Chapter 36 : When It All Goes Up in Flames

*Lily*

I slept late and awoke to kisses from George, Adam and Patrick’s sheepdog mutt. They asked me to walk him if I could, so I slipped on my tennis shoes. When I got his leash, he wagged his tail like windshield wipers in full force.

Somehow I felt safe in the small Brooklyn enclave. I passed the small neighborhood grocery onto the park where I had painted the carousel just a few days earlier. Oh, how my life had changed since that day. I avoided William’s calls and his texts asking me to please call him. I just wasn’t ready to reopen the wound.

The boys understood. After I’d told them that I wasn’t sure I’d be staying with William, they urged me to take some time to think about it before doing anything rash.

I needed time to explore our relationship and think about whether I could even handle it. I knew that Eva and Victoria would always be in our lives, and that fact alone was pushing me away from him. For the first time, I’d had serious doubts about whether we had a futu