CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Hank
THE CAR COMES to a screeching halt in front of the house. After Nora left me standing with my heart in my hands in the alley, I called Gamble and made up a story that Colby was sick and I had to go home. It was the longest drive home of my life. I kept seeing the disappointment and sadness in her face. If only she would have let me explain who Lucy was, she would see that I wasn’t cheating on her.
Nora’s car is nowhere in sight, I must have beat her back. I climb out of the car and head inside to wait for her and Colby. I pace back and forth in front of the living room window for what feels like an eternity. The sound of a car door slamming shifts my attention outside. Nora is walking up to the house with Colby sleeping in her arms. When I open the door for her, she breezes past me without looking at me. I follow her up the stairs and down the hallway to Colby’s room. She lays Colby down in her bed. A tear rolls down her cheek as she kisses Colby’s forehead.
Nora keeps her eyes down, hiding her face from me as she walks past me again without so much as screaming at me. The silence is heartbreakingly deafening. I don’t let her get too far ahead of me down the hallway, staying close, so she knows I’m not going anywhere.
“Please Nora, let’s just talk about this,” I plead with her.
“Let me guess she was your sister. That was my favorite excuse from Charlie. Little did he know that I had seen them making out in an ally just ten minutes before.” She pulls her suitcase out of the closet, and proceeds to pull the contents of her dresser drawer into the open case.
I grab her hand in an attempt to stop her packing, but she quickly wrenches it free from my grasp. “Nora it’s not what you think it was.”
Nora’s brow furrows and her eyes flash with a fiery anger. “Another excuse I’m tired of hearing,” she snarls. The suitcase slams closed. “I’ll be back on Monday to take Colby to preschool and get the rest of my stuff, after that I’ll be gone.” The coldness in her voice sends a chill through my body. It breaks my heart to see her this way.
“Nora, please don’t do this,” I call out after her as she stomps down the hallway in a huff. I chase after her down the stairs. “Nora, I love you, please don’t leave like this,” I beg.
“Goodbye, Mr. Ross.” The tone in her voice is like a dagger to my heart. The door slams behind her and she’s gone as quickly as she came into my life.
“Miss Nora is leaving,” Colby shouts from the top of the stairs. Oh fuck, she heard us. “Were you mean to Miss Nora, Daddy? Is that why she was crying when she picked me up?” Her little voice quivers.
This is the exact moment I wanted to protect Colby from. The moment she realizes her dad is a total fuck up. One fucking text to tell Nora my cousin Lucy would be joining us for lunch would have saved the heartache both Colby and I are feeling right now.
“Daddy messed up,” I say, walking up the steps to her. “I’m going to fix it. I promise I will get Nora back.” The look of disappoint in her face drives the knife deeper into my heart.
“You better or I’m gonna hate you forever,” she sternly says, then turns and runs to her room, slamming her door behind her. No one will hate me more than I will if I can’t get Nora back.
I climb up the remaining stairs and walk down the hallway to Nora’s room. Without Nora, the room feels lifeless and cold. She has brought so much life into this house and now it is slowly dwindling away. What the hell was I thinking, why didn’t I just meet her outside then introduce her to Lucy. I am a fucking moron. She tells me she has trust issues, and what do I do? Make it look like I’m running around behind her back.
I slump down on her bed, grab one of her pillows, and bring it up to my face. It smells like her, lilac, honey, and home. She’s my life, and I just let her walk out the fucking door. I’m a fucking idiot.
* * *
“Hey jackass, wake up.” The kick from Gamble’s boot wakes me out of my dead sleep. I don’t even know how long I have been out. I went to check on Colby but she wouldn’t come out of her room, so I decided to wait her out in the hallway. At some point, I must have fallen asleep. My eyes fly open and there is Gamble standing over me. “So how’s it goin’?” he asks cocking an eyebrow up at me.
“My kid hates me and the woman I love just walked out on me, so I would say I’m in hell right now,” I reply, sitting up. “What are you doing here?”
“Lucy called Brooke and told her what happened, then Brooke called me to come check on you.” He takes a seat on the floor across from me. “You don’t do anything half assed do you, Ross? In the span of a weekend you started dating, got engaged, had your first fight, and lost the woman of your dreams.” He chuckles. Glad my misfortune is amusing to someone.
“I’m a royal fuck up. I don’t know what I’m fucking doing,” I admit.
“Nobody fucking does when it comes to relationships, my friend.”
“You seem to have some clue. You and Brooke have the perfect relationship,” I point out.
“Our relationship is far from perfect. I still manage to fuck up from time to time. Anyone who says they have a perfect marriage is a fucking liar. Every relationship has ups and downs, it’s the nature of the beast.”
“That’s all well and good, but how do I get Nora to trust me? I don’t want her running every time she sees me talking to another woman because she thinks I’m cheating on her.” If I ever see that asshole, Charlie, walking down the street I’m going to hit him with my fucking car. Nora means everything to me, I would never do anything to hurt her.
“I wish I had some words of wisdom I could tell you, unfortunately I don’t. That is something that takes time. If someone had cheated on you repeatedly, wouldn’t you have a hard time trusting again? You can tell Nora that you’re not her ex a million times, but it still won’t ease her mind. Just give her time and show her she can trust you.”
“I’d say that was a little wise. So, got any advice on how to get a woman to forgive you after a fight?” I ask.
“Getting on your knees and begging for forgiveness never works, but getting on your knees and making her come, now that works every time.” He chuckles.
“Be fucking serious man.” I shake my head.
“I’m dead serious. Sometimes Brooke starts a fight just so she can get a forgiveness tonguing.”
“Thanks for that, now I’ll never be able to look Brooke in the eyes again. Want to help me track Nora’s cell phone?” I ask.
Gamble grins and pulls out his cell phone. “Hey Josie, I need you to check on a location of a suspect in a case Ross and I are working on. She went missing and we need to track her cell.”