Page 127 of The Ruthless and the Strong

Lizzie

Three blissful weekspassed since I came back to Max.

Three blissful weeks of kisses and hugs and date nights and loving. Lots and lots of loving. Max hadn’t really mentioned any plan of proposing to me, and now I wasn’t even sure if he was going to do it.

Maybe he wanted to wait a little while longer before he proposed. After all, a marriage was a pretty big deal. I should know. But I was disappointed, though. I tried not to go over to my parents’ house much, since every time I went over there, Dad always looked at my ring finger, expecting something that wasn’t there.

On a better note, my mom and I was slowly building our relationship back up again. I hadn’t exactly told her I forgave her, because honestly, I didn’t know at this point, but I was sure I would come to it one day.

And Sam had finally sold the house.

I hadn’t heard from him since the day he came by and I signed the divorce papers, but I knew he submitted to his lawyers not long after that, and our divorce got processed pretty quickly. His lawyer was the one to inform me about the house being sold, and he was also the one who transferred my share of the sale into my account.

I didn’t know how Sam was doing. He hadn’t called me about seeing Hunter, and Hunter had asked for him three times already. I didn’t know what to tell him each time, only that “Daddy” was busy at the hospital.

In a way, I thought Hunter understood that, considering how busy Sam was when we were still married, but I was afraid if Sam didn’t come and see Hunter soon, or at the very least, talk to him over the phone, that he would soon stop asking me where Sam was.

I now had enough to put a down payment on a decent house in a nice neighborhood, but I wasn’t exactly house hunting. I couldn’t possibly stay with Olivia forever, though.

They’d never said, but I was sure Mason and Olivia wanted to have their house back to themselves.

I was thinking about moving into an apartment for now. Hunter didn’t need much, and if he needed a yard to play in, I could always bring him back to Max’s house, or Olivia’s house, or even my parents’ house.

I was currently at Max’s house, looking through my phone at new apartment listings. But none of them was appealing to me, and part of it was because I was hoping Max would propose and ask me to move in with him.

Hunter and Max had left me alone since the moment we walked into the house, playing some sort of game that girls weren’t allowed to play—Hunter’s word.

So I was by myself, occasionally hearing Max’s deep voice as he said something to Hunter, and Hunter’s little giggles that were getting louder and louder as time passed.

I blew out raspberries with my lips and put the phone down. This was pointless. I was never going to find an apartment I liked, so I might as well just pick something random and move in. I looked up when footsteps bounded down the stairs, and sure enough, my men appeared at the threshold, both wearing matching smiles.

“What?” I asked them.

Hunter was moving up and down on his feet, and at my question, he looked up at me and burst out laughing.

I raised my eyebrow at that, and Hunter ran over to me, jumping on my lap. I groaned a little.

“Sweetie, you are getting a little too big to be jumping on Mommy’s lap like this,” I said, wrapping my arms around his wiggling body.

He turned until he was facing me, showing me those two little dimples.

“It’s because I’m growing, right, Mommy?”

I nodded seriously, loving the way his eyes lit up. “Well, of course. Before you know it, you’re going to be taller than me.”

I could see the excitement in his eyes at that. “Will I be as tall as Maxie?”

I turned to “Maxie,” who was watching us with a happy smile on his face. “I don’t know, a stóirín. Maybe, but you gotta eat all your vegetables and drink all your milk.”

“I do, Mommy. I do!”

I laughed and leaned down, placing a whole bunch of kisses over his chubby cheeks. He pulled away from me after a while and hopped off my lap.

“Me and Maxie drew pictures today.”

“You did, huh? And girls weren’t allowed to play?” I pouted a little and Hunter patted my hands, as if he was trying to comfort me.

“Not girls, Mommy. You.”

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