Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“Babe,” I whispered.
Rafe glanced at me, and I caught the sorrow in his eyes before he turned back to the road. “Star, I am so sorry.” His voice was guttural with the apology.
I reached over to squeeze his leg. “You don’t need to apologize to me.”
“What he said . . .” His hands squeezed around the steering wheel and I noted the swelling on the knuckles of his right hand. Shit. We’d need to get ice on that pronto.
“He was drunk.”
“No one, I don’t care who they are, will ever get away with speaking about you like that, drunk or sober.”
“He’s just trying to protect you.”
Rafe shot me a bewildered look. “You’re defending him?”
“No. Yes.” I sighed heavily. “He shouldn’t have said what he said, but I think he is just trying to protect you.”
“He doesn’t know you. He hasn’t even tried to get to know you. You don’t fit into a perfect little traditional box, so to him you don’t make sense. What he doesn’t realize is that you don’t need to make sense to him. You need to make sense to me, and you fucking do.”
At his renewed agitation, I smoothed my hand over his leg. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay.”
His phone rang from inside his jacket.
“That’ll be your family.”
“Fuck my family.”
I sucked in a breath. “Rafe, you don’t mean that.”
He exhaled slowly. “No, I don’t. But I can’t talk to them right now. I need time. Space. We need time and space from them.” He nodded like that was the answer.
For me, it most definitely wasn’t.
I would not be responsible for driving a wedge between him and his family.
Not now, not ever.
* * *
• • •
Rafe left for the gym early the next morning, like always, but I didn’t fall back asleep like always. Instead, I got up, made a coffee, and stared blindly at the phone in my hand for a while.
Everything that had happened yesterday played over and over in my mind.
The derisive bakery owner.
The disdainful journalist.
Rafe needing my comfort.
Rafe giving me two drawers in his apartment.
The unspoken words hanging between us.
Hugo’s vitriol because he thought I wanted to live a lazy life leeching off Rafe. All because he thought I lacked drive and ambition.
Seriousness.
About Rafe. About our future.
And Rafe wanted space from his family because of their lack of acceptance of me.
I couldn’t let that happen.
Yet I also couldn’t let go of Rafe.
I didn’t think I ever could now.
Pippa’s cell number stared up at me from my phone. I still had it from playing Merida at Charmaine’s birthday party. Hitting the number, I held the phone to my ear, my heart thudding wildly in my chest.
“Philippa Whitman speaking,” she answered sharply.
“Pippa. It’s Star.”
Silence, then a stilted “Good morning, Star.”
“I wondered . . . I wondered if the job with your friend was still available?”
More silence and then what I thought might be an exhalation of relief. “Yes, most definitely.”
“Then I’d like the chance to work with her.”
“Wonderful. You and I should meet first thing Monday so I can give you all the background information, and I’ll give Pamela your number so she can call you to arrange everything. You’ve . . . This is the right decision, Star.”
“I just . . . I am serious about Rafe. About our future.”
“I know. And Star, while I do not agree with how Rafe handled the situation last night, please know that I am sorry for what was said.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.” That would be her husband.
“Right.” She seemed to hear my unspoken words. “Well, I’ll text you the time and place for Monday. I’m very excited for you. For all of us. This should . . . I think this will help.”
I knew exactly what she meant because it was exactly why I’d called her.
“Me too.” I hung up and threw my phone on the couch. Wandering over to Rafe’s balcony, I opened the doors and stepped out, the chilly September morning air waking up goose bumps on my bare arms and legs. Bracing myself against the balcony, I stared out at the Hudson.
Uncertainty rode me.
But only until I heard Rafe returning. The door behind me slid open and then the hot, slightly damp heat of him hit my back as he braced his hands on the balcony next to mine and rested his chin on my shoulder.
I relaxed into him, and he slid his arms around my waist to hold me tight to him. We didn’t say a word as we just stared out at the sun spilling across the water, listening to the city already noisy with life.
Just like that, my uncertainty melted away.
For some people, I’d do anything.
Rafe, as it turned out, was now top of that list.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
You free for lunch tomorrow? X
My thumbs hovered over my phone screen as I stared holes through Kendall’s text. Though we’d shared texts and a quick phone call here and there, I hadn’t seen my friends in two weeks. And I wasn’t free tomorrow. Dammit.