Page 21 of Love Restored

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice rough, a little cold.

She played with her fingers in front of her, her eyes downcast. “I wanted to see you.” A pause. “I needed to see you.”

He gripped the edge of the door, his knuckles going white. “I still don’t know why you’re here, Candice. I thought we said all we needed to say when you left.”

And that had been the kicker. She’d been the one to leave him. He hadn’t loved her anymore, but he’d at least tried to fix things when everything had gone to hell. And yet, when everything had shattered, he hadn’t been enough to pick up the pieces. Instead, he’d been left with cuts and bruises from the shards left behind.

“That’s fair,” she said softly. “But it’s been five years, Graham. I…I don’t want to be alone now.”

He felt the color leach from his face, his body stiffening at the reminder of what they’d lost five years ago.

“Don’t, Candice.”

“She’d have been ten this month, Graham. Ten. Can you believe that? We should be throwing a party with princesses or light sabers. Instead, she’s not here, and I’m on your porch, waiting for you to let me in as I bare my soul to you.

“Don’t, Candice. Don’t even go there. You’re not baring anything. You’re here because you don’t like being alone and, you know, I get that. You’ve always been the one who couldn’t be on your own. But you left before, and I can’t deal with you now.”

“You never wanted to deal,” she whispered.

A car pulled up, and Graham cursed. Fuck, he’d forgotten about Blake as soon as he’d seen Candice on his porch, and he could have kicked himself for it.

Candice turned at the sound of the car, and watched along with him as a long-legged Blake in all her inked and pierced glory get out, a frown on her face.

“Hey,” she said when she walked toward them, hesitation evident in her body language.

“Hey,” Graham said slowly. “Uh, you can go on in if you want. I’ll just be a minute.”

Blake raised a brow and pointedly looked at Candice. She held out a hand. “Hi, I’m Blake. Graham’s friend.”

Candice studied the other woman’s hand but didn’t shake it. “I’m Candice Gallagher, Graham’s wife.”

Graham cursed as Blake’s whole body stiffened, her face going pale.

“Ex-wife. She’s my ex-wife.”

Blake met his gaze and shook her head. “You know what, you do you, Graham. I’m out. I knew this was a mistake before, and I don’t have time for this kind of drama.” With that, she quickly walked away, getting in her car before he had a chance to even move forward. When he did move, Candice blocked him. Blake pulled out of the driveway and drove off, leaving him with the woman he didn’t want in his life.

“Who was that?” Candice asked with a slight edge to her tone.

Graham turned on her and glared. “She is none of your business. You don’t have a right to that, not anymore. You said your piece, or at least fucked around enough to screw things up for me. So get out. I’m done, Candice.”

“You can’t say that, Graham. We need to talk.”

“No. We don’t. We talked long enough already.” He needed to call Blake, figure out what to say to get her to come back. Or hell, for him to go to her. They were just starting out, but now it was all over because the past he wanted buried kept coming back to bite him in the ass.

“We need to talk about Cynthia,” Candice continued. “Our daughter died, Graham. We need to talk about that.”

He glared at her one more time before storming away and slamming the door behind him. He left her on the front step, her voice trailing off when she realized what he’d done before banging on the door with her small fists.

He didn’t want to think about Candice. Didn’t want to think about Cynthia.

His daughter had died, and he hadn’t been able to save her.

His marriage had died because there hadn’t been anything left to save.

He’d lost everything once, and now, he wasn’t sure if he had anything left to lose.

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