Page 72 of If You Stayed

“Gabriel knows that better than anyone,” Ramona mentioned.

Kierra raised an eyebrow. “A bit of a workaholic?”

“It keeps me on my feet,” I joked.

“Yeah, not everyone works a basic nine-to-five like you, Kierra. Some of us have careers, not jobs,” Henry said as he opened the door and held it open for us all to walk through.

“I’d confidently say her job is the most important out of all of ours,” I said, feeling annoyed at how he tried to undercut Kierra and her position. She was the one with a PhD, after all.

That little comment was enough to make me realize it was going to be a long, long day.

And a long day it had been.

After watching Henry downplay every choice that Kierra picked out, I had watched him completely gaslight her out of choosing the options she wanted to go with—the better options if you’d asked me. Unfortunately, whenever I had tried to vouch for Kierra, Ramona would go into deep interior-design talk about why Henry’s option was the better one.

The only time Kierra seemed to be enjoying herself was when she and Henry split up in the stores. As Ramona and Henry went off to discuss sink faucets, I found Kierra completely laid out in an oversized tub that seemed big enough to fit a football team. Her eyes were shut. She seemed so relaxed that I almost felt bad interrupting the moment.

“Comfortable?” I asked, making her open her eyes. The soft smile on her lips showcased that.

“Oh yes. This is my kind of heaven.”

“It’s in your price range.” Truthfully, everything was in their price range. “And it would look amazing with the other items you chose,” I said, stepping into the tub and sitting on the opposite side of her. We still had ridiculous amounts of room surrounding us both.

“Oh no. Henry would definitely not go for something like this.”

“Why not?”

She laughed slightly. “Because I like it.”

I didn’t laugh. That seemed to be the theme of the day. Anything she thought was amazing, her husband was quick to shut down. I disliked the guy more and more with every passing second.

“Does he do that a lot?”

“Do what?”

“Undermine you and speak down to you.”

Her eyes flashed with surprise for a moment. Then her lips parted and she said, “Yes.”

I stared at her for a moment, not saying a word. I found myself doing that often. Getting lost in the mere existence of her.

Kierra released a timid chuckle. “What is it that you’re thinking about?”

“Nothing. It’s just that you remind me…”

“Remind you of what?”

“Everything.”

Before she could reply, Ramona and Henry reappeared. Ramona smiled at the tub. “Holy big tub!” she remarked. “You could fit a whole football team in that thing.”

“It’s pretty large,” I agreed, standing up from the tub. “A nice one, though. I think it’s the best of the bunch,” I confidently stated, feeling as if Henry would take my opinion with more weight than his wife’s.

“What do you think, Kierra?” Henry asked with his brow furrowed.

Kierra looked at me before darting her eyes back to Henry. She shrugged. “I think it’s too much.”

Henry grumbled slightly and rubbed his chin. “I think it’s perfect. Let’s go with this one, Gabriel.”

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