Forever You by Lynn, Sandi (e novels to read txt) 📕

“Ok, then you must tell me about her if we’re going to move forward.”

Her tone was calm but commanding. I took her hand and held it up to my lips, “I don’t want to talk

about her right now, Ellery. This isn’t the right time or place to do that.” There was no way I was

ruining this trip by talking about Ashlyn. I had planned on explaining everything to her when we got

back to New York.

“Fine, I’ll wait, and we’ll discuss her later. But whatever you tell me will be ok because things

with us are different now, and we’re putting all our baggage in the past, right?”

I looked over at her and smiled, “You bet we are.”

“I have a question for you,” she said as she took the wrapper off her Twix bar. “Denny told me that

you’ve been different since you met me.”

I rolled my eyes. Why is Denny telling her things like that? I’m going to have to talk with him.

“Denny shouldn’t be saying things like that, but it’s true. I was intrigued by you the minute I saw you

in my kitchen. When I woke up and heard someone making a lot of noise, I walked downstairs to yell

at whoever it was for being so loud. Imagine my surprise when I saw this beautiful stranger, standing

there making coffee.”

“Yes, but you yelled at me about your rules.”

I shrugged, “Well, I thought that I’d brought you home from the club; I’m sorry about that.” She

smiled and playfully smacked me on the arm. “When you told me what you did for me and gave me

quite the attitude, it was that moment I knew I couldn’t let you walk out of my life. Denny knew it as

well because I kept talking about you without realizing it.” She laughed and reached over to kiss my

cheek, but instead she shoved the Twix bar in my mouth. I smiled as I took a bite.

We finally arrived in Michigan, and I noticed Ellery stiffen when she saw the sign. I reached over,

grabbed her hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze to let her know that everything was going to be ok. I

know this place isn’t a very happy memory for her; she’s experienced more pain here than happiness.

Ellery reached in her purse to grab her ringing cell phone, and it was Peyton. Ellery put her on

speaker as Peyton was telling us all about her and Henry’s evening together. Ellery wasn’t bothered

by how graphic Peyton was being because she was used to it. Even though I haven’t known Peyton

very long, I liked her. She was a firecracker like Ellery, and I could see why the two of them are best

friends. Peyton told me to live a little and to take Ellery to bed and show her all my sexiness. This

was my opportunity to get back at Ellery for the incident at the seafood restaurant. I told Peyton that I

already did and that Ellery made me do things to her that even shocked me. The look on Ellery’s face

was priceless after that, and so was her smile. Damn that smile.

We pulled into the parking lot of the funeral home, and Ellery put her hand on my arm. I knew this

was going to be hard for her, and I could only imagine what she was feeling at this moment. We both

got out of the Range Rover, and Ellery took a deep breath.

“This is the same funeral home where we held the services for my mother and father,” she said as

we stood in front of the double doors that led inside.

I put my arm around her. “You don’t have to do this; you can call your cousin and tell her you got

sick or something.”

“No, that’s the coward’s way out. I can’t escape reality. Besides, I have you with me,” she said.

As we walked inside, we were greeted by Ellery’s cousin, Debbie. It was unfortunate that we had

to meet under these circumstances. I gave her a hug as well as my condolences. She led us to the room

where her mother and father were laid out. I held Ellery tight as we walked up to the caskets. I had an

image of her standing in this very room in front of the casket that held her mother. Tears almost stung

my eyes just thinking about it. She was only 6 years old at the time, and having to experience that was

awful. Even though she had nobody to protect her then, I’m here to protect her now and heal her from

all the pain that she experiences in life going forward from this moment.

Ellery kneeled down in front of the caskets and prayed. I clutched her shoulders with my hands to

comfort her. Once we were done paying our respects, we walked around so Ellery could catch up

with some relatives. She seemed to being fine until we began to hear the whispers of people talking

about her and her father. Ellery heard someone say that she wouldn’t have attempted suicide if they

would have taken her away from her father. She was enraged as she stormed up to them, shoved her

scarred wrists in their faces, swore at them, and then told it wouldn’t have mattered. That’s my girl. It

upset me to hear that bullshit they were talking about, but Ellery was someone who can take care of

herself, and she certainly did. She made no qualms about being heard. I grabbed her hand, telling