Page 3 of Broken Saint
His light blue eyes hold mine in a way that others might say is loving, caring, but I know better. It’s been a long time since I’ve been under any illusion about the man I’m living with.
“You were on a call. I didn’t want to barge in,” he says softly.
I study him suspiciously, but all he does is smile back at me.
“Okay, well…I need coffee and to get to work.”
His eyes drop from mine, taking a quick, unimpressed trip over my body.
“What happened to that dress I bought you last week?”
Smoothing a hand down the front of my navy shirt dress, I force myself to hold firm, to be that confident girl Letty and the others remember from college.
“I need to do laundry,” I state before stepping around him in favor of the kitchen.
“That’s a shame, it’s much more flattering.”
My fists curl, my nails cutting into my palms.
“I’ve paid that overdue bill on the counter, just so you know,” he adds.
I come to a stop in front of the bill he’s talking about, my eyes locking on the big, ominous overdue stamp across the top of it.
A pained sigh falls from my lips as the weight pressing on my shoulders gets heavier.
Thoughts of college, and the girl I used to be, are better off being left in the past.
This is who I am now.
This is where I’m supposed to be.
And one day, if I try really hard, I might just start believing it.
1
ELLA
“Is he still stuck at work, sweetie?” Mom asks when she catches me checking for messages at the dinner table. Something that is strictly forbidden under this roof.
Especially on someone’s birthday.
I expect to be cast to hell any second.
But Mom just smiles sympathetically at me as I slide my cell into my back pocket.
“I guess so. He told me he’d let me know if he could make it.”
“That’s a shame,” she says, although I’m sure under her southern politeness she doesn’t actually mean it.
She’d never say anything bad about anyone I was dating, it’s just not how she works, but there are signs. And right now, I’m staring at one.
My brother, on the other hand…
“What a douche. I made it back from South Carolina and he couldn’t get here from across town?”
“Bennett,” Mom scolds, but I keep my mouth shut.
While Mom might try to see the best in my fiancé, Benny is a little more vocal about his distaste.