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“It’s not even Thanksgiving, Reese. You have time. This will work out. You’re good at what you do. You’ll find a way and I’ll help.”
“You’re connected to Cat and the Maxwell’s too. You can’t help but the fact that you want to, is appreciated. Just take care of my woman. That’s what I need you to do.”
“If you love each other, and I know you do, this won’t be the end. You know that, right?”
“This is Cat, Lauren. The queen of putting up walls and I won’t be able to do anything to pull them back down.”
“If she puts a wall up she was never yours. If she doesn’t, you know it’s real. And in a way this a gift. We all need to know it’s real.” Her line beeps. “That’s probably her. You two will get through this.” She disconnects and I wish like hell I had something to hit.
Chapter thirty-seven
Cat
The minute Lauren opens the door, I know she knows. “He called you.”
“Yes.” She backs up and I enter the house, and walk to the giant chair by the couch and sit down on the ottoman.
She joins me as she sits on the couch. “How are you?”
“How am I?” I laugh without humor. “I drank champagne to celebrate my press release, after which my brother called and told me Reese was suing my family. This was right before Reid told me to fuck off. Next up. Reese told me he loves me right before we said goodbye forever, for all I know. So how am I? I’m doing just peachy.”
“You and Reese will get through this. This mess sucks, but you will get through it.”
“You know the facts, I assume. Are we overreacting?”
“No you aren’t overreacting. This is a monstrous problem.”
“We can’t be together right now, can we?”
“That’s a potential challenge. Do you think your family will use you against Reese at Reese’s expense?”
“Yes. In some dark, underground, dirty way, they will lash out at him and I don’t know how to stop that from happening.”
“I talked this through with Reese, but let’s you and I try, too.”
For two full hours, we talk and talk, and talk some more, until there is nowhere else to go. “I think this will end us,” I say, voicing my biggest fear.
“Not if you love each other.”
“You don’t know how brutal my family is. They will make Reese hate me and I won’t be able to stop it.”
“You don’t give Reese credit if you believe that.”
“He’s brilliant. You’re right. I know. But so is my father.”
“Reese is younger, more agile in every way, and he’s in love. And love is powerful. While you are worrying about Reese, do you know what Reese is worried about?”
“What?”
“Your walls. That while you two are apart, you’ll find a way to shut him out.”
“I won’t. Not Reese. I want him to know that. Tell him I said that.”
“I can’t, Cat. Because for two years, all you have done is shut everyone out, even me. Julie is my best friend. You are as close to that as someone can be without being that because you go months without even calling me.”
“I know. I just—sometimes I deal with being alone by being alone.”
“But you’re not alone unless you make yourself alone,” Lauren says.
