Page 165 of Heartless
“Need help?”
He jerked his chin at the front door where Sienna and Cam were whispering animatedly at each other.“You’ve got your work cut out here.”
After they’d driven off, Sienna and I went back inside the house.
In the family room, she neared the coffee table and glanced over her shoulder.“What’s this?”
I sat beside the small crate.“Stuff that was left in my father’s room at the house.”
Pointing at the box, she said, “Can I?”
“Sure.”
“I don’t remember seeing pictures in his room.”
“I had them taken down.”
Her brows furrowed, and her head tilted to the side.“Why?”
“Looking at them made me angry.”
“Angry or sad?”
“Both.”
Her face softened before she pulled out one of the framed pictures.“What a beautiful family.”She turned it toward me.“How old were you there?"
It was the last picture of us all together.Dad and I had our arms around my mother, who was standing proudly with both her hands on a rounded belly.“That was a week before my seventeenth birthday.”
Still holding the frame, she picked up another picture I knew well.My parents’ wedding day.
“They look so happy.Are you going to take them with you to the penthouse?”
I hadn’t thought of it until now.I got up and stepped closer.“They didn’t like city life.”
A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.“Why am I not surprised?”
When I pecked her nose, she dropped her head and shifted back.With her arm curled around the two photo frames, she ambled to the fireplace and touched the mantel.“Here?Your family in the family room.”After I’d placed the urns side-by-side, she handed me the two frames.“Now they’ll be with you when you come home.”
My gut clenched.She was killing the old me and rebuilding me one soft look at the time.
I reached for her, but she strolled to the bay window.“This view will come back often in my stories.”
That sounded like a fucking goodbye.Coming behind her, I twisted her to face me.“Baby, you can come here as often as you like.This is your home if you want it to be.”
Her small chuckle was wistful.“In a Stockholm Syndrome kind of way, I guess it is.”
When she pulled away again, the back of my neck tightened.“Sienna—"
“We should go.Give me five minutes.”
The ride back home was two and a half hours.I’d make it good with her.
