End point

Chapter 9

Katherine 

Three weeks ago

"You'll see, It will be fine." Paul tries to assure me as we drive through the city and to our new house in San Francisco. He moved here a little earlier than us to get the house ready.

"I don't know." I'm still so fucking scared that I'll see him somewhere. Although I don't know if he still lives in San Francisco. Maybe he moved to another city, maybe he moved back to London. Hayley and I haven't talked in a while and I never ask anything about him. Because I can't... I can't let myself break.

"Mommy look!" Adaline shouts excitedly from the back seat. I asked Paul to buy this exact Porsche and to get a kids seat. He is a good guy, he always does exactly what I tell him to do. It's probably because he feels like he owes me, but he doesn't. He made my life a little more interesting these past two years.

"What is it?" I ask her, turning to look at her from the passenger's seat.

"It's a red bridge." She says pointing out the window. I chuckle as I also look at the Golden Gate bridge. I guess Paul took the long way to show us the city a little. But I know San Francisco. I lived here for a year. As much as I tried to find a house away from the Financial District, we ended up in Pacific Heights, which is very close to where he lived. Damn him and his money. Obviously all of the good districts are close to where he, well, we used to live.

"Welcome home." Paul says as he opens the door to the house. I would actually never live in such a big and expensive house, but I have money and it's a good district and we needed a big place, because everyone is going to stay in separate rooms. It's nicely decorated though. It's the first time I'm seeing the house in real life. Before, I was just helping with everything through FaceTime.

"It's amazing." I say as Adaline starts to run through the house, looking at all the rooms. "You did a good job." I say to him and he gives me a small, appreciative smile.

"Adaline's room is in there." He points to a place down the hall, through the kitchen. It's the only bedroom on the first floor. Not that I want to be away from her at night, but I wanted her to sleep close to me during the day while I work in the kitchen or in the living room.

"Where?" She finally appears in front of us.

"Honey, don't run so fast. You're going to fall down." I know it's stupid to say these things to a kid, I just can't help it. "It's there." I point to the room and take her hand in mine as I lead her to it.

I had to work hard with Adaline to understand what kind of a room she really wanted. One day she'd say that she wants her room to be green the other she wants it to be purple. So we stopped our choice on a warm peachy pink color. She hurries to her toys, which are neatly sitting on her bed. We had to send most of her stuff with the movers and I guess she missed them a lot as she hugs her stuffed animals one by one. I look around the room and feel calm, cozy. It's a very inspiring room with the butterflies on the walls and the warmness of the colors. I can't really remember my childhood room. As strange as it might be, I used to live in Harvey's room, until we turned fifteen and our parents made a makeover. Then we switched rooms and I couldn't be happier. Harvey still tells me that I'm an idiot for giving up a room with an ocean view. Maybe I am. But I liked the idea of having a room that was seeing less sunshine. Everyone always thought that it was weird. That I liked rainy weather, that I loved and still love black and white pictures. Only when I grew up, I started appreciating the sun and the gorgeous sunsets. Something that I definitely missed while I was living in New York City, are the gorgeous west coast sunsets and beaches.

"Mr. Spooky, did you miss Masha?" Adaline asks her teddy bear. I don't know the story that she created for her toys, but I have a feeling that Mr. Spooky and Masha are having a romance. Which makes me laugh, because the kid is just four years old. She doesn't know anything about love yet, or how heartbreaking it can be...