Page 62 of Kiss From A Rose

"Did I do an okay job?" he asked like a kid wanting to know if he'd been good.

Who was this man?

"Thank you for helping, Gray." I meant it.

When I told Malou what Gray was doing, she laughed. I loved that the woman could still give out one of her big belly laughs. Itwas unfair of God to take her away when there was so much to live for.

"You're welcome. I already finished Mariner's Rest. You wanna check it?"

I shook my head. I wanted to walk up to him and give him a big hug. I wanted to hold him. I wanted to tell him that I was done being in a snit, and we should just go home.

I also was afraid to bethatweak because our marriage was not, as my therapist said, meeting my needs.

"You have anything else for me to do? I'm at your service."

He looked too good to be cleaning bathrooms, I thought. Gray was a handsome man. He was tall, well-built, and at forty-two, there was some white mixed in with the blonde, and it looked real nice on him. I thought he had a lot of Paul Newman going for him with his piercing blue eyes and that impressive jawline. Jude looked like Gray with blonde hair and blue eyes, while Willow was a brunette with brown eyes, like me. Unlike my hair, which came below my shoulders, Willow had cut it to her chin and styled it in a bob. She looked so chic and beautiful. Our children were better looking than both of us. But maybe that was how most parents felt about their kids.

"Babe?" Gray prompted as he picked up the soiled towels. "Anything else you need done?"

I was so confused with thisnewGray.

"I have to make lunch," I blurted out. "I…lunch."

"Okay. I'll drop these off " —he pointed to the towels— "and come and help you. I can chop, wash…whatever you need."

He took the towels to the utility room, and I closed the bedroom door and stood, unmoving, staring after him.

When he came back, he looked quizzically at me.

"What are you up to?" I asked suspiciously. "Why are you here? Why are you doing this?"

He walked close to me and brushed some hair off my face. "I'm here to win the love of my life back."

Tears, unbidden, filled my eyes. This was not fair. He couldn't say things like thisnowwhen I had found the courage to leave him.

A tear fell, and he wiped it, his eyes moist with emotion as well. "I'm here to show my wife how much she means to me and convince her to take me back."

I shook my head as more tears streamed down my face.

He kept wiping them. "I'm here to tell my wife that I was a fool. That I was buildin' an empire and forgot to take care of my queen."

He leaned down and brushed his lips against my forehead. "I'm here to make you, Rose, fall in love with me again and give me a chance to make right all the wrongs."

I stood frozen.

I couldn't imagine the man who was always impatient with me, always in a hurry, was now standing here, telling me all the things that I hadn't dared dream he would ever say.

I gave myself a mental head slap and snapped out of the fantasy Gray was weaving.

The love of his life?I didn't think so.

"I don't feel loved by you," I spat at him with more venom than I expected. Blackness coiled around my heart, which he'd broken with his callousness and carelessness. "I…can't do this."

I ran from him. Scurried down the stairs to the kitchen—my sanctuary. Just like it had been in our home in Atlanta.

He followed me, and if I expected him to continue our conversation, I was either disappointed or relieved; I wasn't sure which. Because he didn't.

"What are we doing for lunch?" he asked instead, casually.

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