“Well, next time you won’t fall asleep, will you?”
Florrie pulled her bag out and headed toward the house, toward me. “Hey,” I said in way of greeting. God, I wanted to hold her.
“Hey. How’s the head?”
“Good,” I choked out with a nod. “Real good. No problems.”
“So, you’re going back to work then?”
“Yeah, on Monday.”
She nodded and kicked at the grass, not really looking at me. I felt Hunter move closer to me.
“Now would be a good idea to break this uncomfortable shit up with your present.”
“Uh, I have a surprise for you,” I said, trying for a grin, but it faltered when she just stared back at me.
“Okay.”
“Uh, it’s around back, if you want to take a look.”
She nodded, tossing her bag down on the ground. She shoved past me and headed around the side of the house.
“That was fucking painful,” Derek groaned. “I think we’re going to have to give you classes on how to talk to a woman.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“No, he’s right man,” Craig said, following behind us as we walked behind Florrie. “You’re not gonna win her back with Hey as your opening line.”
I ignored them and walked faster to catch up with Florrie. She was staring at the deck, her hand covering her mouth. I could see a glimmer of tears in her eyes, but I had no fucking clue what it meant.
“See?” Derek whispered. “What did I tell you? Fucking magic, right there.”
“This is so awesome,” Rocco said, walking around us to check out the deck. “Totally killer, man. You must have put in some time on this.”
“Well, it’s not like I could go to work.”
“When can I expect you over at my house?” Craig asked, shoving me slightly. “Reese will flip her shit when she sees this.”
I smiled, happy for the praise, but the one person I hadn’t heard was anything from Florrie. She turned to me, shaking her head slightly. “I can’t believe this.”
I smiled, so fucking happy that she liked it.
“Is this supposed to replace what you took from me?”
My smile dropped and my heart sank. I had put a lot of work into this, trying to figure out exactly what she would want so that she could enjoy this. And she fucking hated it.
“It’s not supposed to replace anything,” I finally said after giving myself a moment.
“Then what is this? A consolation prize? An apology? I know I hurt you down to your fucking soul, but here’s a deck?”
“Florrie, I was thinking that it would be nice to sit out here in the summer. You know, hang out with our friends and-”
“Do you think I really give a shit about any of that?” she shouted. “Do you really think that I want to hang out with you? I’m so fucking pissed at you. I can’t even begin to think about grilling out and spending summer nights out here. I’m thinking about getting through the day and how I can stand to be in the same fucking room as you, and you’re thinking about our next barbecue! Are you really that fucking stupid?”
She stomped off into the house and slammed the door. I could feel it reverberate through my entire body. I was never one to take shit from anyone, but this was different. Florrie was in pain and needed an outlet. It was my fault that she was hurting, so it was my responsibility to take that pain for her. I fucking hated it, but for her, I would do anything, give anything just to keep her by my side.
“I fucking told you a deck wasn’t the way to go,” Hunter whispered to Derek.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURFlorrie
It didn’t take long for Alec to come into the house after I slammed the door. I knew he would come. He couldn’t stay away. But now wasn’t the time to start shit up with me. I was pissed and I had just gotten in from a long drive. Anything that he said to me was bound to piss me off further, and I knew it wouldn’t end well for either of us.
“You should go,” I snapped as I paced the living room.
“Florrie-”
“Don’t. I don’t want your excuses right now.”
He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. He did that a lot lately, which was so unlike him. Alec wasn’t one to hide. He fought back, but he wasn’t fighting back now. It was like he was giving in to me, or for me.
“I just wanted to do something to make you smile.”
“And you thought a deck would make me smile? You thought, what can I do to make Florrie happy? And a deck is what you came up with?”
“Technically it was Derek’s idea,” he grumbled.
“So, you didn’t even come up with this plan on your own.”
“Look, I didn’t think it would mean much to you, but once we started building it, I started thinking about how nice it would be to spend our nights out here together. I wanted to make something that felt like a home for us. I put a lot of work into that deck to make it nice for you, because I wanted to do something to make you happy. I get that it’s not what you want, but…but I can’t give you what you want.”
“So you gave me a porch? I mean, seriously, Alec. Think about this. My kid gets taken away from me because of you, and you think building me a deck is going to make it all better?”
“It wasn’t supposed to make it all better,” he shouted. He ran his fingers through his inky hair and took a deep breath, calming himself down. “I just wanted to do something, feel useful in some way. I wanted to…give you some part of me.”
He just didn’t get it. There was nothing he could do or give me right now that would make this better.
“What do you want from me, Alec?”
He slid up against me and wrapped his arms around me. “I want you to give me some
