Page 108 of Broken Strings

Please believe that the love of your life is out there waiting for you to seize it with both hands. You just need to let it in, Cade. You need to allow your whole heart to fall in love again so that you can have the life you dreamed of.

Build a happy home on strong foundations. No more houses of cards.

Have as many kids as your heart desires. Fill that damn house to bursting! There’s no denying that you make absolutely breathtaking children.

Find a woman who loves you, whom you love back just as much, and make her your wife. A lover untainted by the sins of the past and memories of a life half-lived. A wife whose presence doesn’t remind you of everything you’ve lost.

Live that life, Cade.

Be happy. I’ll be happy for you, and that’s always been enough for me.

CHAPTER29

CADEN

My throat is clogged,my eyes are burning, and my chest feels unbearably tight when I finish reading.

She’s gone. It’s really over.

The knowledge that she’s clearly telling me to move on makes my stomach churn as beads of sweat erupt across my forehead.

I’m going to throw up.

I grab the wastepaper basket, physically heaving into the damn thing while internally berating myself for being a fucking idiot.

I love her.

I’llalwayslove her. My chest is an empty cage since she left, my kids the only reason to function, but the light in my soul has dulled painfully in the interim.

Yes, we have some issues to work through, but the only way we can find a way forward istogether.

I drop the basket onto the table and rise to stand as I go in search of Jesse and Dad. My mind is made up. Nothing will sway it now.

They’re back out on the patio, both looking at my phone with Dad’s favourite Fender guitar resting across Jesse’s lap. My brows crease in question until I hear my own voice carry through the air. I’m singing “Perfect for You,” and I smile, wondering how they found a recording. I don’t have to wonder for long because Summer’s voice suddenly fills the air, harmonising easily with my deeper tone.

Goosebumps break out across every part of my body. This feels like the universe is telling me that I’m making the right call.

I drop down beside Jesse, startling him before he grins easily. “She’s an amazing singer, right?”

Nodding my agreement, I drop my arm over his shoulder. “How’s about we go and surprise her in New York before we meet Mimi and Bug at North Star next week?”

At my suggestion, Jesse’s eyes blow wide in his beautiful face. “Really?” I nod, and he jumps up. “I can’t wait to hug her, Dad. I’m going to pack. Right.Now!”

He takes off in the direction of his room before I can even tell him I’m not too sure when we’ll leave. I need to get my head on straight before I lay it all on the line.

All I know is, I’m not ready to let go. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to let go, and the thought of being without her, of having to watch her from afar while she moves on with someone else…I can’t imagine how much it hurt to watch me with Layla for all those years. Even though it wasn’t any kind of real marriage, or even a real relationship, to be honest, Summer wasn’t to know that.

And judging from the phone conversation she’d had with Layla when Jesse had been initially diagnosed, she’d believed that I’d been in love with my wife.

The pain of seeing and not touching. Of wanting and not having. I can’t do it.

I’m not normally a selfish man, but right here and now, I’m making the decision to be selfish when it comes to her because Iburnfor her. I can no longer live without her. It’s a visceral need inside of me, and being with her in recent weeks has only stoked the fire.

I’ve kept it to a manageable level, but the images her letter evoked within me has made the flames soar into life.

Dad smiles easily, his eyes lit from within as though he can hear my thoughts. “I think this is the right move, Cade. There’s been more than enough pain—”

My phone beeps with a notification, followed by another and another. Nausea swirls in my stomach, knowing that when this shit happens, it’s never good.

---