did I think that I would live in a place like this. “This is so amazing Erica.”
She has her hands clasped in front of her as she watches me happily, “Let me show you the view,” she says, pulling me over to the sliding door on the other side of the bed. “You can see the ocean,” she tells me as I step out and take in the panorama before me.
“I think I just went to heaven,” I say looking out at the roaring black ocean encircled by the dotted lights of the city surrounds.
Elliot
“I can’t believe you did this for us,” I say to my father as Erica takes Paige through the flat.
My father gives me a half smile and shrugs. “Thank Erica, it was all her idea. She’s a good woman. She made me see that I was being too hard on you.”
“She did, did she?”
“She’s helped me alter my perspective. Everything doesn’t seem so black and white to me anymore.”
“I’m glad dad. I'm really very glad that you found someone who obviously makes you happy.”
“Thank you son, I can say the same to you, you seem to have found yourself one amazing woman... Although son, I do have to say that I’m sorry for the choice I forced you to make with your last girlfriend. I was wrong. I should never have done that to you.”
Looking at my father right now, was like I was meeting him for the first time, gone was the man who intimated me all through my youth. Instead, I’m faced with a man who is only human, just like me. I regret that I felt so much hatred towards him for so many years, knowing Paige and all she went through has altered my own perception, I don’t care about things that happened in the past anymore. I only care about now and what’s ahead for all of us.
“You don’t need to say sorry dad, if she meant as much to me as I thought she did. I would have fought for her. The fact I didn’t says it all really doesn’t it?”
“And you’ve found your girl worth fighting for now?” he asks me.
“Yes dad, I found her. I fought for her, and I’ll fight for the rest of my life if that’s what it takes to keep her,” I tell him seriously.
He pats me on the back, urging me to follow him through the flat to find Paige and Erica, “I’m proud of you son,” he says walking ahead of me. I can’t help but smile as I follow him through the flat that used to be my home, but now looks like a new flat entirely.
Chapter 41
Paige
“Hey you,” Elliot says as he steps out onto the balcony with me. “Enjoying the view?”
I lean into him as his arm slips around me, and we look out at the ocean together, “It’s amazing. I feel like I’m dreaming,” I say as I rest my head on his shoulder.
“This is all really strange for me too. It looks so different now. The front door is the same, but everything else has changed, even the view looks a little different.”
“What did it look like when you lived here?”
“Old, everything was some variation of brown.”
I laugh a little, “I’m imagining a sepia photo.”
“Yeah, I suppose it did look a little like that… Listen Paige, in the interest of full disclosure. This is where I was living when I was dating Katrina. If it bothers you, we’ll sell it and choose something different.”
“Wow,” is all I can say for a moment, I turn around and lean against the railing, looking back inside the room. “All the furniture’s different isn’t it?” I ask.
“Yeah, everything is different. It's like they’ve gutted the place and changed it all,” he tells me.
I take him by the hand and lead him into the main bedroom, “What does this room remind you of?” I ask.
I see him look around for a moment, taking everything in. “Honestly? It reminds me of that B&B we went to before I came home the first time.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Then we’ll keep it,” I say, sliding my arms around his waist and tilting my head up so he can kiss me.
Erica and Robert decided on that moment to enter the room. “Whoa lovebirds! Give us some time to get out of here before you christen the room ok?” Erica exclaims.
I walk towards them both and hug each of them, thanking them profusely for doing this for us.
“It’s our pleasure Paige,”