Page 40 of Harmony Island Gazette
It must have been the pregnancy. I would have never spoken like this to Kevin. But Boone frustrated and angered me in a way that had my thoughts spilling from my lips before I could stop them. It was refreshing and scary at the same time. I kept my thoughts buried when I was around Kevin because I knew how he would feel if I spoke them out loud. But I didn't know Boone. I didn't know how he was going to take it.
He leaned forward, and my first thought was that he was going to hit me. My entire body tensed as I flung my arms up to protect my face. The dish rag I’d been holding flew across the kitchen and landed with a wet sound. I closed my eyes tight, waiting for the first blow.
“Juniper?” Boone's voice was soft and near. “Why are you covering your face?” His voice broke like an emotional dam in his throat had ripped open.
I peeked over at him, and my entire heart felt as if it had been ripped from my chest. The expression on his face was one of horror as he stared at me. “I thought you were going to hit me,” I confessed.
Boone closed his eyes for a moment, and his jaw muscles tensed as he digested my words. Then he opened his eyes and met my gaze with a force that I had never seen in a man before. “I will make you a promise that I will never break.” He stepped closer. “I will never ever hurt you.”
And I believed him. I dropped my arms from my face and nodded. “Okay,” I whispered. “I trust you.”
He studied me for a moment longer to make sure I knew that he meant what he said, before he turned to pick up the dish rag I had thrown. He brought it over to the sink and set it down on the counter before he opened the cupboard under the sink and pulled out a new one. He stuck it under the faucet until it was drenched, and then he rang it out before handing it to me.
I took it and he stepped out of the way. I walked over to the table and began to wipe it down, unsure of where to go from here. There had been something in his gaze. A desperation. Like he needed me to know that he would never hurt me in that way. Suddenly, my thoughts went back to what he had said about his mother and how he used to clean her up as a child. I closed my eyes for a moment and shook my head with frustration. If I had been stronger, I wouldn't have reacted that way.
If Kevin hadn't broken me, I wouldn't have thought Boone was going to hit me. All I felt was guilt and anger with myself.
“I'm so sorry,” I whispered.
I glanced over at Boone to see him turn his face in my direction. He was frowning like he was trying to follow my words, but couldn't quite understand what I was trying to say.
“I said I was sorry,” I repeated.
“For what?”
“For thinking that you were going to treat me like Kevin treated me.” I stood there, my hand still holding the dishrag as it rested on the table.
Boone studied me for a moment before he turned off the water, dried his hands, and walked over to me. He was now standing inches away from me, his gaze intense.
“I'm a broken man, Juniper. There are things in my past that you don't know. And I'm too scared to tell you because I'm worried how it will make you see me.”
I parted my lips to speak, but he just shook his head.
“But even in my brokenness, I want you to know thatIknow you are worth so much more than what Kevin ever gave you. And if a man ever hurts you again, all you have to do is call me, and I will be there to take care of it. You will never have to fear again.” He held my gaze as he let his last words linger in the air.
Electricity zapped between our bodies as he stared down at me. I knew what he was saying was true. I’d never been with a man so determined to make me feel safe. So determined to protect me. I was no one to Boone, and yet, he was offering to help me if and when I needed it.
Why wasn’t Kevin that way? The man who vowed to love me in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer.
For the first time in my life, I was getting a glimpse of how a man should treat me, and it was coming from a man who had been hired by my parents. I was confused and frustrated, but I knew one thing: I was never going to go back to Kevin if all he wanted was the status quo.
If Kevin wasn’t willing to step up, there was no future between us. Boone had set a new bar for men in my life, and I was never going to be the same again.
15
ELLA
I woke up Wednesday morning to the sun creeping through my drapes. I stretched out my limbs, taking up every inch of the bed as I lay there, staring up at the ceiling. Today, I didn’t have to be at work until noon because I would be staying late to get Sunday’s articles formatted for the printer. I breathed out a soft sigh of relief. I had the morning to relax and rejuvenate, and I needed it.
Gloria had kept me exceptionally busy the last few days, and after my tense, dare I say, drama with Asher, every muscle in my body felt so tied up and tight that I was struggling to feel normal.
I was ready for a morning off so I could get my head on straight and my life back in order. I closed my eyes and requested Alexa to play my Saturday morning playlist. Soon, familiar music filled my room. I lay there, tapping my toe and singing along with the words.
Eventually, I rolled myself out of bed and padded into the bathroom to turn on the shower. Steam filled the space around me as I slipped out of my pajamas and into the hot water. I took my time washing my hair and shaving my legs. It was still warm in Harmony, and I was going to head to the farmers’ market. No one wanted to see my hairy legs poking out from underneath the floral skirt I was planning to wear.
Once I was clean and smooth, I wrapped a towel around my body and one of Asher’s old ratty t-shirts around my head—I’d taken it from his donate pile a while ago—and stepped out of the shower. I wiped the condensation off the mirror and stared at my reflection.
Thoughts of my interaction with Asher and Marcus Proctor were still stuck in the back of my mind. I wanted answers, I just wasn’t sure how to go about getting them without completely offending Asher. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship over something I wasn’t completely certain about.
