Page 73 of Protecting the Boundary
“Not for a while.”
“Listen, I know you have no reason to like me after I broke her heart, but I’m here to fight for her. I messed up. I know I did, but I’m here to make it right.”
His eyes narrow, but at least he hasn’t shut the door in my face. We stare at each other for longer than feels comfortable,but I’m not leaving until I have no other choice. I know her dad means the world to her. If I can get him to give me another shot, then it means I have a chance with Meredith.
His jaw wiggles back and forth like he’s chewing on words he wants to say, but instead of saying anything, he steps back and gestures with a sweep of his hand for me to come inside. I don’t hesitate.
The living room is just like it was the night I was here with Meredith, and I take a seat on the couch while he sits in his lounge chair across from me. The TV is on ESPN, but it’s muted.
On the mantel above the fireplace on the opposite side of the room are several framed pictures, most of Rob and Meredith at various stages of her life, but there are also a few with a woman who has similar features as Meredith, except with brown hair.
“She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on,” Rob says, pulling my attention back to him. When I glance over, he’s staring at the mantel too. When he looks at me again, his gaze is curious. “I was never able to feel that way about anyone else. Not even close. I tried dating when Meredith was in junior high and she started going to sleepovers with her friends. I gave up pretty quickly. It’s rough out there.”
“I wouldn’t know. I never even looked at another woman until Meredith came into my life.” It’s true. No one ever caught even the slightest bit of my attention until Meredith.
His expression gets thoughtful. “What is it about Meredith that made you pay attention?”
I’ve thought a lot about this over the past week. “It was the way she loved my daughter. She didn’t just watch Kaylee and then check out when I was home. She was actively engaged with her and worried about her at all times. She cared about her well-being in a way that went above what I expected fromsomeone who was doing it as a job.” A smile—the first one I’ve had all week—lifts the corner of my lips. “She also wasn’t afraid to call me out. I wasn’t used to that. Most people in my life have been pretty delicate with me since Sydney died. Meredith wasn’t.”
Rob smiles to himself. “She’s always been like that. I’ll never forget when she was four years old, she came up to me and said, ‘Daddy, you need to smile more.’ I hadn’t even realized I didn’t smile that often, but she’d noticed and didn’t hesitate to call me out. I figured that was just the brutal truth of kids, but she didn’t really grow out of it.” His smile drops. “Except for in the last year of college. She was different then. Withdrawn in a way I’ve never seen her.” His brown gaze pierces me. “Until she started working for you. Your daughter brought the light back into her eyes, and then you brought the fire back to her spirit.”
We both grow somber as the unsaid truth settles between us. I may have done that, but then I also hurt her because I couldn’t give her what she needed when she needed it. It’s a mistake I hope she’ll let me fix and one I don’t plan to make ever again.
“Do you love her?” he asks me.
“You aren’t exactly the person who should be hearing this first, but I suspect you won’t let me stay long unless you know the truth. So, yes, I love her, but I’ve done a poor job of showing it—of even figuring it out. But I do love her, more than I thought I was capable of ever loving anyone.”
“Again?” he asks, tacking on a word I might have added if someone had asked me this a month ago.
But something I’ve thought a lot about this week is how Meredith kept trying to make me understand I could love them both—equally but different. I didn’t understand what she meant until this week.
“No. I loved Sydney, but not the same way I love Meredith.I always thought love was like a well full of water, but only enough for one person. I didn’t realize that well can be refilled. Maybe it’s not the same spring of water, but it’s still water, and it can still sustain you and keep you alive. It’s different, but not less than. I love Meredith. Full stop. Not more or less than Sydney, but differently. I’m not the same man I was when Sydney was alive. I’m the new version of me that was born because of her loss. And this version of me loves Meredith with everything I’ve got in me.”
I hope he understands what I’m explaining because I need his support if I’m going to get a chance to tell Meredith all of this.
He takes a deep breath and then gets up and walks over to a small hutch in the corner. He pulls out a pen and paper and writes something down, then comes over and hands me the piece of paper with an address on it.
“Meredith is in Boston for a grad school interview. She’ll be there for two more days. If you want another chance, don’t wait. You and I both know life is too short to sit on the sidelines and not act.”
I take the paper, stand, and shake his hand. “Thank you, Rob.”
“Don’t break her heart again, Romel.”
“Never again,” I promise. It’s one I intend to keep until my very last breath.
And then I rush out the door, my phone to my ear as I call Larissa. I need her to watch Kaylee because I have a flight to catch to Boston.
FORTY-EIGHT
It’s fucking cold in Boston. It’s early December, so I shouldn’t have expected any less, but holy smokes it’s freezing.
I grab my to-go container from the Chinese restaurant the hotel recommended and then head back to the hotel. If I’m going to move here, I’m going to need to get a much better coat—and gloves, and insulated boots, or whatever people wear in this weather.
My phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket, stopping in my tracks when I see Romel’s name flashing on the screen. My chest instantly aches, and my finger hovers over the green accept button before I shake my head and hit decline. I can’t talk to him right now, not if I’m going to go through with this interview tomorrow.
I go to shove my phone back in my pocket when it rings again. With exasperation, I look at the screen only to see my dad’s calling me this time. What are the odds that he would call me right after Romel does?
Instantly I start to panic and wonder if something happened with Kaylee.
