Page 55 of Stone Vows

“I’m sorry, Gina. I can’t do this anymore.”

I break her hold on me and walk out the door of the lounge.

She calls out after me. “Kyle!”

But I keep walking. I walk to the elevators, but when I see they are all up on top floors, I walk to the stairway. Then I walk up the stairs. Then I run up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I race up to floor seven and don’t stop running until I hit the very end of the hallway.

I barge into her room and shut the door behind me.

“Kyle. Oh, my God, what’s wrong?” Elizabeth asks.

I don’t even hesitate before walking over to sit on the edge of her bed. I can’t stop the tears from falling. Painful tears that I held in all afternoon. Sobs bellow out of me as Elizabeth runs a soothing hand down my back.

Small arms come up to embrace me when I start shaking uncontrollably. “Shhh,” she whispers, her hot breath flowing over my ears. “It’s okay, Kyle. It’s okay. Whatever it is, it’ll be okay.”

She consoles me like this for what . . . minutes? Hours? I lose track of time being in her arms. I lose myself in them. And by the time I come around and realize the colossal inappropriateness of the situation, I know—I know for sure this is the only fucking place I ever want to be.

Chapter Twenty-four

It’s been two days since the fire at the factory. Two days of Gina giving me the cold shoulder. Two days of Elizabeth and I not talking about what happened when I broke down in her arms.

Two days of me trying to figure out my life.

“You holding up okay?” Ethan asks after dinner.

My brothers thought I could use a night with family and friends after what happened. And I think the girls are using this as a chance to plan that baby shower Baylor was talking about.

I nod. “I’m fine.”

I don’t tell him I haven’t slept since that day. Not well, anyway. Because every time I close my eyes, I see Rosita. I see her burned and broken and trying to be strong so she could say goodbye to her husband. I see her telling me life is too short. I see hershowingme just how true that is.

I hold my twenty-month-old nephew, Eli, on my lap and bounce him around. I take in his fine blonde hair, his chubby cheeks, and his hazel eyes and wonder what Elizabeth’s daughter will look like a year or two from now. Will she have blue eyes like her mother? Some shade of brown hair, perhaps?

Or will she resemble the bastard who helped make her, but who wasn’t man enough to stick around for the big show?

The past few sleepless nights, I’ve found myself wondering what life would be like if I brought Elizabeth and the baby home with me. What would my apartment look like with diapers, highchairs, and toys strewn across the floor?

It’s not something I’ve ever allowed myself to wonder.

I want kids, yes. But I’m not even twenty-eight years old. Not even a bonafide doctor yet. I have so much more I need to accomplish before I do that.

Like what?I ask myself.

Like becoming an attending. Like working in the ER for a few years and then opening my own clinic.

I stare at the cute kid drooling onto my lap. Who says I can’t do all thatandthis?

“Who, indeed,” I hear behind me.

I whip my head around to see Charlie standing over my shoulder, staring at me while I play with her son.

“Did I say that out loud?” I ask.

She laughs and sits down next to me. Eli reaches out for her and crawls onto her lap, yawning at the late hour.

“It’s okay, Kyle. You went through a very stressful situation. It’s only normal you’d readjust the way you look at the world. But I get the idea you were thinking about doing that evenbeforethe fire.”

I look at her and cock my head. “What do you mean?”

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