Page 113 of Eternally Yours
I can’t keep going like this.
“I know, Coach. I’m trying, it’s just... it’s tough.” I drop my head and rub my hands over my face.
He’s quiet for a moment, studying me. “Talk to me, tell me what’s going on. And not as your coach, but as your friend. We’re not Coach and Hayes right now, just Shane and Silas. Maybe together we can come up with something.”
I take a deep breath and clear my throat while I collect my thoughts. Talkingabout it is hard. With my parents constantly on my back about the whole thing and at least one of my teammates asking how things are going once a day, I feel like my love life is everyone’s business lately, and I hate it.
Hell, even the media showed up a few times outside our house, looking for information and asking where Cecilia was and if we’re getting divorced. I don’t want to talk about it anymore because there’s nothing to say, it’s just shit. That’s all.
But this is Coach, he’s a good guy with a big heart. I know he’s just trying to help, and since he’s been married before, maybe he has some advice that could help with my situation.
“Cecilia, she... she won’t talk to me. She barely looks at me and won’t let me touch her. We’re right next to each other, but it feels like we’re miles apart. I keep apologizing, but I know that’s not enough.” I take a deep breath before continuing.
“She’s getting worse. She won’t leave the house, she isn’t taking care of herself, and she’s lost weight because she won’t eat unless I force her. And it’s all my fault. I’ve turned her into this shell of a human when she used to be so full of life. It fucking hurts to see her like this, and I don’t know how to pull her out of it.”
I don’t realize I’m crying until a tear drops to my forearm.Fuck, this is embarrassing.I wipe the tears away quickly with the hem of my shirt. I’ve never been much of a crier, but it seems like that’s the new me now.
He scrubs at his jaw that’s clean-shaven. “Okay, well, that’s not great.” He looks into my eyes.God, I hate how he always has his eyes on me.
But that’s probably how he’s so good at reading people. I swear, this guy can smell a lie from a mile away before you’ve thought about saying it. It freaks me out sometimes, like he’s some sort of mind reader.
“Do you regret doing it?” he questions next.
Anger unfurls through my veins. My shoulders bunch up as my body stiffens, and I clench my fists, breathing hard. I want to punch him in the face for even asking such a stupid question.
“Of course, I fucking regret it!” I say with rage in my voice.
He lifts his hand to stop me. “Calm down, Silas. It was a simple question. I’m just assessing the situation.”
Once he sees my shoulders relaxing and my fists loosening, he continues. “So you regret your... we’ll call it a mistake because I don’t believe for one second that what happened was voluntary. I was at your wedding, and I’ve seen you two together. I know when I see true devotion, and you both have it.” He offers me a tender, sympathy-filled smile. “Anyway, you regret your mistake and want to fix it. What about her? Does she want to fix it?”
I think about how it’s been over the last two weeks, and the little signs of progress. “I think so. She hasn’t said as much, but she agreed to stay in the house, even when Burkley offered her a room. She does find a way to answer my questions when I talk to her, even if it’s not verbal. And sometimes during the night, she reaches for me in her sleep. Or touches me when she thinks I’m sleeping. It’s not much, I know. But it’s something, right?” I look for confirmation in his gaze, but he keeps his face blank.
“It’s definitely not nothing. I’d say she does want to work it out, but she’s still too lost in her emotions to know how.”
Yeah, it’s what I came up with, too. Now if only I had a solution to make them clearer for her so that we can start moving forward.
My brain is working overtime to search for a way that could help when I see a slow smile spread on his lips. “I got it,” he declares with a snap of his finger as he points at me.
“You do?”
“Yup. Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to win her over again. You two are back to square one, so you need to stop thinking as husband and wife. Think of it as‘boy meets girl’. Cecilia right now is undecided about her feelings for you. She needs clarity, and you’re going to give it to her.”
I nod, agreeing with him. “Okay, but how?”
“Show her what it was like to be with you, make her fall in love with you all over again. Show her you’re still the right choice, that what you two have is worth fighting for. Woo her, whatever it takes. Do it.” He nods his head in affirmation at his own words.
He’s right. Shit. How the hell didn’t I think of this!?
For the first time in weeks, a smile spreads along my lips and hope blooms within me.It’s time I get my girl back.
After leaving the arena, I make a small detour to a certain bakery I found a little over a year ago that sells those almond croissants Cecilia loves and reminds her of home. I pick up a dozen and head home to my wife.
When I arrive, Aubrey is in the kitchen preparing lunch. She’s been doing some of her courses online so that she can be here in the mornings to make sure Cecilia eats when I have practice. I’m extremely grateful for her.
It wasn’t an obligation to have her do this, we do have a housekeeper that comes three times a week to clean in the morning, and I could have easily asked her to come in on days when I have obligations with the team.
But I wanted Cecilia to be around a friend rather than an employee during thesehard times. When Aubrey offered her help, I accepted straight away.
