Page 94 of Entirely Yours
“That makes sense,” Elaine tells me. “People are complex. Relationships, even more so. Knitting your life to someone else’s—it’s a brave thing to do.”
“I am not feeling super brave lately,” I admit. “Jules… I owe him an apology.”
“Apologies are powerful things. If you both use them abundantly, you’ll be just fine.”
“I’ve never had a successful relationship before.”
Elaine nods. “It only takes one.”
“Elaine?”
“Yes, my cabbage?”
“I want him to be the one.”
She gives me a full grin. “I’m happy to hear that.”
“I need to tell him.”
“After our girls day, dear.”
I purse my lips and roll my eyes in exasperation. “Yes, ma’am.”
We spend the rest of the morning wandering in and out of shops on Main Street, all the while an idea is forming…
At lunch, I bring it up to Elaine. “Do you think you could keep Jules out of the house for the rest of the day?” I ask.
Her joy is evident. “Consider it done.”
I’ve planted myself on the floor of what was the guest bedroom. My job has become directing people instead of actually helping. Ben, Gabe, Cole, and Dad have been opening and organizing shower gifts, turning the room into the perfect little baby nursery.
Cole and I had a great time watching Ben and Gabe attempt to put together the crib before Dad got fed up with their shit and did it himself. They were then tasked with hauling the old bed out while Dad muttered something about them having more muscles than brains.
We hung the banner from last night over the crib, and it looks perfect. I rub my stomach, testing the name again. “Emmett Henry, how are you doing in there?”
“Did he respond?” Ben asks.
“You’re an idiot,” Cole responds.
My phone starts ringing, an unknown number with a Boston area code flashing across the screen. I struggle to get off the floor, waving my phone in the air as I leave the room. “I’m going to take this really quick.”
I answer the phone when I get to the kitchen. “Hello?”
“Thea?” I know that voice. That voice sends shivers down my spine.
“What the fuck? Guy?”
“Yeah…” He pauses. “How’re you, Thea? Haven’t heard from you in a while.”
Oh, fuck no.
“Are you high?” I hiss. “Why the fuck are you calling me. You made it very clear you don’t want me, or your fucking daughter, in your life.”
“I’m completely sober,” he replies, completely ignoring the second half of my response. “I miss you, Thea.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not. You,” I seethe, “do not get to call me from a random number after years of silence to tell me youmissme.” I take a deep breath before continuing. “I ran into your fiancée the other day.”
“She’s not my fiancée anymore,” he murmurs.
