Nothing you would takeOutrageous. He's not holding to his word anymore, Bridget.
Everything you gave
Did I say that I need you?
Oh, did I say that I want you?
Oh, if I didn't I'm a fool you see
No one knows this more than me
And I come clean
He's using logic as a weapon tonight. He's highly annoyed. The eyebrows are working overtime. I'm glad he cut his hair, I get treated to the full complement of facial expressions. Otherwise I just see a faceful of curls and his mouth.
I know but look at the other side of the coin. We have the whole peninsula now.
It's a trick coin, Peanut! Remember?
It will be good for the others.
My whole wing is vacant, Bridget. You could fit a couple of them in there.
That's your space.
That's my space, right there. He nods in the direction of the driveway where the camper sits with big wooden chocks behind the wheels. I never needed much. My sketchbooks and torches. He looks down at me. You.
I know.
But now it's out of control. I can't live like this.
You don't have to change anything.
Sure I do. This is it. The deciding factor. The final piece of this experiment and now it's all-in, Bridget. It's a compound. And he owns all of it.
You're making it sound like it's such a big deal. Caleb bought the house next door. That's it.
But now he has the whole peninsula, as you said. A hell of a lot of prime real estate.
And you're threatened by his money suddenly?
Lochlan shoots me a warning look. No, I'm threatened by his proximity. To you. To my daughter. To Benjamin. This isn't healthy.
Like you said, it's an experiment.
And you're the subject. That isn't right.
I would use Caleb to get Daniel and Schuyler out from under their mortgage any day. They can't afford that house. Having them move into the house next door and having Christian and maybe Corey have their own suites there too will help all of them immensely. Do you want to deny your friends the same help you received?
I want nothing from him. I never asked for this.
But you got help by default, Loch.
Jesus, Bridge. You're not going there. Not tonight.
I want to help them. It has nothing to do with Caleb.
He sees it so differently. His eyes are pleading and I can see his thoughts.
(No further. No more. You'll only get so far from me, Peanut and then I'll call you back and you'll come skipping down the dirt road at sunset, sugar streaked across your cheeks, tangled hair with daisies braided into your curls, and you'll ask if we can stay out later but I always have to disappoint you because you need a good nights sleep while I hold you so you can grow up healthy and someday leave all this danger, these thrills behind. Only I failed to help you do that and it's all still here, right behind me. I drag it with me as I walk.)
I straddle his knees and take his face in my hands. It's how I get them to pay very close attention. Old habits die hard, I've been doing it since I was nine.
I don't care how he sees it. I only see it as a means to an end. The land is worth far more unified and everyone will be in one place. I'm even going to propose some space to Matt and Sam, if they want, it might help them sort out their stalemate on living together. It's a good thing, Lochlan, please.
Then tell him you're using him.
He knows. I don't think he cares.
Exactly. He doesn't put your feelings first. It doesn't matter who you love, there he is, right there dismissing your plans for his own. That's not right, Bridget. Things aren't getting better with him here.
That's what Ben has been saying about you, remember?
I always put you first.
If you did that you wouldn't be here now would you! I shout it at his face. It's not a question, it's an observation.
Do you want me to go? Because I can go, Bridget and then you can live happily ever after with the Boogie Man and Frankenstein but don't cry for me when you wake up and you're afraid of the dark because I won't be there to soothe your fears. No one will. They're both too wrapped up in themselves to do the job. You know it and I know it and THEY know it.
You weren't there for y-
I'M HERE NOW!
He was so loud I was scared into silence.
I'm here now. Repeated in a whisper as his hand takes mine and brings it up to his lips, warm as they press against my skin.