Chapter 11 #2
I had my job, and I’d loved it until Perry started making that a misery.
The very few friends I had were more like acquaintances who I saw only on the rarest of occasions.
The studio apartment I lived in was only a couple steps up from Hayes’s place and didn’t hold a candle to my beautiful farmhouse.
Truth was, the only person who’d probably notice I was gone would be the delivery boy from the Chinese restaurant I ordered takeout from twice a week.
“I don’t know,” I finally answered. “That’s a question I’ve kind of avoided asking myself since before Reenie died.”
Hayes pulled me tighter against him, offering silent support. “But what about your job? Won’t they be expecting you back soon?”
“I doubt it. The hospital wouldn’t approve the time off I needed to take care of Reenie, so I took an unpaid leave of absence.”
“Jesus Christ, angel. You’ve been livin’ this whole goddamn time on just what you make at the diner?”
I smiled down at him and shook my head. “I have plenty in savings. Then there’s what Reenie left me, and the only time I’ve touched the trust I got from my parents was to pay for nursing school. I’m doing just fine, honey.”
He seemed to relax at that and asked, “So what does this mean for your position at the hospital?
“They’ve probably already filled my spot by now, but I’m not really worried about that. I’ve got plenty in savings, and now that I’ve filed that restraining order, it’s not like Perry and I can work in the same place anyway. And nurses are more dispensable than doctors.”
“That’s bullshit,” he grunted in quiet unhappiness.
“If they get rid of you, you need to fight it. They had to have known what that fucker was capable of when they brought him on. It’s not like his record isn’t public knowledge.
All it’d take is a goddamn google search to see that asshole has a pattern. ”
“It’s not worth it,” I replied honestly. “I mean, yeah, the administrators talked to him when I went in and complained, but it was nothing more than a slap on the wrist. I’m not sure I want to work at a place that lets shit like that slide.”
“Makes sense.”
“And besides, there’re plenty of hospitals in Virginia, right? Or I could even go into private practice.”
His chest expanded, and his arm grew even tighter. “Glad to hear you say that, angel. You have no goddamn clue how glad, but before we get into the future, we need to clear some things up.”
My skin grew uncomfortable and itchy at the change in his tone. “What things?”
“Krista Duke and Harley Madison.”
Hearing those names was like having a bucket of ice water dumped over my head. I tried to sit up, but Hayes’s arm was like a steel band around me.
With no other choice but to stay in place, I shifted, stacking my palms on his chest, resting my chin on the back of my hands so I could look up into his eyes. “Hayes, we don’t have to talk—”
“I don’t remember that night with Krista, but I know it happened. And I know why. It was the same reason I slept with Harley.”
I thought back to what he’d said to Harley in the diner, and I remembered that Krista was a brunette with blue eyes as well. “You really slept with them because they looked like me?”
“Krista was a sweet girl, but she never even registered to me until I hit that party and started doing tequila shots like they were water. I saw her hair and eyes and was drunk enough to see her as a replacement. And Harley… well, you already know how she is.”
I did. She was a raging bitch from hell.
“I wasn’t a choir boy while you were gone, Tempie. I didn’t take a vow of abstinence while I waited for you to come back to me. But as twisted as that sounds, every single one of those women was a placeholder for you. Even if that wasn’t my intention when we started up.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
His eyes turned to deep melted chocolate as he pulled me farther up his chest. “Because I don’t want any more secrets between us.
I’m not gonna lie to you, angel. I want you back, and I hope like hell that what just happened in this bed means you want me too.
And to make that work, we need to put all our cards on the table.
But mostly, I need to know you forgive me.
I need you to forgive me, baby. And if you can’t, you need to say so right now, because I barely survived losing you once. There’s no way I could do that again.”
My sinuses began to burn as I fought back the urge to cry. “I forgive you, Hayes. I forgive you, and I want you too. I want us to have a second chance.”
A look of relief so stark it made my heart ache rolled over his face.
“Thank fuck,” he breathed, letting his head fall back against the pillows.
“Gotta say, Tempie, it’s good to hear that, ’cause I’m not sure how well this would’ve worked if I had to cuff you to my bed ’til you came around to my way of thinking. ”
With that, I flopped against him and let out a long, loud belly laugh so strong my stomach ached by the time I was finished.
Hayes rolled me over, pinning me beneath his strong body. He kissed me, then reached over and turned off the lamp on the nightstand, coming back and shifting us until my back was pressed into his chest and his arms held me against him.
“Hayes,” I whispered into the darkness a few minutes later.
“Right here, angel.”
I pulled in a deep breath, trying to find the right words. “Just so you know, there hasn’t been a single man in twenty-one years who could live up to my memory of you. I just... thought you needed to know that.”
I felt his muscles go tight, and his arm around me squeezed to the point it was difficult to breathe. When he spoke again, his voice brimmed with emotion, letting me know just how much that meant to him. “Thank you for sayin’ that, angel. Now get some sleep.”
Oh yeah, I thought as I began to drift, completely wrapped up in Hayes. I’m finally back home again.