Page 137 of Fierce-Michael

“So you’re going to forgive me?”

“I want to. I don’t want to lose you, but I don’t want to keep going through this every few weeks or months either when something comes up.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m not delusional enough to think we aren’t going to fight. That there aren’t going to be some bumps in the road or the road even worn down a lot.”

“No,” she said.

“But I can get better at it. I want to get better. Starting with you telling me what happened and me not jumping to conclusions. And, by the way, I hadn’t said anything.”

“You were condemning. I heard it in the tone of your voice and your facial expressions. Just like Ty knowing when you’re mad. You didn’t think I should have taken the money.”

She wasn’t wrong with her words.

“I don’t know what I was thinking other than it shocked me.”

“The whole thing shocked me. I did what I thought was right. I offered them the money. Told them about it and wanted to give it to them. If I was that horrible of a person, I wouldn’t have gone over to tell them. They didn’t know about it either. I could have gone about my life with no one the wiser.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because it’s what I said. He was my husband for a few months. We didn’t even live together. I bought us cheap silver rings and that was it. His parents paid for everything. All his medical bills and expenses. They should have gotten the money. But I couldn’t tell the insurance company to give it to them. Actually, I tried and they said no. Even after what they’d said to me, when the check came, I didn’t cash it. My parents went over with the check trying to get them to take it. Brian’s parents didn’t want it. I thought maybe my parents could get through to them.”

“And they couldn’t?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “My parents couldn’t even get in the door. They had the check in their hand that I signed to hand to them and the door was shut on them and they were told to keep the money. I paid for my college with it and made a good-sized donation in his name to the leukemia foundation. The rest I invested.”

She still did a nice thing with the money. Smart things.

“That’s rude of them,” he said. “And if they were so rude about it, why seek you out on Sunday?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “They hate me. Like they think I caused everything to happen to Brian. I’m sorry they feel the way they do about me, but I can’t change it and I won’t. They wanted me to feel the guilt for years and I have.”

“There is no reason for you to feel guilty,” he said. “Why do you?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I just do. They made me feel like shit and I’ve kept that inside for years. I can’t break it. Maybe if they took the money, I wouldn’t. It’s like they knew this would happen. As if I was the selfish one.”

“You are the least selfish person I know,” he said, getting up and reaching his hand out. She threaded their fingers together and he pulled her up and into his arms. “I’m sorry they made youfeel that way. So sorry. And that I compounded it and made you feel worse. I don’t ever want to do that again.”

“I don’t care if we fight,” she said, hugging him back. He heard her sniffling some. “I know we are going to. But I don’t like the way I felt inside after the two times we did.”

“I don’t like it either,” he said. “And I know I caused it so that makes me even more of an ass.”

“I want to say you shouldn’t be sorry, but the truth is, we are both at fault for the way we handled it. It’s the second time I just ended things and walked out. That’s not healthy either.”

“No,” he said, pushing her back a little. “It’s not. We agreed to talk and you didn’t.”

“Which is why I didn’t sleep much last night.” She moved over to the chair and sat again and he leaned on his desk. “Cade noticed I looked like shit. He came in to talk to me and I thought he knew what happened and that you’d said something to him or Alex and I was almost pissed that you’d share that.”

“Never,” he said. “They don’t know what is going on.”

“I realized that. He wanted to know how things were going with Electra moving. But then he realized I thought it was something else. Jolene was coming in and he wanted to forewarn me.”

“But she came to talk to you anyway,” he said. “Didn’t she?”

“She did. Surprisingly she didn’t get too nosy but gave me some good advice.”

“Which she is going to brag about, right?” he asked, laughing.

“Most likely. But it was good advice. And she said that she knew we were perfect for each other.”

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