Chapter Thirty-Nine
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Eugene was knee-deep in ride modifications, working in his state-of-the-art home office when his phone pinged. Deciding to ignore it, he continued on with the work.
That is, until his phone pinged again. Then again.
“Dammit.”
He swiveled to his other desk and picked up his phone to see a text message—or rather several text messages—from Natalie.
I know you’re home. Answer the door.
I’m out front and I’m not leaving.
Come on, Eugene. I need to talk to you.
He thought about ignoring her. Thinking about her still stung. Seeing her would be even worse. But it wasn’t his style to ignore a problem, so he went downstairs and opened the door, leaning against the doorjamb with his arms crossed. “?’Sup?”
“Can I come in?”
“I don’t know, Natalie. Do we have anything left to talk about?”
“I have a few things I’d like to say.”
“I think you said more than enough last time we talked.”
“This is different.” When he didn’t say anything, she said, “Please, Eugene.”
“Fine.” He moved out of the way and she stepped inside. He closed the door and followed her into the living room.
“Something to drink?” he asked.
“Wine, if you have it.”
He pulled out a bottle of her favorite wine and opened it, poured a glass, and grabbed a beer for himself. He went into the living room and handed the glass to her.
She looked up at him and smiled. “Thanks.”
Her smile was a gut punch. He had to get her out of here as soon as possible. He’d been so broken by her dumping him that his heart felt like it had been squeezed dry, and there was nothing but a dead husk left in his chest. But he’d be damned if he let her see how she’d crushed him.
So he plopped in the chair, opened his beer, and took a couple deep swallows, trying his best to look nonchalant while she casually sipped her wine.
“How’s work going?” she asked.
“Fine.” He took another swallow of beer.
“Okay. Anyway, mine’s going well. I picked up two new clients this week. One wants a total redesign of—”
“Why are you here, Natalie?”
“Oh. We’re getting right into it, huh?”
“Don’t want to waste anyone’s time, do we?”
“I…guess not.” She nervously tucked her hair behind her ears. “Okay, so, here’s the deal. The things I said before. I may have been wrong.”
“Excuse me? The things you said? When you said because I was younger than you that I couldn’t know what I wanted? That what was in my heart was bullshit? Those things?”
“That’s not at all what I said.”
“Pretty much the same thing. I told you I loved you. I broke down our future for you, at least how I saw it. And then you came back and said nah, that’s not how it is, dude. Because this is what you’re really gonna want down the road—you know, when you’re older and more mature, as if I’m some kind of kid who couldn’t possibly make adult decisions yet, who doesn’t know his own heart. You’re not gonna want the woman and children you love, you’re gonna want some other woman to make some babies with and have your happily ever after with. Am I close, Natalie? Isn’t that pretty close to what you said?”
· · ·
Eugene was angry. He had every right to be. Natalie had taken all that love he’d poured out to her, and she’d casually thrown it right back in his face as if he had no idea what love was about.
She had to fix this, to make things right between them. She just didn’t know exactly how.
“At the time, I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t want you…down the road, to have any regrets.”
He crossed his arms. “I don’t even know what to say to that. You think love has an expiration date?”
She shrugged. “I do have first-hand experience with that happening.”
“Okay. You make a good point. But do you feel like you and me are the same as you and Sean?”
She frowned. “No. Not at all. But I’m scared, Eugene. I don’t want you to get wrapped up in a relationship that you might regret later. There are a lot of people here that could get hurt besides you and me.”
He got up and came over to her, knelt in front her, laying his hands on her knees. “If I thought for one minute that this whole thing between you and me had an expiration date, I would have never told you I loved you. I’d die before hurting Cammie and Christopher. Or you. I’m in this, Natalie. For the long run.”
And here came the tears again, because she believed him. She slid off the sofa and sat on the floor with him, sliding her hands into the softness of his hair. “I’m in this, too. Forever. I’m sorry I said the things I said. I didn’t want you to have any regrets.”
His gaze was so filled with love she was overwhelmed. “I could never regret loving you, Natalie.”
Her heart felt like exploding. She felt so much she couldn’t take a breath, and yet she did. “I love you, Eugene.”
She lifted her lips to his, and he met her lips. That kiss, so powerful and passionate, mended the break that had torn them apart. With Eugene’s arms around her, his body against hers, she felt whole again. She was right where she belonged.
He pulled away. “You are mine.”
She smiled. “And you are mine.”
She climbed onto his lap and swept his hair away from his face. “I’m so sorry. I screwed up, and I’m sorry I hurt you.”
He ran his hand up and down her arm. “It’s okay. You can spend the rest of your life making it up to me.” He finished with a grin.
“That sounds like a very good plan.” She kissed him again, and before long they were rolling around on the living room rug, and she was so happy to be in his arms again she could explode from pure joy.
But then her phone rang. She was going to ignore it, but she couldn’t because of the kids. She got up and grabbed her phone, her stomach dropping when she saw it was Sean on FaceTime. He still had the kids so her first thought was that one of them was sick or hurt.
“Sean,” she said after she punched the button.
It wasn’t Sean, it was Cammie, who excitedly told her she had lost a tooth this morning at breakfast, so they talked about how she was going to put it under her pillow tonight. Seeing her daughter’s sparkling smile gave her so much joy.
“I miss you, sweet pea,” she said. “Oh, and Eugene’s here. Do you want to say hi?”
“Yes.”
“Hey, punkin,” Eugene said as he looked over Natalie’s shoulder. “Let’s see that smile.”
Cammie smiled. “I lost a tooth, Eugene.”
“I see that. Good job. Before long you’ll have a pretty new tooth to take its place.”
They talked for a while, and then Cammie said she had to go, so they hung up.
“She was excited,” Eugene said, leaning against the kitchen island.
“Yeah. She loves losing those baby teeth.” She laid her hand against his chest. “Sorry about the interruption.”
“Hey.” He wrapped his hands around hers. “Our lives are always going to have these interruptions. We have kids.”
Tears sprang fresh at “We have kids.” “I love you, Eugene. Let’s go build that life together.”
He smiled at her, and she saw her forever in that smile. “Yeah, let’s.”