In five years, I wanted to be a family with Annie and Addison. Maybe even have another child or two.
Having Heather stalk me made me paranoid, and I instinctively checked my surroundings after landing at J.F.K. International Airport. Of course, she wasn’t there, though. She was back in River Valley, being a shitty mother to Addison while begging for money from Michael.
A town car brought me to my father’s penthouse in downtown Manhattan. It was on the fifty-third floor and had breathtaking views of the nightlife below. I watched as young, single people mingled and flirted with people their age. A few families were getting out from a late-night Broadway show, and the taxicabs dotted the streets with bursts of yellow.
It was beautiful, and a vast difference from my usual surroundings, but River Valley had my heart. Even more than my hometown, however, Addison and Annie had my heart, too.
I ordered some food and then plopped down on the sofa, wondering what Annie and Addison were doing at that moment. Addison was probably doing something so that Heather didn’t have to interact with her. Annie was probably working on her lifestyle line.
I pulled up her profile on social media, to see if she had posted any updates since I broke up with her, but there was nothing. It didn’t even show that she had been online since it happened. That told me everything I needed to know.
She had tried not to cry in front of me that night, but I saw the tears forming in her eyes. I also knew that it wasn’t the first time a man had broken her heart. The moment I knew that I was in love with her, I vowed that I would never break her heart.
And yet I did.
Hurting Annie was the last thing I wanted to do. It wasn’t just that, Heather would always be a problem in our relationship, and I was worried about Addison. After everything she had gone through with her mother, I didn’t want to take a chance on what would happen if Annie and I broke up. She would get attached to another mother figure, only to have her heartbroken all over again.
I may have just become a father, but my instincts told me to protect Addison at all costs. That was something I was willing to do, even if it meant making a sacrifice in my own life.
19
Annie
Two days later
“Great session today, everybody.” I stood up after my final yoga class of the day, eager to be alone for a while.
I’d hoped that none of my students suspected that something was wrong with me, but I was never good at hiding my true feelings.
After all of my students left the room, I headed out to the reception area and saw Crystal standing behind the front desk. She was conversing with a new student about the types of yoga we offered. I had been avoiding Crystal the past few days, ignoring her text messages and rushing past her at work. I tried to sneak past the desk and out the front door, but they finished talking before I could leave.
“Annie!”
I turned around and looked at her, unable to produce a smile. My long, black hair was tied up in a bun, and I was wearing hot pink yoga pants with a black racerback top. I wanted nothing more than just to put on a pair of sweatpants and crawl into bed.
Crystal ran over to me, sensing that I was about to leave.
“Hey,” I whispered while clutching my bottle of water.
“Are you mad at me or something?”
“Oh God, no, of course not Crystal! I’m so sorry. It’s just been a terrible few days.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “So what happened this weekend? Did you meet Richard’s daughter?”
I nodded. “Yes, we went to the lake. It was fun.”
“Then why do you seem so depressed, Annie? This isn’t you.”
“Richard broke up with me.”
Crystal wrapped her arms around me so tightly that it almost hurt. “Annie, I am so sorry! I’m just so surprised! I mean, everything was going great between you two.”
I broke down, crying into her neck. Crystal had been my best friend for a long time, and when the timing was right, I planned on telling her everything.
“Thank you," I said in between sobs.
I didn’t pull away until I was done crying, thankful that I had opted out of wearing mascara that day. She put her hands on my shoulders and looked at me. “What happened, Annie?”
