Page 52 of Worth the Vow

Keeping busy is the quickest way for me to calm my anxiety. It’s why I work as much as possible. But since it’s a Saturday, my options are pretty limited. Which is why I’m cleaning the window wells in the basement. It’s probably good that I do this when Kate isn’t here anyway. I try to clean out the window wells once a year. Wind constantly blows trash and lawn debris into them, and it adds up incredibly fast.

Now I can stand and breathe in her perfume, letting it permeate my veins, and allow myself to think about her in ways I absolutely should not. Ways that would complicate an already complicated situation, which would most likely end with one of us being hurt. I’m not gloating when I say it’s likely to be Kate. My wife wears her heart on her sleeve. She sees the best in everyone. She’d think any sexual connection we have could lead to more. Yeah, I told Alex I thought I wanted a relationship with Kate. But with each passing hour, I’m allowing doubt to creep back into my mind. My main priority has to be my kids.

But I have no intention of putting myself in another relationship where my children could be hurt. I don’t care about my own heart. I’ll survive no matter what. But my kids don’t deserve to have another woman break them. Aspen would probably bounce back. She’s incredibly strong-willed. Carter would inevitably escape into his own world until he was ready to talk about it. But Sienna ... my oldest daughter would be devastated.

Who am I kidding? Whenever this ends — however this ends — people are going to be hurt.

Typically I don’t make rash decisions. I’m detail-oriented, and I think everything through. Ever hear the expression measure twice and cut once? I’m more of a measure five times kind of guy.

But did I think it through when I told Kate we would get married? Nope. Not one iota of thought given. I jumped in, feet first, consequences be damned. Now my wife has left the county, is ignoring all of my messages, and I’m wondering what made her bolt. Yeah, I said some hurtful things. But she’s never left before. Why didn’t she fight back?

Using this as a perfect opportunity to enter Kate’s space with a valid reason, I step into her room and look around. Her bed is unmade, which would normally bug me incessantly, but hers looks welcoming. Lived in. Incredibly comfortable. My eyes close on their own as I imagine what it would be like to wake up next to Kate, my arms around her. Or her head on my chest.

Shit.

I shake my head, attempting to rid it of these ludicrous thoughts, and walk swiftly to the window. I don’t realize how full my trash bag is, after cleaning the other three window wells, and my bag slams into the nightstand next to Kate’s bed, jarring it.

I watch in slow motion as the drawers slide open, and multiple things spill out onto the floor. I might have been able to catch some of the items, but I became completely frozen when I saw what was in there.

Toys.

Multiple.

Things I’d never seen before. Granted, my experience with masturbation apparatuses is pretty limited, but it’s clear Kate knows her way around a toy or two. I recognize a clit stimulator, a normal dildo … and is that a fucking butt plug?

When I notice I’m hard behind my jeans, I ignore the mess and rip open the window blinds. Throwing open the window, I pop the screen out and begin removing all the debris that accumulated all winter. It’s been a few years since I’ve checked the drains in the window wells, and I’m glad I did, because one of the other drains was completely clogged. When I find this one, I determine it is also clogged. As I’m walking into the attached bathroom, determined to not sniff any of Kate’s bath products like a fucking psychopath, I go to fill up a glass of water so I can clear the clog in the drain. I chuckle to myself when I easily locate a glass. I wasn’t lying about her ability to leave glasses and tumblers full of water everywhere, but I exaggerated how angry it made me while talking to Alex.

When my phone jars with a loud ring, I drop the glass and scramble to grab my phone from my pocket. I hope it’s Kate. I hope she’s finally ready to talk, although I don’t have a damn clue what I’m going to say.

It’s odd how disappointed I am when I see it’s Matt calling, but a weird premonition overcomes me. A tingling starts in my spine as I answer the call. He wouldn’t call me unless absolutely necessary.

“What happened?” I demand.

“Shit,” he mutters. “I knew if I called you’d figure out something was wrong.”

“Tell me what’s going on, Matt.”

He sighs. “I told her not to do this, Dom. Really. I told her not to give him one more second of her time.”

“Who?” Whoever the fuck hurt her, I’ll kill them.

“Our dad.”

“Uncle Chris?” I ask in disbelief. “Isn’t he in prison?”

“Yeah. He’s down in Cañon City. He’s been reaching out to her more often than I realized. She said something in passing about going to see him, but I thought I talked her out of it.”

“How did she get down there, then?”

“She told me she was running to the pharmacy. Something about pain meds for cramps. I figured she couldn’t be lying about that. And maybe she didn’t lie about it, man. Maybe it was a two-for, and she decided to go to see him anyway.”

“Okay,” I say slowly, confusion evident in my tone. “I’m not sure why you’re calling me about this. If you think she’ll listen to me, you’ve got another thing coming. If anything, Katharine will do the exact opposite of what I ask.”

“She called me sobbing. I couldn’t make out everything she said, but I got the gist of it. Dad was horrible to her. I begged her to come back, but she said she was fine. She’s not fine, Dom. I know her, and she’s spiraling. Now she won’t answer any of our calls.”

I’m running up the basement stairs before Matt finishes his explanation. “I can be down to Cañon City in less than three hours. Any idea of where she might be?”

“Ask Sienna.”

---