Page 91 of Every Broken Piece
My eyes sting. This woman has made me cry more in the last two days than I have in the last eighteen years. “I can help with your mother. Being happy has to come from inside you.”
She angles her head to look up at me. “I think you could make me happy, but I’m afraid to believe because everything I’ve ever hoped for has been taken from me and I don’t want that to happen with you.”
Fuck. “Spitfire...” I clear my throat.
She pulls away to start sorting clothes. “I should pack so we can get going tomorrow. You need to study up for your meeting.”
I take her hands in mine. “Stop, Tess. Stop turning away from me. Stop trying to push me away.”
Her shoulders slump. “It hurts too much to hope.”
I press a kiss to the top of her head, inhaling the vanilla scent of her shampoo. “I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you. And someday you’ll start believing again.”
She lifts tear-filled eyes to me. “Don’t hurt me, Gabe. Don’t promise me things you can’t deliver. And don’t underestimate Sandra.”
I wrap her in my arms and hold tight until her warm body melts into me. I think I need this hug just as much as she does. “You’re safe with me. Your heart. Your body. All of it. You’re safe now. I swear on my life.”
She pushes away and wipes at her eyes. I surreptitiously wipe at my own. We each sit in our own thoughts, mine of convincing her to stay once I have her in Colorado. Hers, I don’t know. I wish I knew what she’s thinking so I can counter every argument in that pretty head, but she’s not saying, and I’m left guessing.
“So.” She looks at the pile of clothes and the moment is over, but I still feel the way our bodies fit so well together, like we were made for each other, and I fully intend on holding her like that again.
“Is it cold in Colorado?”
I grab the Hollywood t-shirt and start folding, while she picks up the sweatshirt she’d been folding earlier.
“It’ll probably snow a few more times, but spring is coming.”
“Will you show me the Rocky Mountains?”
My heart. It’s not going to survive this woman. “Absolutely. You can see them outside my penthouse windows.”
I grab a t-shirt that says, “Grand Canyon—Nature’s Masterpiece”.
“We can even take a trip to the Grand Canyon if you want.”
Her smile is small as she folds a pair of jeans.
“What’s with the t-shirts, anyway?” I ask, adding to her pile of folded clothes.
“They’re bucket list items. Places I want to see before I die.”
My hands falter as the breath leaves me. Can my heart break any more for this woman? I clear my thick throat. “Then definitely we should go to the Grand Canyon.”
Chapter forty-four
Tess
I’m standing in front of my plants, checking the soil, tenderly touching the velvet soft leaves when Gabe walks up behind me.
“Amelia will take good care of them.”
My hand drops to my side. “I know.”
“Spitfire, you’re killing me. I hate seeing you this sad. If you want to stay with your plants, I’ll—”
“No. You can’t stay here anymore than I can.”
Spilling my entire, sordid, history to Detective Hardwick took a lot of out me. Learning to trust the police will be be an ongoing process. However, something shifted in me when I was telling her my story, an unburdening that I never imagine could happen. I’ve carried the weight of my mother’s actions my entire life. Sharing that load with the detective and Gabe was freeing in a way that makes me believe that maybe they’re both right. Maybe I can break free of Sandra’s shadow and finally live my own life.
