Neither of us has said anything, and I’m acutely aware that we aren’t alone in the room, but I can’t take my eyes off of her. I don’t want to even blink for fear that she’ll disappear. “I’m going to step out and give you guys a moment,” Wren says. I assume he wants out of this tiny office filled with tension, our emotions, and our racing hormones. “Liv.” He nods at Olivia and nudges her shoulder gently as he walks by with a smile on his face.
“Hi Wren,” she whispers, offering him a smile that I wish she was giving me.
Look at me, baby.
As if she can hear my thoughts, she turns towards me and takes a tentative step into the room. “I knew you had an appointment today…I’m sorry for just showing up. I should have called or let you know I would be here.”
“You don’t have to call.” I shake my head. “You’re welcome anywhere I am, anytime.”
She swallows and nods towards the paperwork on the desk. “What did Wren say?”
“Oh, well. I’m good as new.” I give her my best smile. “Everything looks good.”
Her eyes light up. “That’s great, Bennett. I’m glad you’re better.”
I want to tell her that I’m not better. That nothing feels right without her, but I settle for asking her a question, that I’m sure I already know the answer to. “How are you?”
“I’m okay. You?”
I nod. “Fine.” I close my eyes for a second, hearing my mother’s words in my ear. Fight for her. “Terrible,” I correct myself.
When I open my eyes, hers are fixed on me. “Same.” Her gorgeous waves frame her face and she tucks some of it behind her ear. “I don’t know if you’re busy or anything, but I was thinking maybe we could take a walk?”
My eyes widen as I hear her request, my mind flashing to weeks down the road where we are back together. Don’t get ahead of yourself, she could be ending it for good. “Anywhere.”
The wind whips around us as we start walking through Central Park, something we’d done hundreds of times when we were married. Olivia and I are one of those couples that never run out of things to talk about. I genuinely enjoy her company and conversation even when we’re forced to put on clothes and we’d spend hours in the park talking about everything and nothing. I swear we had so many little moments here that later we realized were big moments.
She’d wrapped a scarf around her neck when we got outside, and I worry she’s still cold with how she’s got her arms wrapped around her. “Are you cold?”
“No. I’m just…nervous.”
“Around me?”
She doesn’t respond and we continue walking when she sits on a bench and I follow suit.
“Are you telling me it’s over?” I figured if she’s about to break my heart, she should just do it now and get it over with.
“Is that…what you want? I mean…have we gone so far down a road we can’t come back from?
“You haven’t been paying attention if you could possibly think that’s what I want. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep you. To keep us.”
She’s quiet for a few moments before she takes a deep breath and looks at me. “I miss you.” Her lips form a straight line. “I tried not to. I was hoping that asking you to leave would give me a clear head and it did.” The tears have now begun to fall down her face. Slow single tears that I want to lick away. “It made me realize how much I love you and hate being away from you. I don’t want a divorce, Clarke. I want to fix our marriage. I know it’s been a rough year and things happened that shouldn’t have, but I want to leave it in the past and move forward. I want…I want my husband back.”
My heart is pounding in my chest hearing her words. I grab her hands, pulling them to my lips and running them over her fingertips. “Baby.” I sense her shiver even though I’m not looking at her and when I lo
ok up, she’s staring at me with a doe-like expression. I press my forehead to hers. “I’ve been miserable without you. Truly. Living without you has been hell on Earth.” I move closer to her and she meets me in the middle so our thighs are touching and I want nothing more than to pull her into my lap, but I know that’s the quickest way to get us cited for public indecency because I’m seconds from ravaging her.
“So you’ll come home?”
“Fuck yes, and I am never leaving it again. Wherever you are, that’s where I need to be.”
She must not realize how wound my body is and how desperate it is for her because she lunges for me, wrapping her petite body around mine and squeezing. She’s sitting in my lap, her arms wrapped around my neck and her face pressed into it. “I missed you so much,” she whispers and I squeeze her to me.
“You have no idea.” I rock her gently as she cries into my neck but I pull her back. “Hey hey.” She looks up at me and I trace her full pouty lips with my finger before dipping my index finger inside. “Nothing like this ever again, Livi.” She nods emphatically. “You and me.”
“Forever and ever.”
Two Years Later