Her Reluctant Husband by Erica Marselas (books to read for 12 year olds .TXT) 📕

not him. I wouldn’t hurt her like that. I saw that look and I stopped.”

“Alex, stop,” Ms. Gandy yells at me. “Stop. I’m not going to listen to you rant and rave.”

I pull my fingers from my hair and take a deep breath. “You just have to know.”

“I know you’re nothing like him, but it’s not me you have to convince. And Alex, it’s not just about that and I think you know that.”

I nod. “I do.”

“Then you’ll have to understand why she’s telling me she can’t do it anymore.”

“No. I’m not giving up.”

“Alex,” she sighs.

“No. I get it. I fucked up, but I’m not giving up on her or us.”

“Sit down.” She pats the mattress beside her, though I’m antsy and have no urge to sit still. “I have more.”

“More?” I sit down beside her, giving in, knowing she won’t tell me till I do as she says.

“June wanted me to tell you something.”

“What?”

“She called Bookings.”

“She called Bookings? Why the hell would she call him?” I rise back to my feet with a bark. I can’t believe she would just jump to calling him. I get she’s hurt, but we could have worked something out without Bookings.

“You need to calm down.”

“I am calm.” I flop back down and take a deep breath. “But I didn’t think she would go to calling him before talking to me.”

“Alex.” She taps my leg.

“I really fucked up, didn’t I?” I put my head in my hands.

“She’s not going to make any deals without discussing them with you. It’s why I’m telling you. I think it might be wise for you two to have choices, so listen to me, alright?”

I nod but keep my head in my hands.

“Bookings came over a while back and she turned him away originally, but she called him tonight wanting to know what his plan was, and I have to say it’s a good deal. The house would stay and would become a B&B. He’ll expand of course, and he’s in touch with the city tourism board to help bring some tourists to the town. He’s upped the price which means you’ll get a higher percentage and I also think it would be wise for you to consider it.”

“You’re telling me I should sell my childhood home?” The only place I have left of everyone.

“I wanted nothing more than for Liz’s crazy plan to work. I even thought for a moment it did after I walked in on both of you after you had been canoodling in the kitchen like rabbits. I hadn’t seen either of you look happy since you moved in till that moment. Then I saw her today and I knew it went all awry. Now I wish Liz had told you the truth. I wish you would have listened before that.” She whacks me in the head.

“Ow.” I rub my head, “but I deserve that.”

“You bet you do, Mr. I have all the answers.”

“I thought I did. I thought I could trust Deacon. The fucking sheriff.”

“But I know for a fact Liz tried to tell you a couple of years later and you still didn’t want to hear it from her. I could tell talking to you only weeks ago, you didn’t want to hear it. You wanted it to be her fault.”

“I didn’t get how it couldn’t have been. June being drunk and out of control wasn’t farfetched. What reason did I have to think Deacon would want to hit her car? He set up so many plans to sucker me right along, up to me thinking she would cheat.” I shake my head. “But he knew how to knock her off the pedestal I had her on because I gave him all the notes.”

Ms. Gandy rubs my back. “Alex.”

I pick up Kathleen’s journal off the floor. “Kat knew, but she couldn’t tell me. Kat knew and he…” I lose the words and let the journal fall back to the ground. “How do I make this right? I want nothing more than to make this right. I love her.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“Yes. With all my fucking heart.”

“Time. She’s going to need some space to collect her thoughts. She’s had years of trauma from that buffoon. Most things haven’t even healed and now are freshly opened again. Alex, she loves you and all she ever wanted to do was trust you to tell you about what was happening and she couldn’t.”

“We’re doomed, aren’t we?”

“Not necessarily. She might have not trusted you to tell you about what Deacon did, but she trusted you in other ways, like intimacy. From the little I know about sexual abuse, I consider that huge. And I’m sure there are other little things sprinkled in there, you just can’t see them. And just think about how once you got over your hard headedness, you saw your true feelings for her.”

“Though I still blamed her.”

“But maybe somewhere deep down, you didn’t. You’ve been just waiting for someone to clear the fog for you.”

“I don’t know, maybe.”

“I think so. June asked me if I knew about you going back to her hospital room the next day to see her? I told her I didn’t know, but is it true?”

“It is, but she was gone when I got there.”

“But why did you go back, Alex?”

I’m quiet as I think back to that moment as I stormed back into the hospital the next morning. I was so mad. I don’t think I was really thinking of what I was going to do when I saw her. I think I wanted more answers to why she did what she did, but really the truth was, “Because I didn’t want to let her go.”

“Well, I hope you still feel that way when it’s