Page 119 of Healed
Remi smiled. “Thank you, Brandt. I’m sorry I disrespected you. I’m sorry I disappointed you.”
“Brandt?” Tempest called sleepily from the bedroom.
“I’m going to get out of here and let you take care of your mate. Tell her everything I said. Tell her I said I’m so sorry and I hope she can find it in herself to give me a chance to make amends.”
“I will. You come back here. You call me. You do whatever you need to. We are your family,” Brandt said.
Remi hugged Brandt, and they pounded each other on the back like males do. “Thank you. I’ll be in touch,” Remi promised, then he let himself out of the door and was gone before Brandt made it to the bedroom.
~~~
The bell above the door jangled, and Bailey finished placing the turnovers she’d made in the display cabinet. “Welcome! I’llbe right with you,” she said. Placing the empty baking sheet on a different counter top behind herself, she finally turned back to smile at the new customer. The moment she saw who her customer was, her smile dropped. In fact, her entire countenance changed.
“Remi,” she said softly.
“Hi, Bailey.”
“What can I get for you?” she asked uncertainly.
He shook his head. “Nothing, thank you, though. I came to talk to you real quick.”
She took a good look at him and realized he was clean, he was sober, in fact, he looked better than he had in a while. “Okay.”
“I owe you a huge debt of gratitude.”
As per her usual self, she brushed it off. “Don’t be silly. You don’t owe me anything.”
Remi smiled but was unconvinced as he slowly walked up to the counter. “You broke up with me to free me from having to make that decision and carrying that guilt in the hopes that I would find my way to Cristie. That was the most selfless, most loving thing anyone has ever done for me. I was too much of an ass to realize it at the time, but I realize it now. It had to be very difficult, and I’ll be forever grateful for that gift.”
“Honestly, as much as it hurt, and as hard as it was, at the same time it was the easiest thing for me.”
He looked confused for a second until she explained.
“When you love someone, you want them to be happy, even if it’s someone else that makes them happy. Their happiness is more important than yours. So, you don’t have to thank me, and you certainly don’t owe me anything.”
He smiled at her, that soft smile that she always associated with Remi before he’d gone off the deep end. “And you called Cristie, when no on else did. You knew that she’d be the one toget to me, even through all the haze and the alcohol and the self pity, you knew I’d hear her.”
Bailey smiled at him. “What we had was great, and for her to be able to turn your head, what the two of you could have had must have been spectacular. I just thought of the way you couldn’t look away from her, couldn’t even hear anyone else’s voice if she was in the room, and I knew. If anyone was going to get through to you, it was her.”
“You were right. You took away any possibility for me to feel guilty for finding my way to Cristie, and you called her in to save me when no one else could do it. Like I said, I owe you a debt of gratitude. I always will.”
“You know what I demand in payment?” she asked, propping her hand on her hip.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Be happy. Just be happy. No matter what that looks like. Be healthy, be happy.”
“Shaun is a very, very lucky male,” Remi said, nodding to himself.
“He knows. I remind him of it often,” Bailey said with a laugh.
“I hope he loves you enough to want you to be happy no matter who or what it is that makes you happy,” Remi said.
Bailey’s face lit up when she thought of Shaun. “He does. He’s… everything. He’s my mate.”
Remi grinned at her. “I’m so glad you’re happy, Bailey. You deserve the best of everything. I’m sorry I was so hateful at the end. I’m sorry I was so selfish the entire time. I shouldn’t have pulled you into the world we live in. I loved you, I really did. But I knew I was forcing things. You weren’t my mate, I just wanted it so badly.”
She reached across the counter and laid her hand on his forearm. “If you hadn’t brought me into your world, I might nothave met my mate. You did the right thing. And you don’t have to apologize for anything. You were hurting. I’m just glad the Remi I know is back.”
