Griffin pivoted sharply toward me and I bit back a yelp. He sprinted across the lawn, thundering up the porch steps. I knew that look—it was his,I’m going to have my way with youlook.
I also knew, after all these months of missing him, I wouldn’t beable to say no.
So just before he reached the door,I slammed the door in his face.
Then I locked it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
GRIFFIN
Did Jules actually think a simple lock was going to keep me out? I was a freaking firefighter. I knew exactly how to hit a door so the frame gave before my shoulder did—and if it didn’t? I’d make a brand-new entrance through the wall. Not that I wanted to do that to Theo’s newly renovated house. But still.
But Jules liked her independence. She thrived on respect, and forcing my way inside wouldn’t exactly set us up for a peaceful conversation. So I tried to let her do the right thing.
I pounded on the door. “Jules, let me in. Please.” I kept my voice steady. She needed to know I was coming in, one way or another.
“Go away!” she yelled. “I had you served so I wouldn’t have to talk to you again.”
Ouch.
“Jules.” I lowered my voice. “Be real. You had to know I wasn’t going to let you go through with a divorce uncontested.”
“Why not? You left. And you slapped your ring in myhand before you went. What other message could I possibly take from that?”
I sighed, letting my forehead fall against the door. “I messed up, okay? The biggest mess up of my life.” My palms flattened against the wood. “I love you. You know I do. I’ve called every day and texted a thousand times. I even sent flowers that one time.”
“I threw them in the garbage,” she said coolly.
I’d heard. That’s why I hadn’t done it a second time. Any floral arrangement not bulked up with carnations—theI love you, but not that muchflower—was priced like it had been grown on the moon. Definitely too expensive to be used as packing material for less valuable trash.
“I came back to fix things,” I kept going. “I’ll move back if that’s what you want. We can build a house on the farm. Or over by Cash and Charlie.” She liked Charlie. “Cash already offered to deed us a few acres of his land. Please, let me in.”
She didn’t respond. But at least she’d stopped yelling for me to leave.
“I love you, Jules. Forever. I meant that. I was just scared of being home. I don’t always like who I am here and?—”
Something rustled behind me. I twisted around to see Bowen and Theo, arms folded across their chests, wearing matching grins. The side-by-side was parked on the other side of the field.
“I love you, Jules,” Theo mocked in a whiny, overdramatic voice. “I messed up, okay? The biggest mess up of my entire life.”
“I swear, for someone so book smart, you have zero common sense. Say another word, and I’m going to yank your underwear so high you’ll be flossing with it.”
Dingus actually opened his mouth to test me.
Bowen clapped a hand over it and tipped his head towardthe house. “Pretty sure I just heard your wife escaping through the back door.”
Crap. Their cars were parked back there.
I took off in a sprint, legs going full Roadrunner.
As I came around the corner, Jules was halfway to Gramps’ old ranch truck. When she saw me, she shrieked and bolted.
I charged her with a roar that probably scared wildlife three counties over, arms flailing.
She shrieked for me to “stop,” then spun and booked it back toward the house.
I made it up the stairs just in time for her to try to slam the door in my face a second time. Too bad I was faster. I jammed my foot between the door and the frame—ouch, that was going to bruise—then drove my shoulder into it and shoved through.
