Page 76 of My Sweetest Obsession
What he’s best at.
He works his way under my skin.
Through sweet gestures…
And warm, strong hands that hold me when all I want is to fall apart.
My body trembles now, anticipating what I might find, and my hands wrap protectively around my belly as I make my way past the office door, my bedroom, and toward the cracked one at the end of the hallway—the guest room.
Light streams out of it, and I know I didn’t leave that on.
There hasn’t been any reason for me to go into that room for months, when I couldn’t even bring myself to consider what needed to go into it for the baby.
My footsteps slow as I get closer, and the smell of paint grows heavier.
I nudge the door open hesitantly…
And my breath catches.
The sound of a key in the front door should drag my attention away from the room, but I’m frozen in place, my heart in my throat.
Familiar, booted footsteps approach from behind me, and then his scent envelops me, quickly followed by the heat of his body so close I can feel it at my back.
But he doesn’t touch me as I try to take in what lies in front of me.
What did he do?
24
CAM
Ivy stands frozen in front of me, just inside the doorjamb, staring into what was a guest room that held nothing more than a twin bed and a dresser. What she and Drew had once hoped would eventually become a nursery for their theoretical baby. The one they tried so hard for and thought wasn’t going to happen…
It became an empty tomb, a place Ivy never went, the same way she wouldn’t have entered Drew’s office if I hadn’t wanted to go through those boxes.
But it isn’t that anymore.
At least, I hope she won’t see it that way.
Her eyes move across the space, taking in every detail, but they keep returning to the far wall—to the thing I knew I had to do the more I thought about what Dale said to me.
It just took me a while to figure out that it’s what I needed to do—for Ivy.
And for myself.
A step toward looking forward instead of back by concentrating on the moment we let Drew go, that we stopped clinging to him and set him free in the place he loved so much.
Her body starts trembling, and my stomach twists.
Shit.
Maybe I shouldn’t have done this.
Maybe I got it all wrong.
I lean to the side slightly so I can see her face and try to gauge just how badly I fucked this up.
Tears well in her eyes, and she reaches a hand from where it rests on her belly up to swipe them away as she absorbs all the work I’ve done over the last several days.
