spent way too long in my gym and expended way more physical energy than I should have. My arms were spaghetti noodles, and my leg screamed in pain with every step I took after my marathon session on the recumbent bike. Worse, all that exercise hadn’t quelled my nervous energy.
I’d gotten out of the shower when I noticed my phone screen illuminated with a text notification.
Scott.
I flicked the screen and read his message: I can’t get ahold of Charlotte. Can you see if she wants to do lunch today?
I looked at the message for a long time. I could tell him that the reason he couldn’t reach his sister was because she got up in the middle of the night and decided to run away.
And that it hadn’t escaped my notice that this event coincided with our discussion about him fucking my sister.
“Ah, fuck it.” I picked up my phone and tapped out, I’ve got the day off. Come on over.
“Yeah, come on over,” I muttered to myself. “Come over and answer for your crimes, dickwad.”
He answered almost immediately. OMW.
I went to my closet to get dressed. I didn’t even look toward Charlotte’s. She’ll be back. She’ll be back.
She hadn’t been gone for a full two hours, and I was already a mess. So, it was probably good that she’d left. If she could see the inside of my head right now, she’d never set foot on the entire East Coast ever again.
I gave my head of staff a quick call to let him know that Scott was on the way and to let him come straight up, and I advised the kitchen that I’d have another guest for lunch.
Then, I sat down and considered what the hell I was going to say to him. It had been easier to be chill about the whole thing before I’d put two and two together: it wasn’t a coincidence that Charlotte chose to leave right after our conversation about Scott and Catherine. Something had spooked her. I didn’t know what.