All Chapters of The Single Dad Next Door Loves Me: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

The room felt different after Sheriff Lucas left. Quieter.Not the peaceful kind of quiet that helped someone rest, but the heavy kind that settled into the walls and refused to move. The kind that made every thought inside your head louder than it should have been.I stared at the ceiling above my hospital bed, listening to the steady beeping of the monitor beside me. The sound was slow, consistent and proof that my heart was still beating.I was alive, healthy– if anyone called it that. That realization still felt strange.A few hours ago, Ethan had been sitting beside me, holding my hand like he was afraid that if he let go I might disappear. His fingers were warm. Slightly rough and shaking.I hadn't pointed that out but I felt it. When sheriff Lucas told us about Bradley’s lawyer pushing for a psychiatric evaluation, something in Ethan changed.He hadn't yelled. Didn't argue and just went quiet, very very quiet. That scared me even more than anger would have.The hospital door cl

The tiny bells chimed loudly as I stepped one foot into Nora's coffee shop. The aroma of hot brewing coffee filtered through the air, the sound of customers’ voices chatting in low whispers as they crotched in pairs around each table. Mornings were always so busy in the cafe, Nora was behind the counter as usual, dressed in her apron and fancy hair net, taking orders. She barely noticed me when I walked in, her eyes pinned on the cash register along with her notepad.“One ice latte for a Brandon Lynn here!” She announced at the top of her voice, over the towering voices of her customers.A hand flung in the air. “Here! Me! I'm Brandon.”A man stepped forward in a brown long coat and thick mufflers almost arranging him. Nora passed him his coffee over the counter, I watched him flash her a small smile, she smiled back, barely reaching her eyes and then he handed her cash. His lips moved to say thank you but his words were longer.Nora didn't wait, she took his money and stretched for

“You and I are friends, Nora, and we can not be anything more than that.” I explained softly, not that it did anything.Her gaze was pinned on my chest, lingering down my pants, “That's because that's all you have ever wanted us to be.”“Yes but—-”“We can change all of that today.” her finger crawled to my chest and then my cheek, she held them firmly, stroking my chin and beards lightly. “I've always wanted you.”“Look, Nora.” The sofa cushion pressed under my weight, sinking us both in. Nora clung to my side, her arm wrapped around mine for support. When I was straight on my feet, she followed. I moved away, she followed too.“Why are you running?” She whispered underneath her voice, with a voice so soft I knew it was a moan.“I'm not running.” I countered.“Hard to believe that when you're pulling away.”I was pulling away and fast, the awkward closure forced tensions down my throat, my stomach tightened and the room seemed to burn with heat that was never there.“I'm not running

“I'm getting better, you don't have to worry yourself so much, okay? Look, I'm better.” I nudged Lily with my elbow. “See?”Lily didn't look convinced. She sobbed gently now, more quietly. “You're just acting like that because you don't want me to cry.”“Cry?” I wheezed. The little girl was right. Pain ached from my side, my shoulders and the wrist. “Pfft! I'm not crying. I'm just… you know, showing you that my hands don't ache that much.”“You're lying!” She yelled and then she ran over to Nora. Nora held her close, she hushed Lily and asked her to go meet her daddy, “Give Mia and I some time to talk, okay?”“Okay.” Her sparkling eyes looked at me again. “Mia, don't die,okay?”Don't die? I would have shit myself if I wasn't going through a whole lot of pain. I forced myself to smile, and nodded. “I'll be right here I promise.”“Okay?” She waved. “Bye. Let me go see Daddy while you grow ups talk.”She skidded out of the door, leaving Nora staring at me. She came closer, her steps wer

“So he asked you to break up with me on his behalf?”Nora stared into a distance, she looked like she was lost in her own gaze. “Answer me!” my fist folded tight, I struck the metal bar by the side of my hospital bed without even knowing. “Did he not even have the decency to come break up with me by himself?”Nora snapped back to the present. She exhaled. “You don't have to take it so personally, he's doing this for your sake.”My sake? The very man I almost lost my life for, was breaking up with me while I was recovering and couldn't even be there to do it by himself.And this was considered mercy?“Nora.” A sound slipped through my lips.Nora searched everywhere in the room except the face that called her name. “Nora. I'm talking to you. Look at me.”She ignored me, her lips pursed, she searched through the window too, “Mia, this is not the time to get emotional, you have to understand him. Ethan is selfless. If anything, he's doing this to protect you, Bradley could come again an