He groaned. “You wait to bring that up every time, don’t you?”
“If I’m being completely honest, then yes. Of course, I do.” My smile had widened. The humorous memory had me wanting to laugh out loud, but the event had been a bit traumatic for Logan. He still had issues letting a woman suck him off. Not that I blamed him.
“Anyway. I shared a cab with a beautiful woman yesterday.” I could hear the smile on his face.
“Oh, yeah? Did you get her number?” I stood and started to gather my breakfast dishes.
“No, but I figured you might have it.” He paused briefly. “It was Molly. She’s much more beautiful in person for sure.”
I stopped in my tracks as my shoulders stiffened. “My Molly?”
“Yours? Is she still yours?” He was teasing me. Fuck me for not telling him that things had fallen apart between us.
“No. I suppose not.” I continued my trek to the kitchen. Maybe a pint down at Albert’s Pub would do me some good. At least it would take the edge off. “I didn’t call her after leaving New York. We got in a fight about the marketing strategy, and I felt like maybe it was a good time to part ways.”
“And how are you feeling now? Still happy with your decision to let a beautiful woman like her go?”
My mood soured. “No, Logan, but you know my life isn’t really conducive to having a woman in it. I run a huge company, and a lot of people rely on me.”
“Yeah, but what about you? You’re just going to hole up and never live at all? That seems like shit to me.”
“I understand your concern, and honestly, it touches me that you care, but I’m not sure what to do about it.” I shrugged, quite set in my reasoning for why I wasn’t pursuing a life with Molly. “Besides, she would end up raising our children mostly by herself and eventually falling for another man while we were still married. It just isn’t right.”
“She’s not your mother, Alfie. She’s not going to follow that same path.”
“You don’t know that,” I barked into the phone and immediately regretted it. Lashing out at Logan wasn’t going to help anyone.
“And you don’t know that either.” He put me back in my place. “You’re missing out on the greatest adventure any of us will get this side of heaven, man. Love is painful and scary as fuck, but it’s worth it.”
“Says the single guy with no worries.” I walked toward the foyer to take the stairs to my room. A pint was definitely in order.
“I don’t want to be single. I just pretend like I do. It sucks ass to be lonely every night.”
I nodded. I agreed completely. The little bit of time I had Molly in the house completely changed my view on being a bachelor forever, but the events in New York set me back a few steps. I was terrified of loving and losing, but here I was…doing it by choice now.
“I’m sorry for being a dick.” I climbed the stairs. “I miss her like crazy, and yet, I don’t know if calling her after ignoring her for a week would work.”
“What do you have to lose, old friend?”
It was a good question. “Her?”
“You’ve already done that, Alfie. Fix it. She wants you too…I promise.”
“You sure about that?” I stopped just inside my bedroom and let my eyes run across my crumpled sheets. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t have given to see her in the bed, stretched out, naked and horny for me.
“She was weepy and broken yesterday. She loves you, man. Go after her. Seriously.”
“All right. I’ll think about it. I’ll call you later, mate.” I dropped the call and tossed the phone onto the bed before face planting beside it.
He was right. I missed her so much my insides hurt, and the world seemed awfully dark. Even if we did get together and she ended up leaving for another man, I could deal with that shit then. And maybe… Maybe if I were really lucky, she’d stay, and we could be together, happy and raising a few beautiful kids.
It felt like a pipe dream, but maybe Logan was right.
Maybe it was worth the risk to see if it would work out.
*
“Alfie. Good to see you, young man.” Albert gave me a warm smile as I walked into the pub a few hours later. “You want something to eat?”