Oh, but Alice wasn’t done.
“You liked working with Alex. You told me he was funny, and that you guys had a good time after work. You said that you were lucky you got a great partner like him, who could make you forget the misery before. Now, you ditch that because of Will.Again. The haunting of Will Barker continues.”
He wanted to cry because deep down, he knew she was absolutely right. He just didn’t know how to end the cycle, even to that day.
He didn’t want to be attracted to Alex, especially when he knew it was going nowhere.
“Please stop,” he said.
Only, someone had to save him, and Alice kept trying. She didn’t have unlimited years left. She wanted her last thing to see to be Corbin coming alive again.
“When you and your partner were out, you said it stopped hurting. Now, you throw away the one thing that makes you feel safe because of cologne? Because of a man who died fifteen years ago? You’re going to lose a friend over a dead man who haunts you?”
He was so sad inside.
Empty didn’t cover it.
“I know my son,” she admitted. “You’re attracted to your partner, and you desperately want to move on. You suddenly feel guilty that you are to the point where you’re healing, and instead of following it, you’re using Will to protect your heart.”
Ouch.
It wasn’t like she was wrong.
“This is your excuse. As long as it stays a simple partnership, you’re good, but anytime you feel something for another person, you shut it down by using Will as the way to kill it. You have to move on, Corbin. Get your partner back. Will has been dead for over fifteen years. You weren’t even married to him that long.”
He got angry when she said that last part.
“Stop. You have no right!”
She did.
“I’m your mother, and I won’t be here forever, Corbin. I have every right to want to see you find happiness again. Youthrowing away a great partnership that gives you peace over a dead man…it’s insanity.”
She wasn’t done.
“You’re shoving him away because you feel something for someone again. Instead of random sex, and playing celibate for the memory of a dead man, you’re pushing a person away who gives you peace. You need to stop…”
Corbin did the only thing he could.
He hung up.
Then, he turned off his phone, and tossed it across the room until it landed on the floor by the windows.
His heart was racing.
And not in a good way.
Corbin was mid-panic attack over what she said.
Oh, he knew everything his mother said was valid and real, but how did he move on? He didn’t know how to take that first step. It was like when he’d been assaulted.
It took a while to get back on the horse.
What was the time frame when you lost your husband?
Days?
Weeks?
