Page 104 of Forgotten Romance

Davey chuckles. “You only tell me that every time we speak.” He runs a hand down his face, and the tightness around his eyes makes him look more stressed than ever. “Look, I need to get some sleep, but if you want the job, take it.” His voice gets more tense. “When I get home … there’s a lot we need to talk about.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound good.”

He bares his teeth. “Not … not good. It’s a conversation we need to have in person, but it has nothing directly to do with us and where our relationship is.”

“I’m not sure that made it sound any better.”

A smile tugs at the corners of his lips. “You asked me to trust you, remember? To not ask questions and that you’d tell me when you could.”

“This doesn’t feel like the same thing though.”

“Maybe not, but will you trust me anyway?”

Trust him? When my gut is in knots? When I’m scared that whatever he’s going to say is going to tear us apart again, no matter what he said? “Do you still love me?” I whisper.

“More than ever.”

The absolute truth in his tone eases my anxiety. “Then yeah. I trust you. Of course.”

“I can’t wait to be back there with you,” he says.

I know what he means. The talking and texting and sex is great, but it only makes me ache to hold him more. It’s easy to see why I got to the point of divorce the first time because my need to be with him is already eating at me.

The difference this time is that I won’t let it take over.

“I miss you. So much. But I’m here waiting.”

“You’ve always been too good to me.”

That comment is so stupid I almost laugh. “No, I haven’t. But I’m determined to give you everything you deserve from now on.”

He blinks at the screen, and it feels like he’s staring right at me and not some stupid camera. “I promise you exactly the same.”

We hang up, and I drop my phone to my chest, exactly over the place it hurts. Just one more week.

I only need to make it through one more week until he’s home.

33

Davey

“Do you have a minute?”

I glance up from sending one of my last-ever emails for the company. My heart is heavy, my energy is low, but in a few hours, I’ll be heading home to my family.

For good.

That makes it easier to go through with this.

“Sure, Eric, come in.” Even after my little I quit tantrum, he’s been a great boss. We announced my resignation, put my job to recruitment, and he’s told everyone—high and low—that the company is losing a huge talent. Which, I can’t lie, is amazing to hear, even if it also stings that little bit too.

“Everything done?” He points toward my computer, and I stare at it for a moment, realizing that, yeah. I think I am done. I’m officially replaced.

“I think so.” I shut down the screen, realizing I don’t have a hell of a lot to pack up from here. I didn’t have my promotion for long, but even more than that, I didn’t make a lot of effort to make any space here mine.

“Good. This is for you.”

Eric hands over a card, and I’m blown away by all the people who have written inside it. I save reading what they’ve actually written for later, though, because I refuse to get emotional at work. I set the card down and smile over at him. “I appreciate you not making this harder than it needs to be.”