Christopher and Jaime (Pianos and Promises #1) by Jennifer Peel Read Free Book Online Page B

in his swim trunks, too. I wondered what would have happened if we would have acted on those feelings then. And what changed for him?
    I set the journal down and went back to staring at him. He began to stir some. Hope said he might and it was normal. She said patients in this state dream vividly and that he might be able to hear me.
    I took the journal and blanket with me and sat near his bed. It was almost midnight and though I was exhausted, I wasn’t tired. I took Chris’ manicured hand in mine. He was more of a girl than me sometimes when it came to his grooming habits, but his nails and cuticles did look nice, and I always enjoyed the smoothness of his hands. We had held hands for so long that I had his hands memorized, right down to the small scar near his index knuckle on his left hand. The hand that still wore his grandfather’s gold band I had placed on it over two years ago. I wasn’t sure why he was still wearing it. I had given his grandmother’s ring back to him. We thought the rings would bring us luck. We were so wrong.
    Chris had come home in the middle of the day at the end of June. We had barely spoken to each other since our disastrous anniversary in May. I was startled when I saw the door open. He never came home early, or even when the sun was still out. Allie was napping in her room and I was opening my own bank account online. I had just accepted my teaching position and I knew my piano money needed a home. Chris was always after me not to keep that kind of cash lying around, but it was a reminder of reaching my goal, it beckoned me on. But like everything else in my life, it was going to have to wait. I needed that money to fund my new goal.
    “Hey, Jaimes.” He waited by the door for my response.
    “Hey,” I said, more into my laptop screen than to him.
    I guess that was enough incentive for him. He found his way next to me on the couch. “I have something for you.”
    I gave him my attention. He looked so unsure of himself. I couldn’t recall if he had ever worn that expression before.
    He reached into his suitcoat and pulled out some neatly folded papers and handed them to me. I took them and unfolded them. Right off, I recognized an online travel site logo. I scanned down to see he purchased a trip for two to Italy in August. It was on my bucket list. It was one of the places I hadn’t been able to visit during my Au Pair days.
    I hated and loved him all at once for the gesture. I handed him back the papers. “I can’t go.”
    He was taken aback. “Why? I already talked to Bianca’s parents and they can watch Allie.” I was surprised he made that arrangement.
    Allie was a consideration, but . . . “I accepted that teaching position.”
    “Why didn’t you say anything? What are we going to do with Allie after school?”
    “I want to pull Allie out of the charter school we signed her up for. She can attend the school I teach at.” I never wanted to sign her up for it in the first place. They were strictly focused on the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic. They didn’t have any art or music programs, but they were highly touted and right up Chris’ alley.
    “Were you going to discuss any of this with me?”
    “When do you discuss any of your decisions with me?”
    His clenched jaw relaxed. “You’re right. I should be better about that.”
    “Chris . . .” I set my laptop down and turned toward him. I tried my best to really look at him, to peer into his eyes to find any reason to stay, but I couldn’t forget the last couple of years, the memory of broken promises. So I removed his grandmother’s ring from my finger. I watched his eyes dilate and follow my every move, right down to me placing it in his hand. He refused to close his palm where the ring lay. He kept staring at it.
    “I’m filing for divorce.”
    “Don’t do this,” he pleaded, his eyes begging.
    “Why?” I was waiting, hoping he would say he loved me—that might have given me some