AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I glance up at him, the knot frozen in my hand mid-pull. “One of the only memories I have of my father living with us was him putting on his tie in the morning.” I finish the knot and pat his chest. “All done.” When I would scoot away, he tightens his grip on my waist.
“How did you learn to knot a tie?”
My lashes lower and then lift. “I begged my mother to teach me to impress him.”
“Did it work?”
I shake my head. “The night I was going to show him I could do it, he didn’t come home.”
“And the next night?”
“There was no next night. He ran off with his girlfriend.” Just saying that cuts like a freshly sharpened blade.
“How did you handle that?”
“Better than you might expect because my mother didn’t. She cried so much I thought the tears might kill her.”
“Did you cry?”
“Yes. For my mother. Not for my father.”
“And for yourself when your ex cheated?”
“No. I didn’t cry for myself. I didn’t cry because of him, Gabe. No man who cheats deserves my tears. I will never cry for a man like my mother cried for my father.”
He studies me several thoughtful moments. “Nor should you.” He speaks those words almost vehemently. “No cheater is worth anyone’s tears.” He kisses my forehead. “We need to leave. You finish up. I’m going to confirm the dog walker.” He sets me aside and I can almost feel the wall slam down, not necessarily between us. More so around him but it’s different than in the past. Like there’s a door cracked and waiting on me to enter, but he isn’t ready to open it just yet. And I understand. I really do understand. No one reacts the way he just reacted unless he’s cheated or he’s been cheated on. I’m not sure if that’s guilt or pain he’s hiding from. I just know that he doesn’t believe I can handle it. Maybe he hasn’t handled it and that’s the problem. He’s wounded and he’s far from healed.
A few minutes later, with my purse in hand, I find him in the living room and he’s not talking to the dog walker. He’s standing at that window, looking out at that view he claims as his escape. The place where no one can touch him and I don’t miss the fact that he’s doing so alone but I’m not leaving him that way.
I waste no time joining him, and at the sound of my steps, he rotates to face me. I wrap my arms around him, tilting my chin up to look at him. “I promise you, I will not lie to you. I will not cheat on you. I will not judge you. I will not blame you. I will not—”
His fingers tangle in my hair and he drags my mouth to his. “A promise is nothing but words. Words aren’t enough for me. You need to know that.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“Your truth, my truth, is in what we do.”
He’s right, of course. My ex made promises. Those promises were lies.
“One day you’ll trust me and I’ll trust you,” he says. “It’ll be a good day.”
The doorbell rings and he strokes my hair, a tender gesture that is somehow reserved. “That will be our ride to Reese’s office.” He releases me and heads for the door, his front door. The other door, the one in his wall, slams shut behind him.
Chapter seventy-three
Abbie
We exit through a side door of Gabe’s building to avoid the press, and do so with the help of Adam, a tall man with wavy hair, who works for Walker Security.
It’s a trouble-free effort and soon Gabe and I settle into the back of an SUV with Adam in the passenger seat and another man behind the wheel. “Kenneth had women,” I say as we start moving. “Any one of them could have put a hit on him and set me up.”
“Do you know who any of these women are?” Gabe asks.
“A few.”
“Make a list. Give it to Reese.”
I reach in my purse and start writing down names for no reason but keeping my mind busy. The list is five names long but there were more. Gabe takes it from me, stares at the names and then looks up at me. “You knew these women?”
