Page 23 of Take My Name

“Posey, zip it.”

My heart plummets into my stomach at the descriptions she mentioned.

I think back to when I walked through his house last night, but it was too dark to see anything. The only light was my phone’s flashlight and in the hallway oncehe turned it on. But when I walked to the front door, the rest of the house was pitch-black.

Did he build our dream house?

It’d explain why he hung our wedding photos on the wall, but it’s hard to comprehend why he’d do that after I left.

Warren gets on his horse and starts moving before I’m on Lilith. Once I’m settled, I give her a little kick to catch up to them.

“Hey, wait up.”

He glances over, his expression unreadable, but he lifts a brow.

“You built the house we talked about?”

“Yeah.” His voice is low, but there’s a roughness in his tone.

“Can…I see it?”

He averts my gaze and nods.

There’s something in his features that makes my chest ache. Like his guard is no longer up and all that’s left is…pain.

chapter five

Warren

Showingthe woman the house I built for her after all these years is harder than I thought it’d be.

I can’t get my heart to settle down, but I push down the nerves and follow through.

Maisie’s dream board stuck with me, and although she left, I still wanted the house we discussed.

And a part of me hoped it’d bring her back to me.

She’d see what a life together could look like and pick us over her career hundreds of miles away.

But I never found the courage to tell her I built it.

When we got married, we lived in a small trailer behind my parents’ house. We were adjusting to living together for the first time since she graduated and moved back. It wasn’t much, but we made it our own while we dreamed up what our future home would be.

Her parents hated it. They wanted to buy her a new construction with zero charm or character, and as much as they tried to convince her, we said no.

It’s another reason I think they encouraged her so hard to take the apprenticeship. I know Maisie wanted it, but they helped her pay for whatever she needed that was out of her budget. We had a joint bank account, but not even my monthly salary would cover her rent. If her parents weren’t so willing to pay her way, she would’ve had to stay.

And yeah, that’s a douche thing to think about when it was her dream, but when she got a permanent job offer, they were the ones who sent her even more money to make sure she had the fancy clothes and nicer apartment.

I couldn’t compete with that.

I could only hold onto the hope that she’d realize starting a life with me was once her dream too.

“Wow, Warren…” Her eyes widen when the A-frame comes into view. Now that it’s daylight, she can see the large windows and deck. “It’s even more stunnin’ than the photos on my board.”

“I agree. Pictures don’t do it justice.”

“You built this by yourself?” She looks at me in awe.