Page 41 of Infinite
God, I’m going to need to be medicated. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
Her lips tip up into a smile. “Not really.”
With that, Natalie heads out the door, giving us a wave before closing it. I turn back to Quinn. “Where are we going?”
He moves toward me, his eyes watching my expression closely. “I think the two of us have been through enough hell the last few weeks and need a break, don’t you?”
How I wish it were that simple. There’s no break we can take that’ll make me forget how, if I touched my stomach, there would no longer be a child growing.
Still, I need to try to at least do what I can to make everyone believe I’m fine so they can let me be.
“I guess.”
“Not the answer I was hoping for, but I’ll take it.” He smiles and then grabs the bag I had placed down when we got here. “Let’s go.”
Please, God, let it be somewhere I can hide in the crowds.
14
Quinn
We’re about twenty minutes from our destination when Ashton begins to fidget with her hands. I’m not so sure this was a good idea, but it’s the only one I have. We have a week with no furniture, and I told Mark we needed some time away.
It was Natalie who suggested I take Ashton to the house my grandmother still owns in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, which I hope ends up being a stroke of brilliance. It was a magical place for her and Liam, and I’m hoping the quiet beaches of Corolla will be the same for us.
“Where are we going?”
“My family has a beach house in Corolla, I thought it might be a great place for us to escape.”
She tightens her fingers until the knuckles turn white. “It should be great. Just the two of us.”
I clench my jaw because I’m trying so fucking hard. I’ve given her space, pushed her, talked to her, waited her out, and we go nowhere. After the night in the spare bedroom, I hoped we had turned a corner, but it’s starting to look like I’d been wrong.
She’s not mean or even cold. She snuggles into me each night and is willing to hold my hand, but it’s not her.
Ashton was fire.
This is ice.
We pull into the parking spot for the house, and she does her version of a smile. As if I don’t see that it’s fake. I’ve let her think she’s fooling me, but I’m not buying it.
This has to stop here.
I have to get her to finally break or we’re going to be what does.
I grab the bags, and she trails behind me. The two-story beach house that sits on stilts is everything I remember. My grandpa bought it for Nana and made everyone promise to always treat it like a jewel. So, we do. Each year, my cousins or I come and do something to keep it maintained. Last year, I repainted the outside the same blue it’s been for eighty years.
“What do you think?” I ask Ashton as we enter.
“It’s gorgeous.”
And it’s the first time I believe anything that’s come out of her mouth in a while.
“I did all the tile work.” My voice beams with pride.
She moves into the kitchen, running her hand over the black granite. We did white cabinets to match the doors that open onto the deck out front. My cousin had the idea to blow out the front door and make it basically a wall of windows to overlook the ocean, and by the way her eyes are staring out, I can tell it was a good one.
“Quinn, this is amazing. The view is stunning.”
