Page 31 of Falling for Him
“What do you mean I left?” I literally feel like my heart is cracking.
“I heard others talking and they said you told your boss you didn’t want to talk to me anymore.”
“Oh sweetheart,” I want to reach out and hug her, “that’s not true. That’s not even close to being true.”
“Then why don’t I see you anymore?”
The sadness in her eyes is killing me.
“Can we move over here and talk, is that okay with you?”
Again, she nods and I lead her over to a bench away from the others.
“I’d like to be completely honest with you.” I turn my body to face her, yet she continues to look down at her lap instead of at me. “I have something to tell you that I wasn’t going to tell you until I knew for sure. But I feel like right now, you need to hear it. Then at least if it’s not something you want, I’ll know now, instead of later, right?”
Camryn peeks up at me and nods, and the fact that she still can’t hold my stare makes me feel like I’m slowly crumbling on the inside.
“I can’t be your counselor anymore.”
“Why?” Her voice shudders and my throat feels like it’s on fire.
“Because if I want to foster you, I can’t be both.” Her brows furrow in confusion but she locks her eyes with mine. “AndCamryn I would so much rather have you living with me. That doesn’t mean we can’t talk, honestly it means that we can share more and I’m not violating any set rules. It means that you and I can heal together, we can remember and feel sad or happy whenever we’d like. And we can have as many bonfires as we want and get sick on s’mores and the best part is I’ll get to see you more than twice a week. Would you like that?”
I hold my breath, waiting for her to respond. The longer she makes me wait the more I feel like maybe I just ruined everything.
That is until she lunges forward and wraps her arms around me.
“Do you mean it?”
“I do.” I can finally breathe. “I need a little more time. I’ve been doing everything they’ve asked of me. I’ve been taking classes and getting a room ready for you. But I think it’s close. I think we’re almost there.” She hugs me tighter.
“Can you give me a little more time?”
“Yes,” she says, her voice no longer feeling sad.
“What’s your favorite color?” She pulls back and looks up at me.
“Purple.” And relief washes over me.
“Perfect,” I tell her. “That’s perfect!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Bennett
“I gave you a week.”Lexi’s body jerks in surprise when I emerge from the darkness as she steps up to her door. Dropping her keys I bend to grab them and she holds her hand to her chest.
“You scared the hell out of me, Bennett.” Taking the keys she turns toward her door.
But I stop her, placing my hand over hers and turning her to face me.
“I gave you a week,” I repeat and she wrinkles up her forehead and squints her eyes. “You’ve managed to avoid me, dodge my phone calls, and literally took yourself to a fucking movie just so you could ensure we wouldn’t run into one another at Brant’s.”
“I really wanted to see that movie,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Oh yeah,” I challenge her. “What was it called?”
I watch as she does this whole fish out of water thing. Opening her mouth to answer then closing it, only to repeat this move a few times.
