She was reluctant to let me leave. But she needs time with her parents. Me being there might hold them back from saying what they really think. And I need her to have their honesty. They’re her parents and she needs them. If I have to step back and give them time to discuss the past together and decide how they heal and move forward, then that’s what I’ll do.
And if after speaking with them she decides she can’t come home with me, then I’ll accept it. It’ll obliterate me, but I’ll accept it if it’s what she truly wants. I told her we’d find a way together. But that’s only if she wants it too. It has to be her choice.
I take a sip of my drink and tip my head back with a long sigh. I haven’t been able to concentrate on anything since I checked into my hotel suite. It feels too empty without her. I wear her absence like a bullet through my heart. Even hearing Sinclair’s voice and chatting to Molly on video call didn’t ease the aching in my chest.
“Courvoisier?”
I drop my head and look straight into a set of weary eyes behind thin-framed glasses. He indicates to the seat opposite mine at the small table.
I nod and hold out a hand in invitation.
“Louis XIII.”
Hallie’s father inclines his chin in approval, so I signal the bartender. “Two more please.”
Neither of us speaks until the drinks are brought.
Garth inhales before he takes a sip, letting out an appreciative sigh. “Good stuff.”
“It is.”
I sit back in my chair and wait for him to lead. He’s come all this way to speak to me. It’s only right that I listen, regardless of whether I’ll like what he’s going to say.
He has the power to destroy me should he choose. I can see how much Hallie cares about her parents and not hurting them. If they beg her to come home to England, then she will. I’ll make sure she does. Because if she stayed in New York with me, I know the guilt would eat away at her. And I can’t see her in pain. Even if it means losing her.
“We came for dinner here when Jenny turned eighteen,” Garth says finally, looking at the deep amber liquid in his glass as he rolls it between his fingers.
“I wasn’t aware.”
“The restaurant here makes the best chocolate fudge cake in the whole entire world. Jenny’s words.” He smiles sadly before looking me in the eye. “We’ve already lost one daughter, Mr. Beaufort. I can’t see my wife go through that again.”
The breath leaves my lungs, burning on its way out. I fight to maintain composure, pushing my thumb and finger into my eye sockets as I swallow around the steel ball that’s wedged itself in my throat.
I nod, unable to speak.
If they’ve asked Hallie to stay, I can’t let her choose me. Her relationship with her parents will be severed. And it will be my fault. I would never do that to her. She won’t be happy.
“Do you know what they were doing when I left?”
I drag my hand down my face and look at him through bleary eyes.
“Tell me.”
I ask, because as much as it’ll pain me to hear, when it comes to Hallie I want to know everything. For as long as I still get to have a part of her, I need to hear every tiny detail.
“They were watching a romance film.” He shakes his head, smiling. “Something Julie’s wanted to watch since it came out.”
“Hm.” I smile at the image of Hallie watching a romance with her Mom. A romance just like she’s told me Jenny loved.
“It’s going to take them hours to watch it. They keep pausing it to talk.”
I blink away the grit that’s stinging my eyes.
“They keep talking about you.”
I lift my gaze to his.
“She hasn’t stopped talking about you since you left. I think I know every bloody thing there is to know.” He huffs out a small grunt. “Do you know what else I learned?”
