Page 73 of The Comeback

“You look so pretty.” She turns her head and yells into the room, “Piper, look who’s here! Charlotte is here to see Weston. Isn’t that sweet?”

Piper pokes her head out the door and smiles. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Charlotte’s face softens, and my mom finally lets go before her eyes completely pop out like those squeeze toys’ eyes do. “How are you?”

“I’m good.” Piper shuffles from foot to foot. “I was going to stop by and see you, but I didn’t want to offend you.”

“You wouldn’t offend me.” Charlotte steps forward. I shove my hands into my pockets to keep from pushing my family back into their room so I can touch her.

Piper steps into the hallway. “I squatted for five minutes this morning.”

“That’s amazing.” Charlotte throws her arms around my sister. Where’s my, I’m happy to see you hug? I swallow and pop my neck first on one side and then on the other.

“Oh, dear.” My mom grabs my arm. “I’m so sorry. We should let the two of you talk.” She turns her attention to Charlotte. “Did you hear the good news?”

“No?” Charlotte shakes her head and rubs her palms over her jeans.

“Oops.” She smacks her hand over her mouth as her eyes twinkle. “I’ll let Weston tell you all about it.” She grabs Piper’s arm and yanks. “Come on, dear. We need to stop monopolizing Charlotte’s time.” Not like she wasn’t the one that started it.

My sister waves. “I hope we see you again. Weston’s not a bad guy. He’s just a guy. You know. Sometimes they do stupid things.”

“Thank you, Piper, for the vote of confidence,” I growl, dragging out the pass key and swiping over the lock. Once the light flashes, I open the door. “Charlotte?”

She licks her lips and nods. “Thank you.”

As the door slips shut behind us, the air inside the room vibrates with an energy I can’t put a finger on. She paces the floor with her hand clasping her purse to her side. Her back is rigid.

When she stops, her eyes meet mine. The worry and fear swirling in her eyes makes my gut churn.

Fear? My heart drops to my feet. I’ve never seen fear in her eyes. Indifference. Irritation. Lust. Desire. Love. Hurt. And anger. I’ve seen all of those. But fear? That one has me scared spitless.

I grab her shoulders. “What’s wrong?” I close my eyes and shake my head before reopening them. “I mean, I know what’s wrong. I acted like an idiot and said some stupid things. I was all ready to drop to my knees and beg for your forgiveness, but something else is wrong. I can see it.” I run my hands over her arms, checking to make sure she’s physically okay because if something has happened to her, I’ll lose it.

I thought I was prepared for anything, but that was an illusion. She’s my world, and I don’t know what I’m going to do if I’ve ruined things.

“I….” She trails off and looks over my shoulder.

“Babe.” I shake her gently. “If something is wrong, you’ve got to tell me. If someone hurt you….” Tears spring to my eyes, and I swallow over the lump in my throat.

“No.” She meets my gaze. “No. It’s nothing like that. I’m fine.” She shrugs. “Well, I’m mostly fine, but no one hurt me.”

“Thank God.” My shoulders sag in relief, and I press my forehead against hers. “You had me scared to death. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you while I was gone.”

Slowly our breathing goes into sync, and the fear eases from her features, but I still feel on edge, like something is about to happen that’s going to destroy me. Please don’t let me have fucked this up. I cup her cheeks and lift her face, so she’s looking me in the eyes.

“I shouldn’t have ended things between us. I was too focused on being the version of a breadwinner that I had in my head. But the stability I was reaching for wasn’t the right one. Without you, nothing else matters. Today, I signed a bigger contract than I was hoping for, but I was alone. You weren’t there to celebrate with me or to cheer me on. It was an empty, worthless feeling.”

She blinks and bites her bottom lip but doesn’t say anything. Shit. This is not going well.

“I love you, and if you’d rather I was a house painter, I’ll give up everything for you.”

She cocks an eyebrow. “You can paint a house?”

“Sure.” I shrug. “How hard can it be?”

She tilts her head to the side. “Do you own a ladder?”

“No.”

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