Chapter Fifteen
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Simon answered the door with a certain amount of ease that came to only him.
“Hi Tim,” He said as he answered the door and saw the familiar face of his realtor. “You’ll have to excuse the mess were a week and a half away from our wedding day.”
“Of course Simon.” Tim said with a sturdy handshake and a smile. They made their way into the kitchen, Simon reading every thought going through Tim’s mind on his face.
“Well?” Simon questioned.
“Well merely the fact that its Paula’s house will help it sell, but it’s a great piece of property.”
Simon smiled knowing the faster he got this out of the way the better. It had been an unspoken decision that they would move into Simon’s new house together after the wedding, and Paula’s house was really too small for Simon’s tastes anyway.
“When were you looking to put it on the market?” Tim questioned as they made their way into the dining room, which had been taken over for wedding planning. There were books of plans all over the table, people running about, Paula in and out with Daniel following her like a shadow, the dogs nipping at his heels.
“Put what on the market?”
Simon turned around to see Paula behind him, a phone to her ear and one hand on her hip.
“The house love.”
“You’re selling your house?!?” She exclaimed to the utter dismay of the person on the phone trying to get her to decided on the color of napkins she wanted.
“No, your house darling.”
“What?”
“Paula, we talked about this…”
“No, Simon we didn’t. I’m sorry I’ll have to call you back-“ Paula snapped the phone shut and walked towards Simon.
“When did we talk about this?”
“Would you excuse us Tim? Go have a look around.”
The room cleared, Paula’s people taking a cue from Simon.
“Well… I guess it was just assumed that you would move into-“
“I assumed we’d move into my house.”
“Paula your house is the size of a shoe box and my house is finally finished. It makes more sense to call it our home.”
Paula began fiddling with the pages of the book the bakery brought over. She knew it made sense, but it had been hand decorated down to the last carpet fiber by Simon and almost felt cold to her. She couldn’t ever imagine calling it home even though she knew full well that Simon intended on calling it so.
“Paula” He said placing his arm around her waist, “We can’t have separate homes… I want you in my bed as much as possible.”
“Our.”
“What?”
“Ours. It’s our bed Simon.”
“Right our bed.”
Simon walked away, leaving her with only his lingering smell and a quick peck on the cheek. For some reason it didn’t quite seem like everything was going according to her well thought out plan anymore. Shrugging it off, Paula let out a little whisper of a sigh and went back to her wedding plans.
Two days later she had watched Simon stick a for sale sign in the yard. He had told Tim that the sign looked tacky, but Tim insisted that it would be the best way to get a quick word out before it was put in the papers.
Paula had spent as much time as possible looking at her house, stowing away memories of the beauty. She had poured her heart and soul into her home, wanting it to feel like a home, and now… Well now she was moving in with the man she loved and was hoping that was all she needed.
Simon crawled into bed beside her, moving his half naked body against hers, but she didn’t feel like making love that night. Turning her back towards him, giving the cue to calm down, Paula snuggled into her pillow, fighting back tears. She knew it was stupid to cry over something like this, but she couldn’t help herself. Sometimes she just needed to cry it out, and then later she’d feel better about whatever it was that was causing her to be so emotional.
“Paula…” He whispered, the heat of his breath present upon her skin.
She was silent.
“I love you.”
Still she said nothing.
“I hope you know that.”
Her breath was unsteady informing Simon that she was still awake and for some reason everything felt wrong. Slowly he climbed out of bed and dressed. He lit a cigarette and stepped out of her room. Walking down the stairs he hoped she would stop him, call to him. Simon paused at the front door, giving her a few more seconds to stop him from leaving.
She didn’t.
As he drove home he cursed at their silent fight. All the things she hadn’t said had actually said everything he didn’t want to hear. As much as he knew he couldn’t live without her, he was afraid of what the future with her might hold.
Her.
Her and the thoughts of doubt that he knew were crossing her mind that very moment as she lay warm and cozy in her bed. He hated her for doubting them. Hadn’t they been through enough already? Wasn’t it time to just be happy and in love together?
Simon crawled into his own bed alone across town just as Paula climbed out of hers. Crossing her room in the dark, she found her purse and began to dig for her phone.
Flipping it open she pressed the number 5 and then the send button.
“Hey, it’s Paula. Can you come over… I can’t sleep.”
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