Stripped - By Brenda Rothert Page 0,69
ask me how my night was and you’re actually interested. You make coffee when we wake up. You’ve been cooking and picking up my dry cleaning. I feel taken care of.”
“I’m glad,” she said, touched by his words. “And I like doing all those things.”
“What if we got a place together?” he asked.
Abby stared at him, stunned.
“What if we got a place together?” she repeated. “What do you mean?”
“Being with you all the time, like in Malibu and for the past couple weeks … it’s what I want, Abby. I’m down about you leaving. I love that you’re here when I get home in the morning, and we get to fall asleep together, and I like seeing you curled up on my couch reading. I want us to move in together.”
“Chris. That’s … I mean, it’s not even possible for me.”
“It is, though. We can get rid of your place and mine, and find a new one.”
“I have my family. I can’t just leave them.”
“I know you do, otherwise I’d just ask you to move in here. We need a place for you and me and Audrey and Sara.”
“My Mom and Justin live with me too, Chris.”
“I want to buy a place for us, and you can use whatever you get from selling your house to help Justin get an apartment. He’ll be able to focus on school better if he lives there. You won’t need his help with the girls anymore, because you’ll have me. And as for your Mom … she needs to be on her own, Abby. She’s not good for you and the girls.”
Abby was floored that he had even considered this. And apparently he’d thought a lot about it.
“It’s irrelevant anyway, because I can’t just move in with a man. I’m the only good example Audrey and Sara have. Audrey’s turning 13 next month. She’ll be old enough to move in with a boyfriend before I know it, and I won’t be able to object if I’m doing the same thing.”
“Abby, this is completely different. I’m 32 and you’re 25. We’ve both finished college.”
“It’s incredibly sweet of you to ask, really, but --”
“Living with us would be a more wholesome environment than Audrey and Sara have now,” he said earnestly.
“I do my best.”
“You do great, but you can’t control your mother. She’s toxic. Audrey and Sara live with a drug addict.”
She knew he wasn’t being critical of her, but she bristled at his words because it felt like he was.
“Look, Chris, I don’t have kids, but I might as well. You think it would be great to move in together, but you have no idea what life is like with kids. We couldn’t fuck on the kitchen table like we did yesterday. You can’t watch Sports Center when they’re already watching the Disney Channel. You’ve never even lived with a woman, and moving in with a woman and kids would seriously cramp your style.”
“It wouldn’t. I understand that it’s a package deal with you and the girls, and I want it. I like them, Abby, they’re good kids. Justin could live with us, too, if he wanted to. I just won’t accept your Mom.”
“It doesn’t matter, because I can’t do it. We’re just getting into a normal relationship, we need to see where it goes.”
“Are you saying you never want to move in with me?”
He sounded forlorn, and she hated being the cause.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. It’ll never be a good example for the girls. And I’ll never be able to leave my Mom with no way to take care of herself.”
“She could if she had to. Why do you condone the way she treats you, Abby? I hate that.”
“She’s imperfect, but she’s still my Mom.”
“Bullshit. She’s mean and verbally abusive. You deserve better.”
“Chris,” Abby said, pressing a kiss to his cheek, “This time with you has been amazing. I’ve loved every second. But I have to get back to reality now.”
As she stared at the electronics cords strung across the floor, Abby’s expression grew skeptical.
“Maybe someone from the cable company had to come do something,” she said to Audrey.
“They took our Playstation!” Audrey cried. “And all our games!”
“I know. It’s weird. The doors were locked, and nothing else is missing. Could we have been robbed? Just to be safe, let’s get upstairs. I want Chris to come over and check things out.”
“Do you think there’s someone in here?” Audrey asked, her eyes widening.
“I don’t know, Aud. Let’s just go upstairs, okay?”
Abby