“I’m fine, I just got up too fast is all–” I take the towel he offers me and begin drying off my arms. Xavier moves me to sit on the side of the tub to dry off the rest of my body.
“Yeah, I don’t believe that for one minute. This is common though. If you overdo yourself, you can sometimes have some returning symptoms. You just need to rest.” He brings over my pajamas, holding open the leg holes for me to feed my feet through.
Once I’m settled, he leads me back to the bed. He tosses back the blankets, and I crawl under. He leans over and kisses my lips softly. There’s a softness to his features as he takes me in, and a wave of feeling content flows over me.
“Look, I know that you probably don’t want to lay down right now. But you’re still healing. I need you to rest and feel better.”
I chew on my lip. This sucks, but at the same time, I understand what he’s saying. I’m notthatmuch of a difficult patient.
“Okay– but if I rest right now, then you have to promise me that I can attend the New Years Party your parents are hosting tomorrow. I’ll go crazy if I have to stay in this room while everyone else socializes downstairs.” I do the best puppy dog eyes I can muster, because now that I’m in bed feel the pull of sleep.
Shaking his head, a smirk forms on his face. “Fine. But you need to take it easy for the rest of the day, you hear me, babydoll?”
I squeal and wrap my hands around his neck bringing his lips to mine for another kiss. I pepper kisses all over his face until he starts chuckling.
“Okay, okay.” He playfully pulls me off him, the most breathtaking smile on his lips. “Now, sleep. I’m going to go check on my parents. I’ll be back later.”
I nod, as I pull the blankets up to my chin and sigh with contentment. I try to follow Xavier out of the room, but my eyes close before he can shut the door behind him.
Chapter Thirty Two
Harper
Iwaketoknockingatthe door. “Come in.” I sit up slowly as I scrub my eyes.
I expect Penelope to come walking through the door, as she’s the only person I expect to knock on the door. I’m shocked when I see Dalton standing there in the doorway of my room. He shifts back and forth at the door.
“Uh, hey.” The confusion in my voice is obvious, but I wave him to come in. He hesitates for a minute before stepping forward. He leaves the door open, which I’m grateful for.
He grabs the chair that’s by the window and pushes it closer to the bed. He sits down, and his body is stiff. I can see the tension vibrating through his body. He’s nervous, and I don’t entirely know why.
“I’m going to be honest. I didn’t expect you to come visit.” I readjust myself so I’m leaning up against the headboard. I see a water bottle on my nightstand and grab it. Uncapping it, I down almost half before I cap it again and set it in my lap.
Dalton has been sitting with his elbows on his knees, looking down at the ground. I’m just about to talk again, when he finally speaks.
“I owe you an apology.”
A snort leaves me before I’m able to catch it. Dalton’s head zips up, his eyes finally colliding with mine. As I look him over, I can see how exhausted he truly is. There are bags under his eyes, and his hair unkempt, like he hasn’t tried to properly take care of himself. It is an odd thing to see, because Dalton has always taken care of himself. I used to jokesometimes that he spent more time getting ready than myself when we would go out.
“I would say that you’re quite late for that, Dalton. But color me curious, what are you apologizing for?”
A sardonic laugh leaves him as he leans back, running a hand over his face. “I have thought about what to say to you for the last two months. Now that I’m here, I don’t even know where to start.”
I sit there in silence and wait. I’m not going to direct this conversation. If he is truly sorry, and wants to apologize and explain himself, he’s going to have to start talking.
“Over those two months, I've realized that my biggest regret is cheating on you.”
My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline, but I stay silent.
“I don’t even know what happened. I know we were drifting apart, and I’m not going to play it off like I wasn’t the problem, because I was part of it, for sure. I was so focused on working as a junior associate, trying to prove myself. I worked myself to the bone. I needed to earn my place and show my worth. Once I became a senior associate, I started taking on more complex cases. I had great mentors I worked under, so I was feeling so confident about it all.” He pauses for a minute, taking off his glasses. He begins to clean them off with his shirt.
“Chloe started shortly after I became a senior. She really was clueless at the beginning. She got her job through Theo, who's a partner at another law firm, but good friends with one of the partners at our place. Anyway, I felt sorry for her, she kind of got thrown in the trenches. I helped her out a bit, a few things here and there. I didn’t answer the phone for her or anything like that, but I helped her with the scheduling software on the computer. I sometimes did some filing for her if I was already heading that way. Small things until she started to get a better handle of things.”
“Well, that’s convenient now, isn’t it.” I tried. I really tried to stay quiet, but I never said I was perfect.
He stays quiet for a minute. “Okay, that’s fair. I truly was just trying to help her, though.”
Another stretch of silence, and when Dalton realizes I’m not going to say anything else, he continues, “One day back at the end of June, my mom stopped by to go out for lunch. You know how she did that every couple months.” I make a noise of acknowledgement, because she did, and I think she used it as an opportunity to brainwash him. I don’t say it out loud, because it’s pointless now.
