Cabin Fire: A New Adult and College Romance (The Billionaire Romance Redemption Series Book 4) by Bella Love-Wins Page A

this quickly, Abby. I need to tell you everything. I need you to hear it all tonight. I promise I’ll leave afterward. If you’d like, I can go get us some coffee to help you stay up?”
    “Coffee is not going to do me any good. I’m really tired. I just want to go to bed. Are you sure you can’t wait until tomorrow morning?”
    “No. I can’t. You deserve to know the truth. And I…I need to tell you now. I’m tired of waiting. I’m tired of being afraid. I’m tired of holding out on you. And I don’t want to hurt you anymore. I’m here trying to make things right. Please hear me out. Please let me tell you everything, and when I’m done, I’ll leave. I promise.”
    “Okay. Just come in. Say what you need to say.”
    She unlocked the door and he followed her inside. Abby placed her things on the dining table in the dim light, and walked over to turn on the lights. As she turned to face him, she started crying. The longer she looked at him, the harder the tears fell. Soon she was sobbing. He stepped toward her and took her in his arms. She let him hold her. She just couldn’t return the embrace. She kept her arms hanging beside her. He seemed genuinely concerned, but she couldn’t trust her impressions of him anymore. Not after yesterday in the limo.
    “Abby…I’m sorry,” he said, pressing her body into his. “I wasn’t prepared for this. For us. And yesterday, I was an idiot. I feel horrible. I was cold and insensitive. I thought letting you go was better for you. I never meant to hurt you.” 
    Abby stood limply, sobbing. She had no words to reply.
     
     

Chapter Sixteen
    ANDREW sat in the armchair when Abby pulled away. She grabbed the box of tissues and sat on the sofa. He took a deep breath and looked at her as she wiped the tear stains from her face. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time. He was such a fool for walking away from her. Thankfully, she had ben gracious enough to give him this chance. He was not going to mess this up.
    He started. “Emma was my wife, and she was so much more than that. She was my best friend, my med school partner in crime, my teenage crush, my first play date as a toddler. I didn’t know a life without Emma. Our parents moved in the same New York circles. We went all the way through kindergarten, elementary school and high school together. I was the one who would pull her pigtails in grade school.
    “Our interests in medicine developed around the same time. We started dating in the last year of high school. By then, everyone had already paired us up, and assumed we’d end up together, as we spent all of our free time together. Her parents were excited she had chosen to do medicine. My parents, well, you know where my dad stood.
    “We started university together, and got into med school the same year. We were married a week before we started our residency. We ended up at different hospitals as residents, but by then, we lived together and saw each other whenever we weren’t working. After our residency, we found work at the same hospital. I worked in the emergency ward, and she took a position in the hospital’s center for internal medicine.
    “Our life together as a married couple was difficult with the hours, but we were best friends. Nothing could come between us—not the back-to-back-to-back 12-hour shifts at the hospital, not being on call, not the conflicting schedules—none of that changed what we had. For some reason, we started the path together, and I was certain we would be together forever. But I was wrong.
    “One winter night, we happened to finish up a shift together. It was rare to get off at the same time. So rare, we agreed to leave her car at the hospital, and she drove home with me that night. A winter storm had started just before we left. Freezing rain and high winds—not a good combination for us as we drove home.
    “Back when we were married, our parents had bought us a house on Long Island. It was a dream for them,