“You know who you are, Stefan Kind? You’re a scared little boy hiding in a man’s body. You and your brothers hide behind your father and the things he’s done in the past. You let someone else’s behavior and actions control your life. Just like my father let alcohol control his.”
“How dare you!” I shook my finger at her. “You know what, we’re done here.”
“Damn right we are.” She stormed out of the kitchen, went up her bedroom and slammed the door.
I ran after her and opened the door.
“I don’t tolerate Lily slamming the door in my house, and I won’t put up with it from you either!” I shouted.
She dragged her suitcase out from the closet.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m leaving.”
“You’re quitting?” I narrowed my eyes at her.
“No. I would never do that to that little girl. But I am quitting you. I’m moving out. I’ll be here every morning to take Lily to school and then I’ll pick her up, bring her home and stay with her until you get home from work. And that’s it.”
“School is out next week!” I shouted.
“Then I’ll be here in the morning before you leave for work, and I’ll leave when you get home. I’ll babysit five days a week with weekends off. Every weekend,” she said as she threw her clothes into her suitcase as fast as she could.
“And what if I need a babysitter? I have things to do on the weekends.”
“You mean go out? Guess what. Newsflash. You’re a father. Stay home with your kid since you work Monday through Friday!”
She zipped up her suitcase and as she wheeled it past me, I grabbed the handle.
“Don’t do this, Alex.”
“Do you remember when you told me that I was the strongest woman you know? Well, this is me being strong. Now let go of my damn suitcase.”
She yanked it as hard as she could, grabbed her purse and flew out the door.
“Where are you going to go?” I shouted as I ran after her.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Julia
Sam and I had just pulled up in the driveway from the airport when we saw Alex coming out of Stefan’s house with her suitcase in tow.
“Uh-oh,” Sam said. “She looks pissed.”
“Shit. What is going on?” I jumped out and went over to her car. “Alex, what happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Tears streamed down her face.
“Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. I’ll find somewhere.”
“Listen to me. Go to Jenni’s apartment. I’ll text her and let her know you’re on your way, and then I’ll be over as soon as I can.”
“You just got back from your honeymoon. I’m fine, Julia.”
“No, you’re not. Go. Go to Jenni’s.”
“Don’t tell Stefan where I am.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
She peeled out of the driveway and as soon as she drove away, I walked over to Stefan and grabbed his arm.
“Ouch. What the hell, Julia?”
“Get inside now.” I pushed him inside.
“Julia, you need—”
“Sam!” I turned to him in anger.
“Okay. Okay.” He put his hands up.
“What the hell just happened and why did she leave?” I asked Stefan.
He ran his hands through his hair as he took a seat on the couch.
“It all started when I found her journal with her perfect guy qualities in it.”
“Here. You’re going to need this,” Sam said as he handed Stefan a drink.
“You read her journal?”
“It was lying on her bed, and I thought it was a book.”
“What was in it?” Sam asked.
“See for yourself. I think she left it on the kitchen counter.”
“Don’t you dare!” I pointed at Sam as I walked into the kitchen and grabbed it.
“She thinks I’m her perfect guy and I told her that I could never be that and I was sorry. So, she packed her shit and left. Fuck!”
“Did she quit?” Sam asked.
“No. She said she’ll still take care of Lily. She just won’t live here. What did she say to you?” He looked up at me.
“Nothing. She was just crying.”
“She didn’t say where she was going?”
“Nope. I told her to call me later.” I stood there and shook my head at him.
“What am I going to tell Lily?”
“Where is she?” Sam asked.
“She’s staying the night at a friend’s house. She’s going to be devastated when she comes home tomorrow.”
“I knew this was going to happen and I warned you.” Sam pointed at him.
“Yeah. Save the brotherly speech. I’m in no fucking mood to hear it.”
Chapter 31
Alex
I arrived at Jenni’s apartment and when she opened the door, she hugged me and brought me inside.
“Let me get you a glass of wine and you can tell me everything that happened.”
“No wine.”
“Sweetie, when you’re this upset wine is the only thing that helps.”
“I can’t.” I looked down. “I feel too sick to my stomach.”
“Okay. Come on. Let’s go over to the couch.”
She grabbed a couple tissues from the end table and handed them to me.
“What did the two of you fight about?”
“He found my perfect man list and blew up.”
“Your what?”
“It’s a list I created when I was a kid and tweaked as I got older. If a man checked off all the boxes, I considered him my prince charming.”
“And Stefan checked all the boxes?”
“All but two.”
“Would you mind if I copied that? I date a lot of losers and I could use something like that.”
I couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “I thought you had a boyfriend.”
“Meh. I broke it off with him the other day. It wasn’t working out.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh my God, don’t you dare be sorry. Besides, we’re talking about you. Let’s wait for Julia to get here and we’ll talk some more. Can I get you some coffee, water, lemonade?”
“Water please.”
She got up from the couch and walked over to the refrigerator.
“I will tell you this. You can stay here as long as you need to. My roommate moved out because she got back together with her loser boyfriend. So, it’s just me. But I am leaving in a couple days to go back to Europe for work, and I’ll be gone about two months. You’ll have the place to yourself.” She handed me a bottle of Fiji water. “Oh, and don’t worry about rent. It’s all paid up for the year.”
“I appreciate it, but I can’t do that. I have to pay something.”
“No, you don’t. All you have to do is buy your food.”
“He told me that he couldn’t be my prince charming and that I’ll want kids someday and he doesn’t want any more kids or a long-term relationship.”