Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 60268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
You never asked him.
Rose paused as she remembered that she’d never even asked him.
“I was a complete bastard to you, wasn’t I?”
“We both made mistakes. I didn’t even ask you to do stuff for me. Let’s not talk about it.”
They were being served, and they didn’t speak of it again. She packaged up their groceries, placing them back into the trolley. Hardy paid, and then they were walking back to the car. At the trunk of the car, Hardy grabbed her arm.
“We need to talk about this crap, Rose. This is our problem, we don’t talk.”
She stared into his eyes not knowing what to expect from him. The sincerity in his eyes made her realize he was speaking the truth.
“What do you want to talk about?” she asked.
“I fucked up. I was a total asshole to you, and I’m sorry.”
“This doesn’t matter anymore. We can’t change what happened.”
“But you won’t sleep next to me at nighttime. You’ve cut me out, and I don’t like it. I want to do better, Rose. I want to be better.”
Tears filled her eyes, and she took a deep breath in an attempt to keep her emotions in check.
“I can’t do this right now.”
“We need to do this, Rose.”
“Baker’s waiting for us back home. Let’s get the food loaded into the car. I’m hungry.”
Hardy started at her for several seconds before clicking the lock open on the car. She opened the trunk, and started to load the groceries into the trunk of the car.
Taking a seat in the passenger side, she waited for them to pull out of the car before turning to Hardy.
“So, shopping? What do you think of it?”
He rubbed his temple. “It’s fine, Rose.”
“Not woman’s work?”
The wince on his face had Rose sitting back.
“I was just having a joke,” she said.
“I know, Rose. I know you’re having a joke, and to anyone else it would be funny, but I was a fucking bastard to you. I mean, we didn’t go shopping until this moment. It’s fucking wrong of me, and I’m so sorry. I’m your old man, you’re my fucking old lady, and you should have been able to rely on me.”
He slammed his hand against the steering wheel, and Rose tensed up. She wasn’t afraid, but she wasn’t used to Hardy having angry outbursts, either.
“What is it?”
“What is it? It’s me. I never fucking realized what a total asshole I was, still am. I messed up, and it’s all my fault.”
He shook his head, and she was amazed by how angry he was.
“It was a long time ago.”
“No, it wasn’t, and don’t try to make excuses for my behavior.”
She held her hands up in surrender. If he didn’t want her making excuses for what he did, then fine. She wasn’t going to try to make him feel better if he didn’t want to.
Pushing some hair off her eyes, she leaned her head against the window.
“I’m sorry,” he said, reaching over to take her hand.
He locked his fingers with hers, and emotion clogged her throat. What was with her always feeling close to tears? It had to be the pregnancy. She wasn’t usually a woman who found tears all that easy to produce.
Produce?
She was going crazy now.
“I’m going to do better. I’m going to be the kind of guy you can rely on, I promise.”
“Hardy, you don’t need to make promises to me.” She wasn’t expecting anything from him. Over the years she’d grown used to him.
He squeezed her hand. “Yes, I do need to make promises. I need to make a lot of promises, and to make up for all the shit I put you through.”
She glanced over at him. No words came to mind, and so she looked out of the window. There was no point in trying to find the right words.
Letting out a breath, Rose wondered if things would ever be right between them.
****
Hardy fired up the barbeque while Rose was inside marinating the steaks and preparing the butter. He loved his steaks with lots of butter, spice, and pepper. The roses had been placed in the ground, and he was happy with the way the garden had turned out.
“Looking good,” Baker said, coming up beside him.
“Yeah. It’ll look even better with the steaks on.” He looked toward the kitchen door to see Rose at the counter chopping. She still wore sweats that covered her full body.
“You really do love her, don’t you?”
“I love her more than she realizes. When I was younger, it was a messed up situation.”
“You still cheated on her.”
“I know, and there’s nothing I can do for her to forgive me.”
Hardy rubbed the back of this head, wishing he could think of something to make her fall in love with him once again. Nothing sprang to mind.
“What are you going to do about Millie?” Hardy asked, changing the subject away from him. He didn’t need Baker sharing his pain. It was bad enough he felt like shit already.