Page 89 of Seeing You

“I’m showing the pups their new home,” he said smoothly. “What do you think of this kitchen? Pretty spectacular, right?”

If she were a cartoon, her jaw would be on the floor and her eyes would be the size of saucers. “What is happening right now?” she asked, her voice a near shriek. Marcus looked amused, and the dogs started barking as they danced around her feet. She was about to ask again when another dog came strolling in. This one was older and simply walked over and sat next to Marcus.

Reaching down, he scratched the dog’s ear. “That’s a good girl.” Grinning, he returned his attention to Billie. “This is Butterscotch and these are her babies. I went to the shelter to adopt a dog, and once I saw this girl, I knew she was the one. Then the vet who introduced us mentioned that she had puppies and all but two had been adopted, and I knew I had to keep them all together. Someone had dumped them outside the shelter in a box! I mean, how cruel is that? There were three other puppies who were already adopted, so I couldn’t do anything about that, but there was no way I could separate these three because…well…family is important.”

He looked so happy and proud of himself, and that’s when she officially lost her shit.

“Are you freaking kidding me right now? What the hell is wrong with you?”

Okay, things were not going quite the way he was expecting. He had been certain she was going to melt after meeting the dogs and hearing their story and seeing the house, but so far, Billie looked like she was ready to strangle him.

“Um…”

“I knew you could be heartless, Marcus, but I never thought you’d be this cruel!”

“I’m not! I told you, I wanted to keep the three of them together! They were a package deal, and I was happy to take them!”

“Not to thedogs, you idiot! But to me! Do you get some sort of sick pleasure out of coming around here and mentally torturing me?” she cried. “You refuse to give me what I want—what I need—but you keep showing back up and making sure you keep messing up my mind! Why? Why couldn’t you just stay away?”

She started to cry and when he carefully maneuvered over the dogs to get to her, she wrapped her arms around herself as she took a step back.

“Billie, I don’t think you understand. I’m not trying to mess with you or be cruel. I’m here because I love you,” he said, his own voice thick with emotion. “I’m here because I don’t want to be without you.” He took another tentative step toward her and almost sagged with relief when she didn’t move away.

Reaching up, she quickly swiped at her tears. “I…I don’t understand. This can’t be your house. There’s no way you could have bought it that fast. And there’s no furniture here, so…”

He took another small step toward her and had to fight his own laughter as the puppies continued to scamper at her feet.“I’m staying with my dad for a few days until things are done here. And I paid cash for the house. Thanks to your cousin Patrick, we were able to expedite everything and so…it’s mine. I sold my place in D.C.—also thanks to your cousin Patrick—and only took a fraction of what was in it and put it all in storage.”

“What does Patrick have to do with any of this?”

“He’s a real estate genius. I mean, seriously, he and his wife made things happen faster than I thought was possible. I told them the kind of house I was looking for and asked what the inventory was like here in Sweetbriar, and they sent me a few listings. Then your family did the walkthroughs on all of them and we decided on this one.”

“Wedecided? What are you talking about?”

“Oh, I called Levi and…”

“No, wait! Wait,” she interrupted. “First…why aren’t you in D.C.? That’s all you ever wanted! All you ever talked about! That was your dream! It was like a status symbol for you!”

“I really wish we had somewhere to sit,” he murmured, looking around.

“I don’t need tosit, Marcus. I need to understand what is happening because nothing is making sense. Two weeks ago, we agreed that you couldn’t give up your life in D.C.! And more than that, you certainly didn’t want a life here! Now you’re back and acting like it’s no big deal that you gave up everything and decided to move here!”

To say she was frustrated was an understatement. Now he could only hope that she’d understand why he came back.

With a small sigh, he admitted how his life in D.C. wasn’t what he wanted anymore and that he’d been living a lie. “Before I came back here two months ago, I truly thought I had a good life. But every time I went back home after being here—whether it was for a few days or a few weeks—it became less and lessappealing. My condo felt cold and sterile. It was too quiet. I was lonely.”

“Okay, but…”

“The worst part was…no one even noticed I was gone. No texts, no phone calls…nothing. All the times I came back here and was gone for a week or even a few days, no one cared. I could have been dealing with some heavy shit and no one ever asked if I was okay. Levi had mentioned having a similar experience after he lost his job, and it was very eye-opening. For years, I thought I had a group of friends, but I didn’t. I have acquaintances, and that isn’t enough. After I left your house that last time, I went home and did some serious soul searching and that’s when I realized it was time for me to admit that I wasn’t happy and that I need to go after what I really want.”

“And what’s that?” she quietly asked.

“I want a wife, kids, a dog, and eventually grandkids.”

Her soft gasp told him his choice of words wasn’t lost on her. “I don’t understand. You said…”

“I said a lot of things and most of them were wrong. I’m so sorry for all the ways I’ve screwed up our lives,” he said gruffly. “I’ve been doing the same things and working toward the same goals, and I’m miserable. I kept thinking if I had the upscale condo, and had the perfect job, and made the right amount of money that I’d be happy, but I wasn’t. I’d checked every box, and it wasn’t enough. Something was still missing. These last few months with you made me realize that. You are my other half, Billie Donovan. You always have been.”

She shook her head, and he didn’t doubt for a minute that she was wary. “We’ve been down this road.”

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