Page 15 of Wish I Didn't Want You Back

There was something in his expression, something I couldn’t quite read. “But you’re going back to New York, right?”

Was he asking me simply out of curiosity, or was he hoping I would say yes?

“I don’t know what I’m doing, Brooks, but I’m not going back anytime soon.”

When he frowned, I knew I had my answer. Fixing up the house wouldn’t bring back my mom or make him hate me any less. This was all too much. “I need a minute,” I said and headed toward the stairs.

Coming back to this town was supposed to bring me contentment. A place for me to figure out who I was and what I wanted to do next. Instead, all I could feel was a constant ball of tension curling in my stomach. It felt like I was being forced to face things I didn’t want to deal with. Him. The past and every mistake I’d ever made.

I walked through the house and ran my fingertips along the walls. Every corner held a memory. This house was my mom’s pride and joy before she passed away from complications from a stroke when I was sixteen.

I walked over to the window and stared out at the backyard. The garden, which used to be so full of color, was now overgrown with weeds. She was meticulous about her garden and would spend hours out there tending to her flowers and plants. I could almost hear her humming as she worked.

This is where she would go when she needed to get away from my dad. They didn’t have the best marriage, but I think she stuck with him for my sake, because she thought it was the right thing to do. She was always happier when she was away from him. I didn’t understand it then, but I got it now.

Tears built up in my eyes, but I wiped them away quickly. The loss of life in this house was almost too much. Everything felt out of place. The things that used to make sense to me no longer did. I’d never felt as lost and alone as I did at that moment.

The creak of the floorboards made me stiffen. I didn’t need to look over my shoulder to know it was him. My body tensed, like it always did when he was near.

“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice much softer than it was earlier.

I brushed a hand across my cheek, keeping my gaze fixed on the outside. “This house is all I have left of my mom, Brooks. I came here to think. I came here for peace and quiet. Now, I feel like I have nothing.”

“Hey.” He stepped up to my back. “I understand how much this house means to you. That’s why we’re going to figure out what happened and fix it.”

I cleared my throat and looked around. “I’m going to see if I can get a room at the Stanford Inn.”

“No,” he said abruptly.

I blinked and turned to face him. “Excuse me?”

He sighed and pulled on the brim of his hat. “That place is haunted, and it just failed a fire inspection from the code enforcement officer.”

“Then what do you suggest, because there aren’t any other options in town?”

His jaw tightened. “You can stay with me.”

“What?”

Was it wrong that my heart quickened at the idea?

“You heard me. I’ve got the space, and it’s only temporary.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he put his hand out, stopping me. “You have no other choice. So, unless you have some other brilliant idea, it’s me or nothing.”

Well, when he put it that way.

“Thank you.” I shifted on my feet. He continued to surprise me.

He grumbled, “Don’t thank me. Just don’t make me regret it.”

I would not cry in front of him. I would not cry.

As much as I resented his coldness toward me, I had no one to blame but myself. I didn’t just leave this town behind all those years ago. I left him, too.

Instead of going back and forth with him, I decided to swallow my pride and accept his offer. Like, he said, what other option did I have?

CHAPTER FIVE

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