Kinsley fell in love with Phoenix Maverick, an NHL player for a team she never imagined supporting. But when Kinsley suffers from a head injury and forgets the last six years of her life, she struggles balancing being the person Phoenix fell in love...
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Mid October. 2016
Leaving Phoenix hurt. It did. That was why I chose to do it when he was sleeping. His arm draped across me, his other bicep under his head. I felt like the weakest piece of shit in the world when I blew him one last kiss and snuck out of the room, tears streaming down my face.
Finding out that we'd been engaged sealed the deal for me. We were at different places in how we felt about each other and while I felt bad for leaving someone who loved me so much, I couldn't wrap my head around how different our perspectives were.
I thought I was fine with where we were in our relationship. I thought I'd adjusted to the situation but the truth bomb was too much and the revelation made my head spin. I needed some time to think and figure out if this was something I could accept for what it was or if I needed a clean break.
Ash didn't give me shit when I arrived at her room and I told her I needed to hang out until it was time to leave. She didn't waste time and started packing up as soon as I told her what had happened. When Phoenix woke up and found me missing, he'd tear the place apart looking for me. Ash knew that and wanted to get me out of there as soon as possible. That meant a lot to me, that she knew I couldn't cope with his pleading right now.
I couldn't cope with him falling to his knees in front of me again. The memory of his broad shoulders below me, his large hands holding me at the back of the thighs, it was all too much. I'd been so close to caving under his touch last night, so close to getting on the ground as well and begging him to love me like he knew how to so well. I couldn't risk that kind of weakness right now.
In Vancouver, on the drive home, I silenced my phone because it hadn't stopped ringing as soon as I got off the plane. The guilt of leaving Phoenix like that, no answers, no explanation, it was eating at me. But I needed time to come terms with this apparent engagement and whether being together was something we could make work.
Lottie was at Jason's this weekend and the house was quiet when I went inside, bag rolling behind me. I propped it up on it's feet behind the entrance table and took a deep breath. Perhaps I could come at Sadie with some semblance of understanding and calm instead of going off the handle like my temper was begging me to do.
There were a few light thuds coming from the end of the hall, so I toed off my shoes and went in the direction of Lottie's bedroom where I found Sadie. She was standing on a ladder, hammering picture hooks into narrow strip of wall beside the closet and window. On the bed were frames with watercolor art animals in them.
"Hi," I said.
Sadie looked over her shoulder and smiled when she found me leaning on the door frame. "You're back. How was it? I'm just doing a little bit of redecorating before Lottie comes home tomorrow."
"I'm engaged."
Sadie's shoulders went rigid, her arm fell to her side, the hammer hanging from her hand.
