DON’T STOP (Lila and Darrell) novel Chapter 112

Chapter 112

Chapter 112

Norman

“Don’t be too surprised. Norman.”

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Her voice was calm. Almost amused. The kind of calm that took effort to produce, and she was producing it very well “When I left the event last night. I came back to check on you,” she continued. “I couldn’t find you anywhere inside, so went to the parking structure.” A pause. “That was when I saw you. In your car. With her. Your ex wife”

The room was very quiet.

I didn’t look at Daisy. I couldn’t. I stared at a fixed point on the wall and kept my face as still as I could manage and said absolutely nothing.

“I can also tell that you still love her,” Evelyn said. No accusation in it. Just a statement, delivered plainly, like something had already made her peace with before picking up the phone. “So do tell me the truth. Are you with her right now”

I exhaled slowly.

“Yeah.” I said. “I am.”

“Okay.” Another pause, shorter this time. “I can’t force you to have feelings for me. Norman. I see that you won’t be able t leave that woman behind anytime soon. So.” I could hear her composing herself on the other end, that smail straightenin that I recognized even through a phone line. “We will be ending this relationship. And I’ll be the one breaking up with vor Not the other way around.”

Something in my chest loosened and ached at the same time.

I smiled softly, just barely. “Okay.”

“Let’s break up,” she said.

“Yeah.”

“And remember-” her voice carried a small warning- “I am the one breaking up with you.”

I laughed quietly, a real one, short and helpless. “Yeah, yeah”

She chuckled on the other end. Then a brief silence before she added. Try also resigning Expect center on your des& when you’re back in the office”

I sat up slightly “What? Why are you resigning?”

) “Oh come on” she said it like it was obvious “You know it would be a terrible whea to work to my ex boyfriend Bevales

and I could hear the smule in her vone now I found something better Higher positivist betres pay

“Oh really I said shaking my head slowly

“Yes really she said. “Anyway Her voice softened just slightly just for a moment cough for me to hear what was underneath all the composure Good luck with her Norman I genuinely hope it works out this time

“What? We’re not actually

“Bye!” she cut in cheerfully

The line went dead.

Chapter 112

I sat there holding the phone for a moment, then lowered it slowly and set it on the cushion beside me.

turned to look at Daisy.

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She was watching me with a small, warm smile on her face something quiet and genuine in her eyes.

–

unguarded in a way she rarely allowed herself to be.

“She’s cute,” she said.

I looked at her for a moment.

Then I shrugged and sat back down.

The house settled into its quiet again. Outside, the afternoon was moving along without us. I reached for my tea, which gone completely cold, and took a sip anyway.

There was still something unfinished sitting between us. Something that had been interrupted by a phone call and was waiting patiently where we had left it.

I looked at her.

She looked at me.

We both knew.

“So, you want me to talk ab-”

“Yes.” Her voice came out quickly and firmly, like she had made the decision before I finished the sentence she nodded once. “I want you to talk about that night. I think after all these years-” she swallowed- “I am ready to know why you let me and little Treasure.”

I nodded slowly.

I looked down at my hands and laced my fingers together and tried to find a place to start. The tea at cold and forgotten a the table between us. The house was completely still.

“Before Treasure was born,” I began, keeping my voice as steady as I could, “before we even got married-noticed something was wrong with me. With my body. I didn’t think much of it at first I took medication, and it seemed to help wo left it alone.” I paused. “When we got married, it got worse. The medication stopped working the way it had been

Daisy said nothing I could feel her listening

“I decided to see a doctor.” I stopped for a moment, pressing my lips together “That was when they told me Final stage Cancer” The words came out quiet and flat, and I felt them leave my mouth like something I has been holding for A Very long time “They gave me a few months. They said I could live longer if I started chemotherapy and treatment mimediately, but I couldn’t Hooked down at my hands “Because of you Because you were pregnant and I was terribed that if you bound i out if you were put under that kind of stress, something could happen to you or to the baby I shook my head slowly Sol

held it in I didn’t tell you I didn’t tell anyone

Theard her breath shift slightly beside me, but I kept my eyes down

“Then Treasure was born” Something broke open quietly in my chest just say big her name on a little longer. I just wanted to be with her a httle more I wanted more time

I stopped

Swallowed.

And I told myself I would hold

“That day I went to the doctor. I had a check-up scheduled that I couldn’t miss. I put my phone aside during the

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Chapter 112

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examination, and they asked me to switch it off completely during certain parts of it.” I felt the tears before I was aw crying, felt them running down my face without warning. “They told me I needed to begin treatment immediately. had run out of time to wait.” My voice was shaking now, and there was nothing I could do about it. “I left the appoint and turned my phone back on and saw your calls. All of them. I called back immediately, but you didn’t answer. I cal again and again and nothing.”

I looked up at the ceiling briefly and blinked hard.

“I drove home and you weren’t there. I knocked on the neighbour’s door, and she told me an ambulance had come.” throat tightened completely around the next words. “I ran to the hospital. I didn’t call a car. I didn’t think about anyti just ran. And when I got there-”

I stopped.

I pressed my fingers over my mouth for a moment.

“When I got there I found out my baby was gone.” The words came out broken and quiet. “I found out that I had cause the worst pain of your life. I found out that while I was sitting in a doctor’s office trying to find a way to stay alive for he was-“I couldn’t finish it.

I looked up.

Daisy was crying silently, tears running steadily down her face, her expression completely open and unguarded in a way hadn’t seen since before everything fell apart. She wasn’t making a sound. She was just sitting there with tears streaming down her cheeks looking at me like she was seeing something for the first time that she had needed to see for three year

“I know it doesn’t change anything,” I said, barely above a whisper. “I know she is still gone, and I know you still carried a it alone that night, and I know that ‘sorry’ will never be enough.” I looked at her directly, letting her see all of it-the gr the guilt, the three years of carrying it without her. “But I need you to know that I never stopped loving you. Not for a su day. And I never stopped loving her.”

The room was completely silent.

Outside a bird was singing somewhere in the late afternoon. The refrigerator hummed in the kitchen

Neither of us moved.