I wish I could say something she wants to hear. But I can’t.
Instead... “Okay, I’ll stop by tomorrow. Get my passport. Tuck the boys in.”
Things I used to do without asking permission.
“I can drop it at your office,” she says smoothly. “In case you don’t show.”Again. She doesn’t have to say it.
“I’ll be there,” I growl, rubbing a hand down my face. The thing is, sometimes, I just don’t have a choice. “Ash?—”
“Beckett.” Just my name. Flat. Final.
I stare at the wall that’s void of photographs or anything homey. She used to say my name like it meant something. Now it’s a door closing.
“Anything else going on that I should know about?”
“No,” she says briskly. “I’ll… I’ll pack your tuxedo. But you’ll have to figure everything else out on your own. And… So help me?—”
“I’llbethere, Ash.”
But there’s a beep. A quick glance shows another call.Damnit.
“You better get that.”
I let it go to voicemail.
“It’s not important,” I say, taking a breath. “But I’d like to talk. Just you and me. When I come by.”
“Goodbye, Beckett.”
The line goes dead.
Ashley’s shutting me out now. And it shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. But I’d shut her out first.
“Help me understand…. Just talk to me…”
But I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
It’s their timeline now, their terms…
The guilt of my bad decisions is eating away at my gut, but having to do exactly what they tell me to protect her and the boys is a hell I never saw coming.
I lean back against the counter, run a hand through my hair, and laugh under my breath. Now, after asking me to move out, with everything on the line, she wants me to float around in a boat for a week.
I glance down at the notes I scrawled, and the smallest flicker of something stirs in my chest. If we’re trapped on a boat together, celebrating her sister’s wedding, she can’t ignore me.
My phone starts ringing again. Persistent.
“Hey, Sugar.”
A pause. Then, “Trying to ghost me, Carrington?”
“Not yet. But...” My voice comes out rougher than I mean it to. “I need a week. Starting Friday. Ash’s sister’s getting married on a cruise. Their dad passed a few years ago and the bride wants me to give her away.”
Silence. Not the good kind.
“We’re too close,” Sugar says finally.
