Down To You (The Love On Edge Series) by Addison Kline Read Free Book Online

myself?!”
     
    Sloane shook her head, recognizing the plight that her friend was faced with. For two long years Holly had fought hard to maintain her self-respect while pretending that she didn’t love the man that left her. She was finally cracking under the pressure.
     
    Sloane knew the reason why Brant left, and she knew what Brant wanted to tell Holly. He had rehearsed it many times to Sloane over the phone. She also knew that Brant’s departure had nothing at all to do with Holly, but everything to do with Brant’s own guilt. A guilt that had devoured him from the inside out. He felt he had done enough damage. He couldn’t stay at the house that he shared with his family and further hurt them. In his mind he had let everyone down. Sloane knew what she had to do.
     
    “Do you know where he was that week? The week when he was gone?” asked Sloane calmly.
     
    “He tried to explain, but I shut him out.”
     
    “He was in a hotel at the airport. Alone . He shut the blinds and allowed his guilt to consume him. He blamed the miscarriage on himself. He didn’t know how to forgive himself for leaving you back home pregnant while he was abroad. Then, knowing he couldn’t be there when you needed him most, it killed him. It still kills him. And then, when he was ready to talk, you shut him out. Nobody’s perfect, Holly. He loves you. You love him. You need to let him explain himself. At what point does your war path for self-respect become more harmful than good for you?”
     
    Holly didn’t respond. She sat quietly and stared out the car window. Finally Russell returned to the car, and within minutes Holly was climbing up her front steps feeling far worse than she did when she had left earlier today.
     
    After she made sure Holly got home safely, Sloane picked up her cell phone and dialed Brant’s digits.
     
    “We gotta talk…”
     
    *****
     
    Luke sat on his barstool keeping a watchful eye on Chris. It didn’t sit well with him what he was doing. He knew Chris had a thing for Holly for years. An attraction that burgeoned freshman year in college. The fact remained that Holly was Brant’s ex-wife, and Chris, being one of the Brant’s oldest friends, was stepping over a line that shouldn’t be crossed. As a friend, Luke felt he owed it to Brant to let him know what Chris did. Holly had done the right thing. It seemed like she had a little too much to drink, and just assumed Chris wanted to dance and have fun. Then when Chris leaned in to kiss her, she outright rejected him. That said something, too. Holly still respected Brant.
     
    Luke picked up his cell phone off of the bar, and immediately began texting Brant.
     
    “Yo.”
     
    “Hey, what’s up?”
     
    “We got a problem.”
     
    “Problem? What problem?”
     
    “Beckman.”
     
     
    *****
     
     
    Holly walked into her empty house feeling cold and alone. There was no one there for her to check on. No one to tuck in. No one to talk to. She had never felt so alone in her entire life. Going out tonight had only solidified her feelings. She wasn’t over Brant. She wondered if she would ever be over him.
     
    A somber mood took over her as she climbed the steps to her bedroom. She turned on the lamp by her bed, kicked off her shoes, and went to her bureau to fetch a pair of leggings, socks and a sweater.
     
    Holly was tired, stressed and needed to relax. She got dressed and took out a pair of boots out of her closet and pulled them on over her leggings. That is when she noticed something sticking out from underneath her bureau.
     
    She bent down and picked the photograph off of the floor and looked at it as nostalgia waxed.
     
    It was a picture taken on the night Holly and Brant had their first date. They both looked so happy. Maybe they could be again. As little girls, we are raised to believe that our prince will come, and we will live happily ever after. But that’s not life, is it? No. There are interruptions and mishaps,