“I think I’d rather go to sleep.”
Fin nodded, and before she could even begin to motivate her body to assume a standing position, he had picked her up and was heading for the stairs. Chloe snuggled close. She and Fin may not be back together, but they were certainly one step closer to getting there.
DECEMBER 22nd
6:47 A.M.
Chloe had hoped that when she woke up this morning, she would be feeling a whole lot better, but as soon as she stretched and pain billowed out from her chest, radiating out to every inch of her body, she realized that wasn't going to be the case.
She didn't care, though.
Fin was here, and he still loved her.
There was hope for them.
She knew she would have to fight for them and that was fine with her. It was her fault, after all, that they were stuck in this mess, so it seemed only right that she work hard to fix what she had broken.
Waking up knowing that Fin was in the house with her gave her a kind of peace she hadn’t felt in so long. It was nice. Not being alone. Chloe had her friends and her family, but it wasn't the same. She missed having a partner. She missed having someone there when she went to bed each night and when she woke up in the morning. She missed having someone to talk about her day with. She missed having someone to watch TV with in the evenings or go out to dinner with or go out with on the weekends.
She missed being in a relationship.
She wished she had never walked away, even if at the time it had felt like the only thing she could do. She had blamed herself for the baby’s death—she’d been gutted inside. Not only had she not done her job and carried her child safely to term, but she had deprived Fin of his son. Every time she looked into his devastated eyes and saw how much pain he was in, it was like another piece of her died. Guilt was killing her. If she had stayed,she wouldn’t have survived.
Chloe knew she should have sought help earlier. At the time, the hospital had offered to set her up with a counselor, but she hadn’t wanted to. Everything was too raw; she couldn’t talk about it. Even now it was hard, but she also knew that it was necessary.
Despite the mistakes she had made, fate had been kind to her.
Now she had a chance to get it all back. Maybe one day she and Fin would even have another child together.
Excited to see him, she dragged her bruised body out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Last night when Fin had carried her up to bed, she had been too tired to really get a good look at the damage done in the accident. Although it’d only been seven o’clock, she had just stripped off her clothes, left them in a pile on the floor, tossed on the oversized sweater she slept in and dropped into bed. She didn't even remember Fin turning off the light.
He must have taken her dirty clothes with him. How sweet was that? Fin loved doing laundry; he’d do it pretty much every day. She, on the other hand, hated it. It was her least favorite chore, and she usually procrastinated and put it off until she was out of clean clothes and had no choice.
Gingerly, she lifted the sweater, gasping as she saw the mottled mess of black and blue and purple that was her chest and stomach. The combination of the seat belt and the steering wheel had really done a number on her.
Her head didn't look much better. The small cut had been neatly stitched and covered with a white square bandage. Bruises peeked out from underneath it, spreading up and down her forehead, and heading for her cheek. She was going to look a mess for her mother’s annual family photo on Christmas day.
Still, she was lucky she hadn’t been hurt worse. The defective airbag could have gotten her killed.
Quickly, Chloe brushed her teeth, ran a brush through her tangled hair, held the washcloth under the hot water then washed her face, carefully avoiding her injury.
Feeling much more human, she pulled on a pair of sweatpants and stuck her feet into her Christmas tree slipper boots and headed downstairs. Although she knew nothing was going to make her look good right now, she did want to look as good as she could for Fin.
She knew he would be up. He had always been an early riser, so it was no surprise to find him in her kitchen cooking breakfast.
“Morning,” she said as she stood at the bottom of the stairs.
“Morning,” he said as he turned to give her an examining look. His gaze settled on her slippers, and she saw a small smile tilt his lips up. It had been such a long time since she had seen him smile. She’d missed that most of all.
Her crazy Christmas clothes had always made him laugh, and although she had been into it since she was a child, it had sort of become a tradition she shared with Fin. He was always on the lookout for something to get for her, and sometimes, if she was lucky, she could convince him to wear a pair of Christmassy socks or even some Christmas boxers.
“I did your laundry,” he announced, turning back to the stove.
“Thank you.”
Chloe couldn’t move.
All she could do was stand and stare at Fin. He looked good even in the same clothes he’d been wearing the day before. His hair was a little longer than he’d had it when they were together, and he was sporting just the right amount of scruffy stubble to look sexy.