I hope to hell I can find a way to explain what tore me away from the life we had planned together.
Chapter 9
Kate
I walk into my bedroom and pick up a soft white blanket. I hold it close to my face and inhale the sweet fragrance.
“Arleth smells like heaven, doesn’t she?” Olivia asks from behind me. “Sometimes I catch Alexander with his nose in her little neck just inhaling that perfect baby scent.”
I laugh as I turn to face her. “Your husband is a smart man. Arleth is a little peach.”
Olivia reaches for the blanket. She tossed it on my bed along with her purse and Arleth’s diaper bag when she got here an hour ago.
Since then, we’ve been waiting for Tilly to get off of work.
Olivia fed Arleth while I took a quick shower and changed into ripped jeans and a white tank top.
I pulled Tilly and Olivia into a group text message after Gage left the boutique this morning.
It was their joint idea to spend the evening together. Olivia brought sparkling water for herself and a big salad with roasted chicken to share. Tilly is picking up a bottle of white wine for her and me.
“I put Arleth down in that little travel bed you had tucked in your front closet.” She smiles. “I think she’s beginning to like it more than her crib at home.”
I picked up the travel bed soon after Arleth was born. I thought Olivia could use it when she goes to visit her husband at the music school he runs. It turns out, Alexander bought a crib for his office there, so the travel bed is in my apartment ready to be put to use whenever Olivia brings her daughter over.
“I set up the bed close to the window.” Olivia sighs. “I swear that little angel loves sunshine more than she loves me.”
I smile. “I love how happy you are.”
Her blue eyes brighten. “Life is good. I’m a very lucky woman.”
She deserves everything life has gifted her with including her wonderful husband, baby daughter and the job she loves. She’s on maternity leave now, but in a few weeks she’ll go back to her executive position at Liore Lingerie, and Alexander will take Arleth to the music school with him.
“I want you to be happy too, Kate.” She brushes a strand of her brown hair behind her shoulder. “I know how much it upset you seeing Gage this morning.”
It was jarring. I didn’t know he was in the boutique until I turned around and saw his face.
A thousand different emotions collided inside of me all at once. I wanted to scream at him, drop to my knees in sorrow and run out the door. I didn’t do any of those things.
I told him to go. I’ve waited five years to hear him say he was sorry, and yet when the words left his lips, the pain inside of me didn’t dissipate at all.
“I still can’t believe he’s in New York.” I pinch my eyes shut. “I thought I’d never see him again and now we’re living in the same city.”
A chime from my cell pulls my gaze over my shoulder to my nightstand. I dropped my phone there when I took off the dress I was wearing before my shower. “That’s probably Tilly. I’ll buzz her up.”
“We’ll get you through this.” Olivia hugs her baby’s blanket to her chest. “Tilly, Arleth, and I are your crew. We have food and wine. What more do you need?”
Peace.
I had it before Gage showed up and now that I know he’s in New York, the confusion that enveloped me after he walked out of my life five years ago has wrapped itself back around me.
***
“If I were you, I’d call Preston and fuck his brains out.”
Tilly and I both look over at Olivia. It’s not that she doesn’t curse, but a statement that bold hasn’t left her mouth since she gave birth to Arleth.
Dinner was delicious. The conversation focused on Tilly’s day at the vet clinic. After Olivia fed Arleth again, she put her down to sleep, and the discussion took a sharp turn in the direction of Gage Burke.