Page 117 of Someone to Watch Over Me

I wipe my hands on a dishtowel for something to do.

Normally, I’d greet her with a hug and a kiss, but today, I keep my distance.

“Hi,” she says with a sheepish grin that turns my insides to putty. I love that little grin. “This is a fine mess we find ourselves in.”

I laugh, and the tension is broken. I love that about her, the way she cuts through the crap with one sentence that sums things up.

“Indeed it is.”

“I’m so sorry, Hallie. I know you’re upset, and with good reason… I never saw this coming. I had no idea he was thinking about this or… Well, I didn’t know he was worried about the kids.”

I go to her because I can’t not go to her.

We wrap our arms around each other.

“I was afraid I’d lost you over this one,” she says softly.

“You haven’t lost me, but I have thoughts.”

“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t. I’m not sure when it happened, but your voice has become the one that matters most to me. Your thoughts are the ones I most want to hear.”

See how she does that? How can I not love her?

“Let’s open this bottle of wine and talk it out.”

She takes care of opening the bottle while I get the glasses.

We take them onto my back deck, where fairy lights are strung through nearby trees to create a magical atmosphere that Robin complimented the first time she saw it. We’ve spent many hours out here together since the first night she visited my home. The autumn scents of woodsmoke and decaying leaves are heavy in the air.

“Ah,” she says on a long exhale as we land on the love seat and put our feet up. “I feel like I can finally breathe again. Today has been a lot.”

“Yes, it has.”

She looks over at me with liquid brown eyes full of emotion. “I’m sorry to have done that to you, but I wanted to be honest with you.”

“Which I certainly appreciate. Don’t think that’s not the case.”

“I know you do, but I wouldn’t blame you for telling me to fuck off and get out of your life.”

“I’m not doing that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I care. I might even love you a little, and when you love someone, you don’t cut and run when it gets hard.”

She blinks when tears suddenly appear.

I hand her a napkin from the stack I brought out with the crackers and cheese we haven’t touched.

“It’s been hard from the get-go for you. Me and all my issues. Baby lesbian, recently divorced from a man, two young kids and terminal cancer. I’m one step away from being that toxic partner everyone warns you about.”

Again, I laugh. “You’re nowhere close to toxic. Trust me.”

“What are your thoughts about Kevin moving back in? Please tell me the truth.”

I take a second to get my thoughts together before I speak. “I know he’s thinking practicalities and that it’s not romantic.”

“I can’t speak for him, but it’s not for me. That is long over. Even if I hadn’t met you and had such an amazing connection with you, that would still be over for me. He’s a good man and a wonderful father, but our romantic and sexual relationship had been nonexistent for years before we finally split.”

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