All Chapters of HIS REGRET AFTER I WALKED AWAY : Chapter 41 - Chapter 45

CATHERINE'S POVThe Celestial Lounge was quiet when I arrived.Too quiet.The kind of quiet that came before a storm. The kind that made your skin prickle and your instincts scream.I walked through the lobby, my heels clicking against the marble floor. The staff nodded as I passed. No one stopped me. No one asked questions.They know, I realized. They've been told to expect me.I took the elevator to the top floor. The same hallway. The same room.I pushed open the door.Sarah was already there.She sat at the table, a glass of wine in front of her, her legs crossed elegantly. She looked calm. Composed. Like she had already won.But I knew better.She's scared. She's just hiding it well."Catherine," she said, her voice smooth as silk. "You came.""I said I would."I sat across from her. I didn't touch the wine. I didn't smile."Let's skip the pleas

CATHERINE'S POVThe beach house looked different in the afternoon light.Softer. Warmer. Less like a hiding place and more like a home.I arrived early. I wanted time to think. Time to breathe. Time to decide what I was going to say.I walked through the rooms, touching the walls, the furniture, the memories. My father's sailboat still sat on the mantel, unfinished. My old photographs still hung on the walls.This is where I came to hide, I thought. This is where I came to heal.I stepped onto the porch and looked at the ocean. The waves rolled in, steady and endless. The sun was beginning its slow descent, painting the sky in shades of gold and pink.Beautiful, I thought. Even after everything, the world is still beautiful.I heard the car before I saw it.A black BMW pulled into the driveway. The engine cut. The door opened.Ryan stepped out.He looked different. Tired. Ner

CATHERINE'S POVThree weeks passed.Three weeks of quiet mornings and late night phone calls. Three weeks of Ryan showing up at my office with lunch, of walks in the park, of conversations that started careful and ended honest.Three weeks of learning to trust him again.It wasn't easy. There were moments when I looked at him and saw the man who had ignored me for six years. Moments when his touch made me flinch. Moments when I wanted to run.But I didn't.One step at a time.Michael called it "the world's slowest courtship.""You're basically dating your ex-husband," he said one afternoon, sprawled on my office couch. "But with more emotional baggage and fewer dinner dates.""We have dinner dates.""Do you?"I threw a pen at him. He caught it."I'm just saying," he continued, "you could make him work harder. The man put you through hell for six years. Make him sweat a little.