Page 21 of Reclaimed Dreams

Pull yourself together, man.

He would fix this. That was his job, and he’d never met a problem he couldn’t solve with a good idea and a bit of elbow grease. It was the idea bit he needed to come up with right now.

What did Jo want enough to convince her to stay? She wanted him to retire, but what on earth would he do then? Endless empty days stretched into his future, which cranked his anxiety up to eleven. No, he had to find something to do, or he’d drive them both to divorce anyhow.

How did the heroes do it in her books? He’d picked up a few of them over the years, out of curiosity. There was always some big reveal or grand apology when the hero screwed up.

Mistakes had definitely been made, and Dom knew a good grovel would help, but he needed more than that, something big.

His mind went back to the conversations they’d had when they were young and in love and flat broke. Jo had always wanted to travel. His fear of flying had put a damper on that plan, and then they hadn’t had the money to spare to do it with the kids. Maybe…maybe he could bring the travel to her…

His mind, eager to escape his earlier meltdown, now kicked into high gear. He started scribbling in the project notepad that lived in his pocket. An idea formed on the page, taking shape around the idea of recreating a trip to Italy here and needing a project to keep himself busy. Details and logistics swirled as he sat in his sweltering truck, oblivious to the heat, and tried to save his marriage.

Yes, he’d screwed up, and yes, he needed to make up for it, but he’d be damned if he lost her without a fight. He could do this. He had to make it work.

“This is not how this ends,” he muttered to himself. He’d spent thirty years developing his skills. It was time to use them to rescue his marriage.

He just prayed it wouldn’t be too little too late.

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