Page 90 of Fall Apart

Golden Jensen Family. GJF, Inc.

“Did you buy JSC?” I ask, a wave of realization hitting me.

“Yep. Sounds like you know them pretty well?”

I nod. “You could say that.” I don’t know where to start with this. There’s a lot to go over. I point towards the bottle of wine. “Is there another one of those around? We might need it.”

CHAPTER 38

CLAY

OLD TIMES SAKE

It tookevery ounce of self-control I’ve built over the last decade not to run after Lizzy. She said to give her space and I will, even if it’s killing me now. I’m a mess, pacing around my house, surrounded by reminders of how good things were just an hour ago.

I don’t know how to fix this. I wanted to spill my heart to her, to tell her everything, but that’s not an option. I can’t do that.

I’m desperate.

I know I’m desperate because after twenty minutes of pacing around the house and pulling my hair out, I do the last thing I want to do.

I call for help.

I’m sittingin my chair, rubbing Ani’s head when Kayleigh and Grace arrive minutes apart. I get up, following him to the door when they come inside.

I grab Kayleigh, hugging her, only breaking to look into her eyes. They’re red from crying and I remember why she probably messaged me in the first place.

“Are you alright?” I ask, rubbing her shoulders.

“I’m fine.”

“You sure? What’s wrong with Charlie?”

She glares at me and lets out a long breath through her nose. “Clay, we don’t need to talk about Charlie right now. We broke up, but deep down, I knew it was coming.”

She reaches out and cups my jaw as Grace stands next to us. “Seriously, tell us what happened so we can help.”

I gesture to the couch and chairs in the living room.

I sit down with them and I do just that, tell them everything. Some of it they know, some of it they don’t, some of it they’re apart of.

After I pour my guts out, Kayleigh looks to Grace then back to me.

“You trust her, right?”

I swallow hard, nodding. “Of course.”

“Good, I’ll go talk to her.” Kayleigh stands and heads toward the coat rack.

I jump to my feet and stride towards her. “No, you don’t have to do that.”

She shakes her head with an amused smirk on her face.

“What did Lizzy just tell you before we showed up you big, sweet, dumb idiot?” I think back, my shoulders sagging when I realize what she’s saying. “Accept that you can’t control everything. Whether you like it or not, I’m going to talk to her. Don’t do anything stupid until you’ve heard back from me, ok?”

I nod and run my fingers through my hair.

“Fine, but you don’t have to do this though.”

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