Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
“I am,” he said quickly. “Oh, honey, I am. I hope you’ll give me a chance to make this up to you. I didn’t mean to make you feel this way, and maybe I need to take some of my own advice and get help too. I will. I promise I will.”
He reached for me, and I nodded, allowing him to hug me. It was stiff, but I wrapped my arms around him too, letting the sincerity of his words register.
“We should talk more,” Mother said. “Look at what holding everything in does to a person.”
I laughed through my tears, rolling my eyes as I shared a look with my sister. Holding things in had been what we were raised to do—as all proper southern ladies were.
But not anymore.
She was right.
It was better to let it out.
And to let it go.
CHAPTER 18
Jim
I was happily ignoring reality, petting Binx on my couch with all the blinds drawn when a pounding at my front door scared him off. He scurried out of the living room, retreating to his tree post thing in the other room.
“Some guard cat you are,” I chided him, not bothering to get up. I didn’t want whatever anyone was selling.
“You’re not even answering the door anymore?” Ridge’s voice sounded through the entryway, and seconds later he rounded the corner.
“I don’t want company.”
“Tough shit,” he said, sinking down on the chair opposite me. “You look like shit too.”
“Thanks.”
“It’s been two days, man,” he said.
“Is that all?” I asked. It felt like a month had passed since I left the hospital. Since Anne called and told me what an asshole I’d been, what a coward I’d been for not fighting for her harder.
“Are you going to get up and fix this shit with your girl?” he asked. “Or are you going to make me give you one of those rom-com pep talks?”
I cocked a brow at him. “You don’t do pep talks.”
He shrugged.
“And I can’t,” I said. “She deserves a life where she doesn’t have to justify who is in it. Doesn’t have to battle her father at every turn. She deserves someone with endless wealth and possibilities—”
“Yeah,” Ridge cut me off, leaning over the coffee table between us and snatching the engagement ring I had sitting there. “You’re right,” he said, nodding as he examined the ring in the box. “She wasn’t ever really worth the hassle anyway,” he continued, and I furrowed my brow at him. “Putting up with all that upper society, VanDoren popularity bullshit would be a nightmare. No woman is worth all that—”
“She is,” I snapped, standing up because the adrenaline was too much to take sitting down. “She’s worth everything,” I said. “You’re my best friend, but I will knock you the fuck out if you keep talking about her like that.”
Ridge smirked as he stood up, staring at me with a knowing look.
“Oh,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m a fucking idiot.”
“Yep.”
“I need to go.”
“I’ll drive,” he said as I tossed on some shoes and we both headed to the door.
I swung it open, stopping dead in my tracks.
Mr. fucking VanDoren himself stood at my door, hand poised like he’d been about to knock.
Ridge moved to step between us, but I waved him off.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying like hell not to plow him over and head to my car. It was New Year’s Eve, and I knew Anne was healthy enough to work at Lyla’s because Persephone had been keeping me in the loop despite everything.
“Talk with me?” he asked, motioning to my front porch.
I nodded, following him outside. Ridge pretended not to watch us through my closed screen door.
“I owe you an apology,” he said, and I about rocked back on my fucking heels I was so shocked.
I didn’t say a word though, just folded my arms over my chest and stared him down.
“A big one,” he continued. “I had no idea that my actions all those years ago were the wrong ones. I had no idea how real the love you two had between you was. You were teenagers, I thought it was a fleeting thing.”
“It wasn’t.”
“I know. And I know I shouldn’t have continued treating you the way I did when you came back into her life all these years later.” He shook his head. “It’s not an excuse, but when I found out she’d die if she kept up her ways…I was terrified. I almost lost my wife, the idea of losing my firstborn…” A shudder ran the length of his body. “I thought if I controlled every facet of her life, then I could keep her safe. Keep her here with us.”
“And I wasn’t part of your grand plan.”
“No,” he admitted. “You weren’t. But I was the asshole for thinking she needed me to control her life in the first place. For being arrogant enough to think I knew what was best for her.” He pressed his lips together. “She set me straight, trust me. She even told me she doesn’t want my inheritance. She wants nothing from me, except for the respect she’s owed.”