She must have started a new collection when she’d returned.
I unceremoniously dumped the contents on the desk. Strips of paper with Catherine’s neat handwriting fluttered across the surface. Forcing myself to wait to read them, I arranged the strips in neat rows.
Only then did I pick up the first one.
P.S. I hope your pillow is cool tonight.
That wasn’t an angry message. I read the next one.
P.S. May your bread always toast evenly.
P.S. You have a very cute butt.
I laughed. My heart was across town in a house I despised, but her words still made me laugh.
I kept reading.
P.S. You make me feel safer than I ever have.
P.S. My stomach butterflies are demanding a raise from how much overtime you’re making them work.
P.S. You talk in your sleep, and it makes me smile.
P.S. You’re going to be a great dad.
P.S. I’m falling so hard for you, Elliot Levy.
My head fell forward, too heavy to hold upright anymore. What was I doing here on my own?
If Catherine wanted to live in that house, I’d move in with her.
When Liam showed up to meet Joey, I needed to keep my promise and be right there with them. They were my family. Those were my girls.
I couldn’t control everything, but this I could. Being there, no matter what. Showing Catherine I wasn’t going to leave, that she had every reason to feel safe with me, and proving she could keep falling because I wasn’t going anywhere.
I looked at the clock.
Almost midnight.
Too late to storm over there and take back my family.
This was it, though. The last night we’d live apart. Tomorrow, I’d have them back.
Chapter Thirty-six
Catherine
This was so fudging stupid.
I hated this house.
It was cute and all, and I would always be proud of the work I’d put into it, but I’d chosen it with Liam in a whole other life. It didn’t feel like home.
I’d gotten Joey down for the night, but it hadn’t been easy. Davida and Raymond stopped by after bedtime with wine and moral support. We were in my pretty living room, a glass of wine into our evening, Ray and Davida on the gross couch, me channeling Joey by lounging on blankets on the floor.
“You’re being smart,” Davida said, her glass perched at her lips.
“I know.” I buried my face in the blankets, careful not to knock my wineglass over. I was limiting myself to two and I didn’t want to spill a drop.
Raymond clicked his tongue. “Being smart shouldn’t look so damn miserable.” He smacked the cushion he was sitting on. “Also, can you tell me why there’s a spring up my ass?”
“That would be due to it being made the same year I was.” Davida lowered her chin, daring us to guess what year that might have been.
I pushed myself upright, sitting cross-legged on my blanket pile. “Do you know what it felt like when Elliot dropped me off at the house to pack my things?”
“What, baby?” Ray asked gently.
“Like when my parents had taken me to the airport when they’d sent me to Mexico. Up until that point, I’d been unapologetic about what I’d done.” I curled my lip at the memory of my punk-ass teenage years. I wouldn’t say sorry to save my life back then. “But when the airport came into view, I fell apart. My whole tough, untouchable front crumbled, and I cried like a little baby. I begged and pleaded with them not to send me away. Promised I’d be better. I’d do anything they wanted.”
“Aw, darling,” Davida breathed softly. “Poor thing.”
“They still left me. They dropped me off on the curb with two suitcases. Didn’t even wait until I got inside.” I swiped a tear from under my eye and cleared my thickly coated throat. “I didn’t ask Elliot to let me stay because I was afraid he’d say no. I don’t think I could bear for him to drive off without me. I barely survived my parents doing it.”
Silence fell over us, each sipping our wine. I’d killed the mood, snuffing out any lightness we’d found in each other’s company.
Davida broke the silence.
“He wouldn’t have said no.”
My eyebrows rose. “You sound so sure.”
She leaned forward, her arms resting on her knees. “I’ve been around the block countless times and have worked for many powerful men. I’m not an expert, but I’d say I am able to read them well. Elliot isn’t unlike the men I’ve worked for in the past. He has an ego that matches the size of his success and takes his business seriously. I’ve never seen him break from that character, except with you. Around you, he’s a—” She nudged Raymond’s knee. “What’s the word the kids say?”
Ray took a delicate sip of his wine then puckered his lips. “Simp,” he pronounced.
“Right.” Davida nodded. “Elliot Levy is a simp for you. If you’d told him you’d wanted to stay, he would have bent over backward to make that happen.”
Raymond swirled his wine. “However, Davida thinks you did the right thing.”
Sitting up straight, she lowered her wine to her thigh. “Correction, I said it was the smart thing. That isn’t the same as the right thing. Clearly, Kit is miserable. Elliot’s probably in the same state.”
I put my glass down and slumped. “Or he’s glad to have his peace and quiet restored.”
She scoffed. “I doubt that. Since he was sending emails at ten o’clock, I’m almost certain he’s at the office.”
I covered my face with my hands. “This isn’t making me feel better. I don’t want to think about him being miserable.”
“All right, fine.” Ray smacked his leg. “No more Elliot talk. It’s not like you can do anything this late at night. Let’s discuss, in fine detail, the date Davida went on last night.”
With a gasp, I raised my head. “A date? You went on a date and didn’t mention it to me? Tell me everything.”
Davida rolled her eyes, acting put upon, but a second later, she spilled every little thing. My serious, no-nonsense friend blushed when describing her good night hug.
Of course, that set off a pang in my stomach because it reminded me of Elliot.
On their way out at midnight, Raymond took me by the shoulders and gave me a long, hard look. “You know I’m still pissed you didn’t ask to stay with me when you were down and out.”
Davida folded her arms. “I am as well.”
I rubbed my lips together, too emotional to handle any sort of confrontation without tearing up.
“I—I didn’t know if we were close enough for me to ask and didn’t want to put you in the position to say no.”
Ray gave me a little shake. “Woman, you’re too much. I saw a baby coming out of your vagina. We’re close.”
My eyes flared. “You said you didn’t look.”
He dropped his chin, brows raised. “Oh, I looked. It’s burned into my brain.” Another gentle shake. “My point is, take a chance on Elliot. You will always have a backup plan.”