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her words stopped him.
"As soon as she said she had a man in her life she
immediately said 'He's not the one', meaning whoever this
guy is or was, he could not and would never compare to you.
Don't you see? Eminence does care for you. She probably still
loves you. You don't know what's going on with this man and
her. Did you two talk about it?"
"It doesn't matter."
"I think it does. Before you leave, I think you owe it to her
and owe it to yourself to find out where her heart is." She
glanced down at the shiny shards of glass on the tile floor.
"It's obvious where your head is. Don't let her out of your life
again until you find out for sure. Remember, an assumption
was what broke us all up."
No truer words had been spoken. Right now he couldn't
confront her or his feelings. If he had a choice to leave with
his heart intact or take a chance to have it broken again, he
would go for safety, the same advice he'd given to Jordie.
"Lock up. Watch your employees. Call me whenever you
need me." With those words, he walked out to start the next
chapter of his life. Whether Eminence became a part of it was
still up in the air. Deep down his spirit told him to fight for
her, not to simply give up or leave the decision to her. Did he
have that strength in him? Did he love her enough to want to
risk another heartbreak?
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84
Reignited
by Bridget Midway
Chapter Nine
* * * *
Eminence's hands trembled as she held onto her cell
phone. She wiped away the sweat on her forehead. Taking
deep breaths helped her calm her nerves. She still had to
make the call. If she didn't, she wouldn't be able to heal other
relationships in her lives, mainly with Keys.
The day after breaking up with Les, or rather Les breaking
up with her, and after giving herself a pep talk, she pressed
the speed dial number for her father. It'd been years since
she'd spoken to him.
At the first ring, she wanted to disconnect the call. She
pressed her free hand onto the table to prevent herself from
hitting "end" on the phone. After the second ring, her
breathing increased.
The third ring had her rattled. She pulled the phone from
her ear to disconnect the call when she heard a click then a
voice.
"Is anyone there?"
"Um, Dad." She swallowed hard and waited for his
response.
His long sigh would sound in her head for the rest of her
life.
"I've waited a long time for this call, too long." Her father's
voice hitched in the middle of his statement.
85
Reignited
by Bridget Midway
A lump formed in Eminence's throat. She took another
deep breath before speaking. "How have you been?"
"I'm fine. And you "
"And you remarried, right?"
"You heard, huh? Yes, I did. And are you "
"Any more children?"
"Let's stop talking about me."
Damn, her father had figured out what she tried to do,
avoid talking about herself. "It's been so long, Dad. I wanted
to talk about you and what's going on with you."
"What's going on with me? I've been worried about you.
You've never left my thoughts."
"I've thought about you, too."
"Really? What did you think about? Were you thinking
about how I taught you how to ride a bike without the
training wheels? Or did you think about how I taught you how
to drive? Or maybe you thought about how I chaperoned your
very first slumber party."
Eminence hadn't thought about any of those great
memories. "No, I "
"You've only thought about that day you saw me and
Lynette."
She never knew the woman's real name. Eminence
flinched as though the woman had wronged her. "Lynette.
That's her name?"
"You can meet her. You know you're always welcome in
my home."
"Dad, I "
86
Reignited
by Bridget Midway
"What? Are you about to tell me that you can't meet her
because you would feel like you would be betraying your
mother?" Her father's tone grew indignant.
"Yes. How could you think I would forget that?"
"And how could you think that I would do anything to hurt
you?"
"But "
"No, I don't want to argue with you, but you have
condemned me and my wife because you assumed something
about a situation. You have to stop jumping to conclusions
and pushing people away."
"Yeah, I've heard that." Was she really that judgmental?
After what she'd done with Keys, she had no right to be.
"I love you. Your mother loves you. If you give her a
chance, Lynette will love you. Instead of judging a situation, I
wished you would have just talked to me and your mother
first."
"That day." Eminence shook her head as though her father
could see her. "I saw you kissing her in our house. How could
you bring her to our house? I don't blame Mom for moving
out."
"Honey, even though you're an adult, there are still things
that are private between your mother and my relationship. I
will never ever say anything against your mother. I think I
know your mother long enough to know that she would grant
me the same courtesy. But there are things that occurred
between us that happened long before you saw me kissing
Lynette."
87
Reignited
by Bridget Midway
The implication of his statement sounded like turmoil
existed between her parents that they shielded from her.
Before she could spout off her theories on who did what to
whom, her father interrupted her.
"Don't get wrapped up in our past. Just know that we both
love you. We will both always support you. But we're both
human, and we make mistakes. I probably shouldn't have
brought Lynette over to the house so soon."
"Yeah, that would have been nice." Eminence wanted to
tell him that because of that moment, she stopped trusting
men, stopped trusting Keys. Knowing now what she
discovered about Keys and Jordie, again, she had to wince at [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]