45. Chapter 44
Chapter 44
Layne
No matter how many times I tossed and turned in my bed, I just couldn’t fall asleep. Fed up trying, I got up, put on my bikini, wrapped a towel around me, and slipped out of Keaton’s bedroom. Pool light danced on the ceiling and over the wooden furniture. Keaton was stretched out on the couch, only wearing gym shorts, one arm tucked behind his head.
I had to grin. Was he dreaming about a photo shoot, or why was he posing like that?
Wanting to avoid waking him at all cost, I decided to go through the kitchen door. The white digits on the oven read two-fifty a.m.—the perfect time for a swim. As I stepped outside, warm air rustled the leaves of the backyard’s greenery and caressed my bare legs. The pool stretched calm, almost peaceful, before me. I let the towel glide to the floor, climbed the steps, and lowered my body into the lukewarm water. Hauled in a breath of chlorine-scented air and submerged. As I dove to the other side, my mind wandered to Keaton. He’d taken such good care of me over the past seven months as I slowly and painfully recovered from the massive crash. He’d cooked for me, brought me whatever I needed, and simply been there. How could I not fall in love with a man like that?
And I had received the green card three months ago after the interview. I still thanked God for it every day.
Having reached the end of the pool, I surfaced and clung to the edge. My muscles were already locking up again. I had to dive back to the other end where I wouldn’t drown in case they decided to stab me in the back and stopped working all together. My health wasn’t quite yet on the level it had been before the crash. It had been bad back then, but now it was worse. But I wouldn’t give up hope. Wouldn’t stop fighting, even if the doctors said a full recovery was very unlikely.
I dove back under and pushed off the wall. That wretched emptiness gripped my heart again. I couldn’t imagine life without Keaton anymore, but in just two months, I had to let him go.
Jesus, it hurts so much. Please let me get over him quickly.
The stairs materialized in front of me, and palming the steps, I broke through the surface. And flinched at the shadow hovering over me.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Keaton said, looking down at me.
I huffed a laugh. “No worries. Just that my soul nearly left my body.”
The right corner of his mouth curved upward. “Mind if I join you?”
“It’s your pool.”
“Yours, too.”
Not for much longer.
My heart contracted again. Why did this have to be so messed up?
Keaton lunged and dove headfirst over the steps into the pool. The rippling water distorted his dark figure heading for the other side. There, he turned and came back. Headed straight for me. Before I could decide whether I should flee to safety or not, he resurfaced five feet from where I was sitting on the steps.
With a whip of his head, he shook water out of his hair, then fell silent. Watched me. The way he slowly moved toward me, mouth submerged and gaze locked onto me, reminded me of a crocodile on the hunt.
I gripped the edge of the step I was sitting on. What exactly were his intentions?
My question got answered when he glided up beside me. The intensity lingered in his gaze, but something had shifted. “We need to talk about the divorce.”
Air trapped in my lungs. Here it was. Divorce. He really wanted to go separate ways.
“I don’t get it,” I heard myself say. “Over the past few months, you took care of me with a tenderness I’ve never experienced from a man before. You did everything for me, and you prayed for me every single night. And now you’re telling me you don’t feel anything for me at all?”
Nostrils flaring, he looked away. Back at me. “No, that’s not what I’m saying. I do care about you. A lot. You’re my everything, Layne. My whole world.” His jaw flexed. “That’s exactly why I have to let you go. I’m not the right husband for you.”