Page 120 of Temptation

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, tears cascading down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”

“So am I,” I said, knowing I had to let her go.

* * *

“Come on,”Jude said, entering my office. “It’s time.”

“I’m busy,” I grumbled, my eyes focused on my laptop.

It had been nearly two months since Kendall had ended things, and I’d practically lived at the office since then. I couldn’t go home. I couldn’t stand being there alone—without her.

Soon after that morning when everything had fallen apart, she’d resigned from the Leatherbacks. Moved out. It was as if she was trying to erase every part of herself from my life. Which was impossible because she was permanently embedded in my heart.

But it didn’t matter how much I loved her. Or how hard I tried. She wanted the one thing I couldn’t give her.

Despite knowing that, part of me still couldn’t believe it was over. That she really wasn’t coming back.

“It’s Brooklyn’s birthday party,” Jude said, interrupting my thoughts.

The one good thing about the past month had been that Jude and I had had time to repair our relationship. It wasn’t healed. It wasn’t like it had been before. But different wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. And I had faith that our comeback would be stronger than our setback.

Every day, I was grateful that we got to work together. Build something so incredible together. It was part of what drove me, what kept me going.

“I have work,” I grumbled.

“It’s a bye week.” Jude rolled his eyes. “Besides, Nate picked this date specifically sowecould come to Brooklyn’s party.”

“Well, I’m not going. I already sent a kick-ass gift.”

I wasn’t sure I could suffer through another function, pretending I was fine. I wasn’t fine. I missed Kendall, and I wondered if I’d made a mistake.

I appreciated that she hadn’t tried to persuade me to change my mind. I loved her even more for that. But also…why wasn’t I enough? Why wasn’t what we had—which had been wonderful—enough?

“Dad,” Jude chided, crossing his arms over his chest.

“What?” I asked, my mind still stuck on Kendall. Like always.

“You’re going.” He shut my laptop.

“Hey!” I scowled.

“Come on.” He tugged on my arm. “I know you’re upset about Kendall, but this isn’t healthy.”

“Who’s the parent here?” I teased.

“I’m serious.” He glared at me. “I don’t know what happened between you two, but you’ve been a mess ever since she left.”

“Wow.” I scoffed. “Don’t hold back, son.”

“I won’t.” He kicked my foot. “Now get your ass up. Get a smile on your face. And let’s go celebrate the birthday girl.”

“Fine.” I marched over to the door. I was only doing this for my niece.

Once we were in the car, I switched on the radio. But the song reminded me of Kendall, so I quickly turned it off again. I loved her, and if I were younger, if I didn’t think it would jeopardize my relationship with my son further…well, maybe having children would’ve been an option for us. But it just wasn’t anymore. And that was the most painful thing of all.

It wasn’t that we didn’t love each other enough. Or that we weren’t happy together. It all came down to timing.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jude asked.

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