Page 26 of Forever His This Christmas

“No, we can’t Corey.”

“Why not?” he asked, not ready to give up on them.

“Because I know how you feel about me,” she said, knowing the only way to get him to leave was to hurt him—really hurt him. She didn’t want to but there was just too much she couldn’t tell him. “You want me to love you, and I can’t—I don’t, and I never will. I’m sorry if it hurts but it’s the truth. I just want to have some casual fun without feelings getting in the way. You want this to be something special, for us to be a realus, but I don’t. I don’t feel that way about you.”

“You know how I feel about you? You know that I am so far in love with you I don’t give a damn how you treat me in return?” he asked, pulling her up against him tightly. “You could spend every dime I own, only come to my bed once a month, ignore me in public, and I will still love you. I am not going away Lisa.”

“Yes, you are because if you don’t, you’ll show just how pathetic you really are to everyone else. Isn’t it bad enough formeto know you have no balls—that I own them even though I don’t want to? Do you really need the entire city to know too?”

“Stop it,” Corey said trying to contain his anger. She was too close to the truth for his comfort. He loved her in ways he’d never loved anyone, and he swore she felt at least some of it in return. He couldn’t believe her father having a scare would cause this sort of reaction in her though. There had to be something else on top of it.

“No, do you know what will happen if that comes out that I’m your weakness? Your entire business will be destroyed bit by bit. They’ll ruin you using me to do it. So even if you have absolutelyno pride what about survival instinct hmm? Do you want to go back to living the way you did growing up, not being able to do anything you want because you can’t afford it, barely having enough food to make it around the table?”

“Stop it.”

“No,” Lisa said, hating the look on his face. It made her heart ache, her stomach twisted into knots, seeing that look on his face. It was so close to the one that Abby wore yesterday thinking she didn’t love her. These emotions flowing through her were the same as then too, but the one difference was Corey could take care of himself—Abby couldn’t. No matter how much she didn’t want to do this, she had to, had to be cruel to make it stick. “This is my home, Corey. I can say whatever I want, and you wanted the truth, didn’t you? Well, this is the truth. I like having sex with you, but that’s as far as it goes. I don’t care about you. Honestly, you’re just one of the guys I’ve met that interests me sexually. In bed, yeah, I enjoy you, outside of it, I couldn’t care less. So why don’t you get over it and leave me alone? I’ll be by to pick up my things while you’re at work later today. I’ll leave the key on the counter.”

“You’re really serious about this, aren’t you? I thought Donna was the biggest bitch I’d ever met but she’s an absolute saint compared to you Lisa…enjoy your miserable life living all alone. I hope it’s worth keeping whatever secrets you have because when you die, who’s going to be beside your grave missing you huh?” he questioned walking to the door and leaving before he made a total fool of himself by begging her to reconsider.

Lisa sighed as she locked the door behind Corey. She laid her head against it, fighting the tears that wanted to fall and took a moment to gather herself before turning to go check on Abby. She stopped short, seeing her in the doorway and gave her a light smile. “Hi, so what would you like for breakfast today?”

“Was that Corey?” Abby asked and she nodded trying to smile. “You were fighting, weren’t you? Is it about me? Does he not want me around?”

“Abby, it wasn’t about you, sweetie, I promise.”

“Then what was it? You seemed happy whenever you talked about him.”

“If Corey knew about you, I know he’d love you, but I’d end up telling him the truth.”

“That’s not bad though, is it? It means you trust him, right?” Abby said and she nodded, wishing it was as simple as that.

“I do trust him to see the truth about us, about what happened but you don’t know Corey, baby. If he knew what happened to me, to us, he’d go back to Colorado and do something to fix it. He’d go after him and that would be bad for all of us.”

“So, you’re going to lie to him, not tell him how you came to have a thirteen-year-old daughter?”

“There’s no need to tell him anything period, it’s over. I’ve seen it coming. I just didn’t want to admit it. It’s alright Abby,” she said, trying her best to keep it from sounding like the lie it was. “We’ll be fine. I loveyousweetie, just you. So, what would you like for breakfast?” she asked again kissing the top of her head.

“Eggs and toast are fine. Are you sure about you and Corey being over?” Abby asked, looking nearly as worried as when she’d gotten lost at the zoo when she was eight.

She hated that look on her daughter’s face, never wanted to see it again. She was going to have to lie better, she realized. The idea was comical considering how much she’d lied to the world in the past. Then again, lying to her daughter shouldn’t be as easy as lying to the rest of the world, so perhaps it wasn’t that shocking.

“Yeah sweetheart, I’m sure. Now why don’t you get dressed while I make breakfast? I need to stop by Corey’s place and pack up my things. Do you want to come with me or stay here? We should probably stop and grab you some clothes somewhere too.”

“You’re not afraid Corey will show up while you’re packing?”

“No, he’s not likely to be around,” she said, thankful to be able to be honest about that. She’d hurt him too much just now for him to show up so soon. “So, is that a yes to coming?”

“Yeah, I’d love to see where you’ve been staying. You said the place was amazing.”

She nodded and when they reached Corey’s place, she saw the way Abby’s eyes lit up. “I take it you like it.”

“This place is awesome. I’d never leave if I lived here.”

“Well first we’ll get my stuff packed up, then we’ll stop by the mall for some things for you. After that, we’ll look at some new apartment listings,” Lisa said and by late that afternoon, all of her things were out of Corey’s house. She left the key on the counter and took a deep breath, saying goodbye to him in her head.

“Are you sure—really, really sure Mom?” Abby asked and she put a smile on her face hugging her as they headed out.

“I’m fine,” she promised and made herself forget about Corey and focus on Abby. That was the only thing she needed right now.

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