Page 38 of Earl
Nanny had nodded and forcibly hustled him out of the room. He had spent the night crying in her arms. She had read him a story and got him to calm down.
“Why doesn’t she love us?” He had asked the woman.
“I am sure she does. But she is… She doesn’t know how to show it.”
Earl had never ventured into her room again and avoided her at all costs. It had been especially difficult for Evelyn, who had kept trying.
Pushing away from his desk, he strode over to the cabinet to pour himself a drink. He was back inside his empty apartment which felt even more lonely.
He had become accustomed to having a conversation with Cathy, now that was taken away from him. Diana was right. He had been so desperate for love, that it had consumed him. No more.
Chapter 8
“Do you think you have enough decorations?” Justin asked dryly as he handed her the sparkly angel.
Stepping back from the enormous tree, Cathy studied her handiwork with a slight frown. Christmas was just two weeks away and she was behind with her usual activities. Fortunately, she had gotten her shopping done in October, something she could tick off her exceedingly lengthy list.
“I think we need some more tinsel. The gold is outpacing the green and the red. Could you…?
“No.” Clamping his hands on her shoulders, he turned her to face him. “In case you did not get it, that was me being sarcastic.” He nodded to the brilliantly lit tree that was blinding in its intensity.
“You have outdone yourself. It’s even more lavish than last year’s tree. The entire neighborhood will be telling you thanks or damning you to hell for all the lights, both inside and outside.Frankly, I have no idea how you are going to sleep with all this brightness.”
His expression softened as he stared at her. He knew why she was so hellbent on going this far. Christmas for them had been a rotten deal. In fact, all the holidays were when they were stuck in that home.
But Christmas had been the worst, because they had gotten broken toys and hand me down clothes. The food was nothing to write home about. They had both seen couples quickly visit to pick up children for the holidays and leave them there.
But it was more than that. Ever since they had come back from that successful photoshoot, she had been morose and miserable. The guy had not called her at all, and it pissed him off that he had dumped her without even saying a word. The prick had simply stopped calling her.
She was going out with Byron, but the more the man lavished her with attention, the more she seemed to withdraw. She would not even talk about it with him or Teresa, and Justin was getting worried. She had thrown herself into her work and barely wentanywhere. He would see her staring at the phone as if willing it to ring.
He wanted to find the son of a bitch and beat him to a pulp. He also felt guilty, because he was the one who had pushed the issue.
“Enough!” He said with quiet force. “We are finishing this monstrosity, and I am taking you to dinner. Nuh Uh…,”he shook his head. “You are not making an excuse to back out of this.
There is this quaint little restaurant that serves the best clam chowder on this side of the world. We are dressing up, well not really dressing up because the place is kind of a dump. But it is owned by a friend of mine, and I promised to give her my support.”
“Her?” Her eyebrows lifted.
“No need for jealousy,” he grinned at her. “She is just someone who has been through the system like us and I met her when my car broke down on Silver Street.”
“Does she know who you are?”
“Darling, please. Everyone knows who I am. The billboard with our sexy photo is all over the city and on the internet. You are almost as famous as I am.”
She had seen the billboards, the displays on the sides of buses and the ads on social media platforms and was not certain how she felt about it. Unlike Justin, she preferred to fade into the background, but after Mexico, it was getting very hard to do so.
“I don’t feel like going out.”
“That’s too damn bad!” He felt his hackles rising. “How long are you going to let that bastard control your emotions? You have a guy who is waiting for you to get your head out of your ass andsee him and all you do is mope around as if you lost your best friend and I happen to be right here.”
She glared at him and tried to pull away. “You are about to become my ex best friend.”
He relaxed his posture and sighed, long and low. “He is not worth it darling. No one is.”
“You think I don’t know that?” She exploded, the hated tears, she had sworn not to give into, flooded her eyes.
“I keep hearing his voice. Every time I close my eyes, I can hear him talking to me. I know it’s ridiculous, but I had started to…” Twisting out of his hold, she marched over to the red and gold sofa she had redecorated to keep in tune with the Christmas spirit and plopped down dejectedly.