Page 17 of Sticks and Stones
“No, nothing like that. I’d never try to take them away from you. You should know that. But what if I…” He shrugged. “I don’t know, made a bigger place for myself in their lives.”
“How would you do that?” she asked, looking confused. “Your music—”
“What if I took a sabbatical?”
Her jaw dropped, making him laugh.
“Come on. It’s not like I’d be the first musician to ever do it. Didn’t Garth Brooks take something like fifteen years off to raise his kids?”
“Yeah, but…” She shook her head before resting her bottom on the stool behind her. “Gunnar, this is all happening so fast. I don’t even know what to say.”
“Think on it,” he said, resting his hands on her shoulders. “While I grab a shower.”
***
Gianna was still thinking about Gunnar’s proposal when he returned to the kitchen half an hour later to find her rolling out pizza dough.
“Keegan and Ramsey home yet?” he asked, sitting on the bar stool at the island, watching her.
“Yeah, they went upstairs to get a start on their homework before dinner. They wanted to say hi to you but you were still in the shower.”
“I’ll check in on them in a few,” he said. “In the meantime, can I do anything to help with dinner?”
She couldn’t remember the last time they’d prepared a meal together. His offer left her feeling unsettled. “Um, maybe you could pour me a glass of wine and grill the chicken breasts. I thought we’d do barbeque chicken pizza tonight.”
His grin knocked her off balance. God, he was sexy.
“Hey, my favorite. God, I haven’t had that in ages, Gi.”
She watched him pour the wine, diverting her attention to her task when he caught her looking. “Thanks,” she said, when he handed her the glass.
“One second,” he said, pouring a second glass for himself. “Let me make a toast.”
“Okay.” She held her breath, praying he wouldn’t say something sweet. Having him in her home was getting tougher by the hour. Tougher to remember all the reasons she’d stopped loving him.
He stared into her eyes as he held the glass up, nearly touching hers. “To the woman who gave me the best years of my life. Thank you.”
She closed her eyes as he tapped his glass against hers. “You can’t say things like that,” she whispered, finally.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not fair.”
“But it’s true. The years I spent with you were the happiest of my life. I may not have realized it until you were gone, but I do now.”
She wanted to grab him and shake some sense into him, but she took a healthy swig of her wine instead. “Did you come here just to mess with me?” she demanded, slamming her glass down. “Is this some sort of a sick game to you? Are you trying to pay me back for taking the girls away from you?”
“What are you talking about?” he asked, looking genuinely confused. “When we were together, you always used to encourage me to talk about my feelings. I couldn’t then, but I’m really trying now.”
“But it’s too late now!” She turned on her heel, needing to put some distance between them. “We’re over. It’s too late to save our relationship.”
“There’s one good thing about never getting married.” A ghost of a smile passed his lips. “We never got divorced. We could put things back together, Gi. Try again.”
“Are you out of your mind?” she asked, clutching her scalp. “Do you even hear yourself right now? You’re not making any sense. None of this makes sense. We’ve been apart almost a year. You’re just having a change of heart now? All of a sudden you realize you can’t live without us?” She narrowed her eyes. “Or is it that you can’t live without the girls and you see us as a package deal?”
She should have known he had an angle. “Of course,” she said, slapping her forehead. “That’s it, isn’t it? I’ll just be like the live-in nanny who gives you sex on the side if you’re lucky. Just like it was before. Well, no thank you. That arrangement didn’t work for me then and it’s not going to work for me now.”
She intended to head upstairs, but he rounded the island and stepped in her path before she reached the bottom step.
