Page 109 of Eternally Yours
I can’t deal with this now, I need to talk to my wife. I need to explain myself, even if I have no idea what happened. I just need to hear her voice.I need to fix this. I can’t lose her.
I go to her contact and call, but she doesn’t pick up. I call over and over, I text, I call Morgan, then Aubrey, but no one answers. “Please, someone answer...” I say out loud. I try Cecilia again and again.
Me
Please, baby. Please pick up. I’m sorry. Please, I just need to hear your voice... please.
Me
I’ll do anything. Just tell me what to do. Please, Cecilia. I can’t lose you. We can fix this. I know we can... please just pick up.
I call her number again, but she still doesn’t answer. Not until the fifteenth time when the line finally connects and my heart skips a beat. There’s hope, it’s small, but it’s there.
It has to be.
“Minnie?” I say quietly, afraid if I say one wrong thing she’ll hang up. I’ve already fucked up bad enough, I don’t want to make it worse.
She doesn’t answer, but I know she’s there. I can hear her shaky breath through the speaker, her little sniffles that she tries to conceal.
“Baby, I’m so sorry, I’m so fucking sorry. I know there’s nothing I can say to make this better, but I swear I didn’t know. I have no idea what happened last night. I would never do this to you willingly, you have to believe me... Please, Minnie... God, I’m so fucking sorry... I love you, you’re everything to me...”
Her sniffling gets loud, her breath picking up like she’s gasping for air. But it all sounds muffled, like she’s covering her mouth. My heart squeezes, chest tightening to the point of pain.Fuck, I did this to her...
My eyes water and my voice becomes wobbly as I continue to talk. “I’ll fix this, I promise. This can’t be the end of us. It can’t. I’ll find a way. Everything will be okay. I love you, Minnie.”
A rapping sound comes from the door, and I stop. “Hayes, time to get up. Bus will be here in fifteen,” someone says from the other side and leaves.Fuck.
“Baby, I... I have to go... just please... please don’t leave... wait for me. I know it’s a lot to ask, but please just wait for me to come home...” My voice breaks, and I take a deep breath in, trying to steady myself.
A pained sob comes through the phone and my heart falls to pieces.No... I can’t take this... this is all my fault... and I can’t even be there to make it better...
“Minnie, please... say something... anything... yell at me, scream... just anything is better than this... I just need to hear your voice...” I beg, brokenheartedly.
It’s silent for a while, her cries quiet. I begin to lose hope that she’ll talk, but then she takes a deep breath. I wait... and wait...
“Happy birthday, Silas,” she murmurs, and the line goes dead.
I was wrong... that’s so much worse than her silence...
The phone drops from my hand, and I lose myself. Slipping off the bed and to the ground as a devastating howl explodes from my lungs, and I cry for the last few minutes I have by myself.
Alone.
Chapter thirty-two
Cecilia
Magical croissants.
It’s been two days... two days of hell. Silas comes home today, and I don’t know how I feel about that.Right now, I feel nothing.
Everything has shut off since that phone call. Emma showed up yesterday and hasn’t left since. Morgan and Aubrey, either. They’re all missing work for me... because of me. So am I, but Em talked to Amanda, and she gave me the week off to sort through things. I don’t even know what to sort.
Everything’s a mess.
What am I supposed to do?Morg and Em offered for me to stay with them, but I don’t know if that’s what I want. Right now, I just want to be alone. I know they’re just trying to help, but nothing can truly help.
They’re all worried about me. They try to feed me, make me drink water, anything. But I don’t accept it, I don’t touch it, even if they leave it by my side. I’ve been sitting in the same spot for two days, I can’t move.I don’t want to move.
