Chapter 205
0205
How can you possibly forget all of that?!?!”
I felt tears threatening to escape from my eyes..
“Brady, stop. Please. I know you are angry, but
—
“Angry? No, Lily. I am not angry. I am disappointed. I thought you were better than this. I thought you were
stronger. How can you just forgive and forget someone who tortured you like James did, and all the while
turn your back on someone like me who wants nothing more than to love you and take care of you for the
rest of your life?!?!?!?!?!?!?”
The tears started to run down my face. I stood up and went over to him, putting my hand on his arm.” Brady, I—-”
“EXPLAIN IT TO ME, LILY! TELL ME HOW YOU CAN TURN DOWN MY LOVE IN FAVOR OF JAMES AND
HIS TOXICITY?”
Despite how angry Brady was and how much he was yelling at me, I suddenly realized that Brady was
crying as well. I felt my heart break for him and for our horrible situation.
“Brady, you do not love me,” I said honestly, “You love the idea of me. You love who you think I could be.
Who you think I… who you think I could replace.
Brady shook my hand off of his arm, resuming his pacing. Then, as though a light bulb went off in his
head, he spun around.
“Wait… are you choosing James because of Evelyn? Because you realized that you look like her? So f&&
ing what! Yes, you look like one another. Who cares. I have a type. A lot of guys do. That does not meant
that I love you any less.”
“Brady, stop. Please.”
Brady looked up in the sky, as though he was talking to the heavens above.
“It was that picture. That st upid picture. When you asked me on the airplane to show you that picture, I should have known that it was a bad idea. Goddess, how could I have been so st upid?!?!”
“IT WAS NOT JUST THE PICTURE!” I exclaimed. “Yes, the picture helped me piece everything together. But it was not just the picture. It was the places you took me; it was the things that you wanted to do together; it was the restaurants we ate at. They were all places and things that you enjoyed with Evelyn.”
Brady looked at me in disbelief. “I never gave you any details about what it was like to date Evelyn.”
“No, you didn’t. At least not on the airplane. But when we would go places, you would always bring her up. It was subtle, and you never mentioned her by name. At first I did not know if you were referring to one female or multiple females or a friend or a group of friends. But somehow, someway, you always brought. something up. With the exception of Hawaii, we never did anything new together. It was always something that you had done in the past, that had some memory attached to it.
And that was fine. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed spending time with you. But when you finally told me what happened with Evelyn, and you showed me her picture, it all clicked.
I am not Evelyn, Brady, and I do not want to be. I would much rather go to a chocolate factory or to a baseball game and eat pizza than go out to eat at some fancy restaurant. I would prefer to drink beer over
expensive champagne.
I can enjoy the nice restaurants and the champagne, but I will never enjoy them the same way that you
The same way that Evelyn did.”
Brady stopped pacing and stared at me. I could not tell if he was hurt or angry or confused or all of the
above. He did not say anything for a long while.
“So James is your baseball game and pizza?” he finally whispered.
“No. Yes. I don’t know. But I do know love him. The same way that you loved Evelyn. The same way that I
think you probably still love Evelyn.
“He is going to hurt you again, Lily. And I may or may not be here when he does.”
I wiped the tears from my eyes. “I am willing to take that chance.”
Brady headed towards the door, seeming defeated. “I am going to spend the next couple of nights at the Paramount Hotel, just in case you change your mind. I do not want to give up on you, Lily. You deserve. the world.”
“You deserve the world, too, Brady. I mean that.”
With that, Brady walked out the door, I closed the door behind him and leaned my back against it as I continued to let out the tears.
James opened the door to the bedroom and looked at me hesitantly, with a huge frown on his face. I ran up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my bead in his chest. He returned the hug kissed my forehead.
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