After I Left, He Begged on His Knees to Bring Me Home Chapter 06

After I Left, He Begged on His Knees to Bring Me Home Chapter 06

Two months later, I moved to Fairbrook, a small Southern town.

I took on freelance design projects and opened a studio with a business partner.

Life became quiet.

Every morning, I got up at seven, boiled an egg, and toasted a slice of bread.

At eight, I left home and walked twenty minutes to the studio.

After dark, I went home. Sometimes I’d grab an order of noodles on the way and eat it on my

balcony.

The day Griffin found me, I was at a building supply market picking out tile.

I was crouched on the floor, running my fingers over the edges of two samples-one matte, one glossy-comparing them again and again.

Nolan Ramsey stood beside me, helping move sample boxes.

He pulled tiles from the display shelves one by one and stacked them onto a cart.

I took another tile from him and leaned closer to study the pattern.

Then I smiled.

As I looked up, I saw someone standing about twenty yards away.

He wore a gray jacket with the zipper undone. The shirt underneath was wrinkled.

His hair had grown longer. Wind lifted the bangs from his forehead before letting them fall back

again.

He just stood there, arms hanging at his sides.

No wave. No greeting. Just watching.

I froze.

Nolan followed my gaze. “You know him?”

“I do.”

I didn’t walk toward him, but he walked toward me, his pace steady.

When he stopped in front of me, he glanced at the tile in my hand, then at Nolan, and finally looked

back at me.

“Delaney.”

“Why are you here?”

“To talk to you.”

“About what?”

“Our conversation already happened. I put everything in the letter.”

Nolan stepped forward and stopped beside me. “And you are?”

I glanced at Nolan before turning back to Griffin. “My ex-husband.”

Legally, he was still my husband.

The divorce agreement had been signed, but the paperwork wasn’t finalized yet.

But in my heart, that marriage was already over.

It had ended during that five-second silence.

It had ended behind those pink curtains, where two shadows merged into one.

Nolan shifted slightly and placed himself a little in front of me.

Griffin noticed. His lips pressed into a thin line.

“Delaney, I’m not signing it.”

“You will.”

I turned and walked away.

After a few steps, I stopped, but didn’t look back.

“Griffin, do you know my blood type?”

“Do you know what I’m allergic to?”

“You don’t.”

“You don’t even know whether I’m Type A or Type B.”

“And you’re standing here apologizing.”

“What exactly are you apologizing for?”

“For never wanting to know me in the first place.”

Then I kept walking.

No footsteps followed behind me.

That night, Nolan drove me home. He parked outside my building.

“Want me to walk you upstairs?”

“No.”

As I climbed the stairs, my phone buzzed.

It was a message from Nolan. [You okay?]

I replied with a single word. [Yeah.]

After getting inside, I hung my coat over the back of a chair.

Then I went into the kitchen and boiled water.

Steam rose from the mug after I poured it.

I sat on the couch, my fingers wrapped around the cup.

It was hot.

I never asked how long he’d stood on that unfamiliar street.

I never asked how many flights, buses, or hours of travel it had taken for him to find me.

But my thoughts refused to settle.

The

mug stayed in my hands until the water turned cold.

I never took a sip.

All I could think about was the look on his face.

For eight years. More than 2,900 three-minute calls,

He’d given every one of them to Vivian.

Yet when he finally came looking for me… he couldn’t even manage a complete sentence.