To Have, To Hold, and To Leave: A Bryce Hall FanFiction «completed»

90

Jaden had sent me the names of a few lawyers, so I sat down at the kitchen table, ready to get ahead of this. 
"Sullivan and Smith Legal Consultancy. How can I help you today?" the receptionist answered. 
"Hi. My name is Kate Hall, and I'm in need of some legal consultancy," I chuckled awkwardly. 
"Perfect. Did you say 'Kate Hall?' We've got you on a referral list here. Are you available to come in and speak with Ms. Sullivan today?" 
Wow. Jaden had really pulled out all the stops. "Yes, I am. At about what time?" 
"Let me see here," she said, as I heard her typing away. "How does eleven o'clock work for you?" 
I looked at the clock. Eight-thirty. "That's perfect. I'll be there. Thank you so much." 

By the time I got off of the phone, Bryce had returned. "Hey, babe. Are you getting everything worked out?" he asked, kissing me on the top of the head. 
I nodded. "Yeah. I have a meeting with a lawyer at eleven. I don't want to think about that right now, though. Can we talk about something?" 
He looked worried, but he sat down across from me at the table. "Sure. What's on your mind?" 
"I want to start over."
He was clearly confused. "Huh? We can't really start over. We've got four kids."
I shook my head. "Not like that. I want us to start over. I want to fall in love with you again. I want to feel like I just met a famous TikToker that I had been literally obsessed with. I want to feel the way that I did when you kissed me for the first time. I want that feeling when you told all of your friends that you were done with Addison for me. And obviously, I won't be tasting a black cherry White Claw on your lips, but I miss that, too."

He didn't respond as he got up from the table. "Oh my. You're really, uh, you're really Kate Hall?" he asked, finally looking at me. 
I felt the butterflies as he flipped the script on how we had met. "I am," I giggled. 
He leaned down and kissed me, and it was like we were nineteen and twenty-one again. Lawsuit or not, that kiss told me that I had made exactly the right decision. I wasn't meant to marry Cade. I was trying to recreate my marriage to Bryce with another man, and that could only have been described as a recipe for disaster. 
"I love you," he mumbled against my lips. 
"Promise me that you'll never look for this somewhere else," I whispered back. 

This sentence put a riff in our time. "Look for what somewhere else?" 
"We only got to this point because we weren't at a good point, and you looked for love with Addison. Promise me that you'll never do that again. If we're not good, we talk about it. We fix it," I explained, avoiding eye contact. "I knew that there were other girls before me, Bryce, and that was okay because all that mattered was that there wasn't supposed to be anyone else after me."
I buried my head in his chest as he wrapped his arms tightly around me. "I messed up, Kate. I put my own selfish behavior ahead of one of the only people that I truly care about in this world. I will never, ever do that again. I wouldn't dream of it. Hurting you is the biggest mistake that I have ever made in my life, and I'm the guy that everyone literally hated for years because of my mistakes." 
"I wasn't perfect by any means. Don't place all of the blame on yourself," I assured him. "Now, I'm not really dressed to go see a lawyer, so I'm gonna go take a shower. Care to join me?" 

I raced him up the stairs, stripping out of my clothing as I went. I giggled as he grabbed me around the waist, tossing me over his shoulder.
His hands traced over my body as we stood under the warm water cascading over our shoulders. "I missed this," I murmured. 
"I missed you," he murmured, kissing down my neck. "I haven't been with anyone since that very last time with Addison."
He kind of killed the mood, but I let it go, getting ready to respond. "I haven't been with anyone since that last time with you."
"Let's change that," Bryce whispered. 

I leaned against the wall of the shower, trying to catch my breath as we finished. "That was good. Better than the last time, even," I panted. 
Bryce had turned to face the showerhead, letting the water run over his body. "I don't understand why we ever stopped that."
I pressed my body against him, wrapping my arms around his waist. "I know why, but it'll really kill the mood if I say it."
"Ouch, sorry."
"Alright, now move. I wasn't joking when I said that I needed a shower," I joked, sneaking between him and the water as I started to wash my hair. 
"I really do love you," he whispered. "Have fun with the lawyer. I'm gonna go see about spending a little bit of time with Evie."

He got out, and I could see him drying himself off through the shower door. "Hey, I don't know how long I'm gonna be with the lawyer. Do you mind picking the kids up from school? Isaiah has soccer, but Owen and Annalisa still need to be picked up."
"Anything for you, my love. I don't want to rush you or anything, but, um, we should probably talk about our living situations," he replied, opening the shower door and sticking his head in. 
"Well, you could move back in here, or we could move into your house, or we could completely start fresh. It's something that we would have to talk about," I replied, shrugging as I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair. "We'll figure it out, Bry. We always do."