Page 89 of The Only Time

A voice startles me from my thoughts. “How are you doing?”

I look up and see my brother Lucas standing at my door. “I’m fine. You don’t need to ask me every single day how I’m doing with that look on your face.”

“What look?” he asks defensively.

My shoulders fall as I sigh. “The look that says that you are worried about me, wondering if I’m going to break.”

“Is it so wrong for me to be worried?” he asks as he leans against my door frame.

“No, of course not. I appreciate you worrying about me. But constantly watching me like I’m a sad little puppy isn’t going to help me get over this any faster. All it does is make me feel worse.”

I see a look of guilt cross his face. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to do that to you. I promise I’ll try to stop asking. Did you see the new account Marcus locked in?”

A smile breaks out on my face. “I did. He’s doing such a great job out there in Chicago. That’s a big client. I’m so excited to start working on how to promote their wines.”

“They said one of the reasons they wanted to work with us was seeing your portfolio. They’re excited to work with you.”

That makes me feel so proud. I love what I do. It’s so rewarding when you can make someone else’s dreams come true through creating their brand and helping them show it to the world.

After work is done, I’m so exhausted I feel like crawling to my front door. My body is still kind of banged up and definitely needs more rest than I am used to. But sitting at my house alone all day is just not an option for my mental health.

I get to my front porch and the fall cold, which in Cleveland is basically winter, makes my body shiver as it begs for warmth. Something catches my eye at the end of my porch. I turn my head and see a swing hanging at the end.

My breath catches in my throat. It’s the swing Eric made for me.

How did it get here?

I take shaky steps all the way to the end of the porch until I’m standing right in front of it.

Did he bring this here? Is he back in Cleveland?

My heart flutters at the thought. I crane my neck to see if there’s anyone around, but there’s nobody in sight. Then I see something odd installed around the roof of my porch with a cord going down to my outlet. There’s a button attached to the cord. I press it and the thing comes to life as it turns orange all around.

It’s a heater. So, I can stay warm out here in the fall and winter while still using the swing. It’s amazing. I feel it warming me up already.

I don’t know what to do. Am I supposed to text him back? But if he wanted to talk to me, wouldn’t he have called and told me about this. I don’t think he would have snuck in and installed it while I was at work if he wanted to see me.

My vision clouds with emotion. That’s what kind of man he is. He arranged to have this set up for me or did it himself all because he knows how much I wanted it. Even after I pushed him away from me and asked him to leave.

I bet he hates me right now.

How did we both manage to hurt each other while claiming to love each other?

I guess that’s why we are both single. We clearly both have issues.

I walk into my house and instantly change into comfy clothes before I reheat some food, take pain medication, and fall asleep with my phone in my hand as I tried to think of what to text him.

The next morning when I get into my office, I get a weird feeling. Something seems different but I don’t quite know what it is. I look around but don’t immediately spot anything different.

I don’t know how many times I’ve grabbed my phone to text him before lunch, but it's borderline driving me insane. There’salways something stopping me. This nagging voice in my head telling me that if he wanted to see or talk to me, he would have done it by now.

I throw my phone down on my desk. With my elbow on my desk, I plop my head in my hand. Then I spot it, a picture hanging on my wall across the room.

My vision sucks. I can see it’s a man in jeans with no shirt on, but I can’t really make out any details. Is this some prank from my brothers? Kind of weird if you ask me.

Maybe one of my sisters-in-law thinks I needed a little pick me up.

I stand up from my desk and as I get closer to it, my jaw hits the floor. I grab it off of the wall and try to process what I’m holding.

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