The Heartbreaker of Echo Pass - Maisey Yates Page 0,109
your ass back here. You are not walking down the road by yourself with no cell service for God knows how long.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“Somebody has to. In all your ranting, did you ever stop to think of all the ways I took care of you? I have earned the right to tell you what to do. Because I actually know you. Because I actually did take care of you. Because I actually care. I didn’t just let you take care of me with a serene smile on your face. Keep on scrubbing my floors. Keep on giving to me. Did I let you get on your knees and pleasure me with your mouth and give you nothing back? No, I didn’t.”
Heat assaulted her, shame. More shame.
“I gave to you. And I would keep on giving to you. These are just more lies you’re telling yourself because it makes you feel safe. That’s all it is. You’re afraid. What happened to the woman who brought me a plate of cookies? You can’t even look me in the eye now.”
“She was just a dumb virgin,” Iris said. “She didn’t know anything. She thought that she could just go out in the world and make it all happen. But I know better now. And I suppose I have you to thank for that.”
“Why are you standing there acting like I just smashed your heart with a hammer when all I did was offer you a home, love, my heart?”
“Because you don’t mean it. You don’t mean it. You’re in love with your wife. And you should be, Griffin. It’s fair. But this house is hers. And your heart is hers. And whatever you say to me, I know that’s true. I know that you think you want something new. I know that you think you want me. But how can I ever know that when you look at me, you won’t wish it was another woman walking down the aisle toward you? Is it going to be the wrong wedding photo? Is it going to be the wrong baby in my arms? It’s not fair. None of it is. I know that.” Shame lashed at her and pain that was unimaginable. “I just think you want to replace them.”
“I don’t,” he said. “Believe me that has been the hardest thing that I’ve had to contend with in this whole thing. To be certain that’s not what I’m doing. To be certain that I’m not putting a Band-Aid on anything. But I’m not playing games with myself.”
“I just can’t... I just can’t.”
“I can’t do anything to convince you. I can’t do anything but tell you the truth the way that I always have. And you know what, it’s not fucking fair. It’s not fair that I had to lose them. And that losing them is going to make me lose you. But until you grow up a little bit, I don’t think we can make it work. But I will drive you down to town.”
“I don’t want you to.”
“Get your ass in the car. Consider this your plate of cookies. You rescued me when I needed it, now let me do the same to you. And before you say anything, no, you don’t deserve it. It doesn’t matter, though. Because that’s how love works.”
She got in the truck mutely, and the entire way down the mountain tears fell silently down her face. She had never felt so small. She had never felt so low.
And it was all done at his expense.
He dropped her in front of the bakery and she stared at it. She would lose it now. Of course she would.
Why would he continue to rent to her after all of this?
But when she stumbled inside and dropped to her knees and gave in to the anguish in her heart, it wasn’t the bakery that she cried over losing.
It was Griffin.
And no matter what she told herself, she couldn’t make it otherwise.
* * *
IRIS FELT SMALL and sad. She didn’t know what to do about her current situation. She was having trouble getting out of bed. But she still had a bakery to run. And she didn’t know quite how she was supposed to do it. What she hadn’t expected was this to feel like she was dying. But it did. She knew grief. She knew it well. She hadn’t thought that simply choosing to walk away from a person would make you feel like that. Like