Page 50 of Indescribable
With a grin, I fill us two glasses of iced water and slide one across the island to her.
“Have fun?”
“The best time ever. You really did not need to pay for everything though. That was too much.”
I shake my head. “Nah. I wanted to do it. Figured you’d enjoy it more without worrying about the price. Plus, I missed giving you a lot of birthday and Christmas gifts.”
“So does that mean I need to do the same for you?” she teases.
“Obviously. I have my list ready for you.”
She smiles so beautifully I almost do something stupid like take her in my arms and give her a kiss she’ll never forget. But we’re not there. Yet. Soon, but not yet.
Naomi points at my face and I know exactly what she’s about to say before she even opens her mouth. “Quite the shiner you’ve got there, buddy.”
I wink at her with my non-bruised eye. “Like that? It was worth it.”
“I bet Wyatt looks and feels worse.”
“I hope he does,” I answer truthfully. “We’ll talk about it later, dinner’s almost ready and I don’t want that to spoil our appetites.”
She nods her agreement. “Smells delicious in here.”
“I made mom’s Italian sausage pasta. And garlic toast. But the garlic toast is from the freezer section so don’t get too excited.”
Her eyes light up. “Two of my favorites.”
“Indeed they are. I still remember.”
She takes a drink of her water and slides onto a barstool, spinning the glass a little. “Gah, Brock, I missed this.”
“Missed what? Me? I know. I’m easy to miss.”
She smiles faintly but doesn’t look up, keeps fiddling with her water glass. She looks more beautiful than ever. The light blue shirt she’s wearing brings out the color of her eyes and her leggings show off her shapely legs.
“What’s going through your head, Naomi?”
With a heavy sigh, she leans against the back of the barstool. “I don’t know. I guess I just missed having the freedom to spend time with you, and Corbin for that matter. Don’t go all crazy about this, but you can’t imagine the way he was. Wyatt had a… hard time, I guess you could say, with me even being close to her. He said she was an extension of you. Which, she is, but not really. She and I were always friends, too.”
“She’s loved you like a sister forever.”
“And I love her the same. But, Brock. Ilistened.How did I become that woman? I get that when you’re married, you’re supposed to make some sacrifices but…”
“But what?”
“I’m starting to realize that it wasn’t normal. What he was like, I mean. It felt normal because it happened slowly over time so I didn’t really notice a change in him. And that’s the scary, and embarrassing part to me. I became someone I wasn’t proud of but yet, I didn’t even realize it. And letting him stay in my home for an entire year? For what? Like that was going to change anything? I knew it wasn’t but he begged me and I caved. Like I couldn’t stand up for myself.”
“You wanted to try.”
She shakes her head. “That wasn’t it. I had fallen out of love with him so easily. It was a switch flipped when I found out he cheated on me. During my most vulnerable time, he cheated and I was weak and let him stay in the same house instead of kicking him to the curb like I should have done. Why would I do that?”
“I’ll be honest with you, I wondered the same thing, but I also know your heart. It’s big and giving and he took advantage of that because he knew it, too.”
She looks enraged when she goes on, as if I didn’t say anything. “He was controlling not only who I spent time with but where I went, Brock. He didn’t like it if I went places without him, he went through my phone constantly, even though I had nothing to hide. It shouldn’t have taken him cheating for me to realize that he was not a good husband. He wasn’t like that in the beginning and I’m not saying that I was in an abusive marriage, but the more I think about it, the more I look back at some of the things he’d say and do, I’m not so sure that I wasn’t?”
I’m finding it real hard to keep my cool here but I somehow manage. “Are you asking me or just talking it out?”
“Both?”