Forever You - Evening the Score // Book Two

Chapter 34

"Liv scheduled a press conference."

"When?"

"Day after tomorrow." Elena looked away then. Harry felt like she'd done it out of shame for whatever she was about to say, "I'm gonna go look for places tomorrow with my mom."

Harry wanted to say something. He wanted to beg her not to. He wanted to say they still had time to figure things out and make it work. But instead he nodded,

"I'll take Joey with me then."

Elena looked back at him,

"Thanks."

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Carolyn watched Elena as she surveyed the ceiling of the eighth kitchen in the eighth house they'd seen. So far, Elena had found something wrong with every house on the Realtor's list. From the petty and cosmetic to full on renovations, Elena had turned down every house for one reason or another. And Carolyn could see the frustration on the face of the Realtor. So much so that she had left Elena alone in the house after showing her the specifics because Carolyn was positive the Realtor couldn't hear her rip another house apart.

"Honey?" Carolyn questioned. When Elena looked at her she smiled, "I like this house. I think it offers a lot."

Elena shook her head,

"The crown molding is off." Elena turned to gesture out the back door, "And there's no fence around the pool, that's unsafe. What if Joey gets out there?"

"Sweetheart, Joey can't move without assistance at the moment."

"I know, Mom. But...when he does become mobile I can't have that."

Carolyn sighed,

"Ok, I agree. Should we go to the next house then?"

Elena chewed on her lip as she turned around,

"I don't think this is working. Maybe there's nothing I'll like here."

Carolyn watched her daughter, a knowing look on her face,

"Elena, I don't mean to sound unsupportive. I realize this is hard for you." She said as she lovingly brushed Elena's hair off her shoulder, "But you have had one issue or another with every house we've looked at today. Do you think maybe that's because you don't want to move out of where you live now?"

Elena looked over at her,

"What do you mean?"

Carolyn squeezed Elena's hand,

"He's still very much in love with you, Honey. I think you know that. It's very plain on his face every time you walk into a room." When Elena didn't respond she continued, "He asked you not to go didn't he?" Elena shifted uncomfortably on her feet, her eyes filling with tears as she looked up in an effort not to shed them. Carolyn nodded, "That's what I thought. Elena-"

"He wants to fix things. He wants me to fight." Elena interrupted.

"And you don't want to fight?"

Elena shook her head as she looked down,

"That's not it. I'd fight for him forever if I thought it would do any good."

Carolyn watched as Elena walked to the opposite side of the island. She braced her hands on the counter as she stared down at the sink,

"How do you go back to loving each other after all that pain? Do I just...forget it all happened? I don't know if we can do that."

Carolyn shook her head,

"Remember that story I told you? About your father getting angry with me for not being honest with him about my fears?" Elena nodded, "To this day, we struggle with that." When Elena looked up at her in surprise she shrugged her shoulders, "Some things just never go away. But you work through it and you try to keep in mind all the reasons you were together that far outweigh the bad parts."