Park Avenue Player(100)

“No, it wouldn’t have changed anything. I guess there would have been an adjustment period. It’s not like it would have been simple to hang out with the two of them together.”

“You want to know what I think?” Addison asked.

“Not really. But that’s never fucking stopped you.”

“I think you’re a big chicken shit.”

I blinked a few times. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me right. I think you’re a big chicken shit. For years you’ve been avoiding a relationship—fucking your way through Manhattan—because the last woman you loved left you. You finally meet a woman who’s worth risking your heart for, and then bam… It all bubbles back to the surface, and you retreat.”

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. We both need time, Addison. This was her best friend and my Anna.”

She shook her head. “She wasn’t your Anna anymore, Hollis. But she is your Elodie. At least for now. So get over yourself—Elodie is not going to hurt you like Anna did. And you know what, if I’m wrong and she winds up hurting you, wouldn’t some years with Elodie be better than living without her?”

Living without her. Those words made my damn chest hurt.

“Are you done?” I picked up my pen and looked down at the stack of papers on my desk. “Because if you are, I have some work to do.”

***

Two nights later, I was sitting in my office at 7PM, staring at the framed photo Hailey had put on my desk. Her “redecorating” had included adding two cow-patch-patterned pillows to my leather couch, a white shaggy throw rug under the coffee table—I was certain the throw rug was from the bathroom aisle and should’ve been in front of a tub—and a few framed pictures on my desk, one of which was a selfie she’d taken the day Elodie and I picked her up from her friend’s house in Connecticut. Elodie and I were sitting in the front seat, leaning in, and Hailey sat in the center of the back seat between us. It was a cute picture. That was also the day after Elodie and I had slept together and the night I’d told her I loved her. Elodie and Hailey had big smiles on their faces, but I was looking at Elodie. The shot really captured how we were feeling that day—happy, in love, and without a care in the world.

What a difference a damn week can make.

A knock at my office door startled me.

Looking up, my brows drew together. “Richard? What are you doing here?”

He stood in the doorway. “Mind if I come in?”

“No, no, of course not.” I stood and held out my hand to shake. “It’s good to see you. How are you?”

His eyes roamed my face. “Better than you, from the looks of it.”

I sighed. “I’ve been working a lot. Catching up after being out for a while.”

He made a face that said he knew I was full of shit, but he didn’t call me out on it. He took a seat across from me.

“It’s been tough,” he said. “It’s never easy to lose a child, but Anna…she was my little girl.” His eyes welled up. “I know every father thinks his little girl is special. But mine really was. Do you know I’ve had chocolate-covered fruit delivered every day this week from her? It’s always been my weakness. I don’t even know how she arranged for that to happen. That’s the kind of person she was—always thinking of other people and making sure they were okay.”

That was the Anna I’d known years ago. But it wasn’t my place to tell a father his daughter only thought of herself when it came to the end of our relationship.

So I nodded. “She was a good person.”

Richard reached around to his back pocket and pulled out an envelope. He held it up. “She wanted me to give you this…after. I don’t know if I agree with some of the ways she went about things, but her secrets were mine to keep. And for that, I owe you an apology, Hollis.”

“What secrets?”

He stood and tossed the letter on the desk. “It’s all there. I didn’t read it. But she told me what she wrote, and I think it will explain a lot.” He held out his hand. “Elodie is an amazing woman. I’m glad you two have each other. I hope things work out for you. I expect an invitation to the wedding when they do. Take care of yourself, Hollis.”

And just like that, he turned and walked out of my office.

I stared down at the white envelope in the center of my desk with Anna’s familiar handwriting across the front of it: Hollis.

What the hell is going on?





Chapter 45




* * *





Elodie




“Are you and Uncle Hollis mad at each other?”

I frowned. “No, sweetie. Why do you ask?”

“Do you not want to be boyfriend and girlfriend anymore?”

I’d been peeling a cucumber for a salad and set down the knife to give Hailey my full attention. She sat on a stool on the opposite site of the granite counter.

“No, we haven’t broken up, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“But you might?”

I sighed and walked around to her side. Taking her hand, I guided her to hop down from her seat. “Let’s go sit in the living room and talk.”