Page 19 of Break

I lean my head back against the couch cushions and ignore my stomach clenching with nervousness and warning bells. The shit we do to get laid. Plus I’ve never lived with anyone aside from my family and Marie.

Maybe this is just what it feels like. Like cold feet?

“Sounds good, I’ll bring Nolan and Landon along with me to make it easier.”

“Um… No, just you, please. I don’t want people knowing where my family home is, you know?”

My brows furrow and I shrug. “All right… can they at least stop by here to help move everything from my truck? Maybe we can order some pizzas. Or I can cook out. Shit, I don’t have a smoker anymore. I’ll order a new one.”

She sighs and tsks under her breath. “Have you done anything sinceMarietook all of your stuff? Maybe you should sue her. It’s not right that she’s basically left you with nothing.”

I snort. “All of thestuffshe took was hers. She still has my credit card and I allow her to use it. She never stole a thing from me.”

“Excuse me? Why does she have a credit card of yours? You told me you were never together and now I find this out?” She continues ranting and raving and I want to set my phone down.

I shake my head and bite on my bottom lip, wanting her to shut up. “She’s been with me every step of the way, Alex. She helped me raise Caroline and Alyssa, has been here for everything. No matter what she’s going through right now, she deserves more than that credit card she rarely uses in her wallet.”

She hums, still sounding so accusatory. “And she hasn’t just been there for your millions? What has she ever done foryou?”

I shake my head, didn’t I just explain that? Marie has done everything for me. “I’m not going to talk to you about Marie, Alex. Ever. I don’t care about the issues you seem to have with her, because it doesn’t matter, you don’t know her. She’s already moved out and is refusing to speak to me anyway. She has a job, she’s successful and makes more than enough money to support herself. My sisters even moved in with her because they didn’t want to be away from her. That’s just the type of person she is.”

Alex chuckles, “Well, then we have the house to ourselves still, hm? Maybe we can look at different houses, something a little bigger with a pool. Oh and a cave and waterfall? That would be wonderful. We would just need to heat it.”

I slowly blink at the dark TV and shake my head. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I hang up before I say anything I regret.

I bought this house with Marie and the girls in mind. I wanted to celebrate my sign-on bonus when the Mavericks picked me up. I wanted to give them everything that we never had. Somewhere safe, stable. Comfortable.

I even had it custom built, the rooms perfectly tailored to what I knew Marie would love. And love it we all did… Once the girls go off to college, I’m downsizing. I don’t care what Alex has to say about it. It’ll be my name and money on the line, not hers.

It doesn’t matter if the girls are with Marie or not. This is still their home until they move away, even after that. There’s no reason to have eight bedrooms and ten bathrooms. A lounge, a separate living room… This massive backyard that’s never used. The chef’s kitchen that I’ll never cook in.

If Marie and the girls were still living here and I wasn’t settling down, I would keep the house, mostly because I know that she loves it so much.

I want to live somewhere more secluded, enjoy the wilderness. Less rooms, less square footage if it’s just going to be Alex and me, or just me if this is how shit is going to go.

I don’t want to deal with a pool, but I do need a basement gym.

It’s already a nightmare before the relationship even had a chance to start. What do I do now?

Chapter 6

Marie

_________

I’m officially, maybe, eight weeks pregnant. The past three weeks flew by, but it’s been wonderful having the girls with me. Less lonely. They give me a reason to keep moving forward instead of drowning in the pain of losing James for good.

Of going through this pregnancy alone, being a single mom right off the bat. I’m so lucky to have them.

They wanted to come to the appointment with me, but they have school, and this isn’t important enough for them to skip. At least not yet.

I park in front of the building and stare at the name etched into the glass. Dr. Brenton Evans, OBGYN, MD.

I wonder if he’s the Evanses son, what a small world that would be.

I shuffle my purse up onto my shoulder and head through the glass door and up to the desk. I sign in and wave to thereceptionist, turning around to sit on a chair beside a table that’s stacked with magazines. The room is half filled with pregnant women, couples holding hands, and a few strays like me sitting alone.

I flip through the magazines as I wait, they should already have my insurance information from the initial phone call a few weeks ago so I relax back and try to get comfortable.

---