Chapter 2
The housekeepers were cleaning.
I walked into the hall.
Overnight, the place had been scrubbed spotless–and stripped down to black and white.
The cute bunny dining chair had been dragged to the door.
My bunny slippers were there, too.
The pink rug had been tossed into the trash.
And the pink roses I’d been watering for so long–tiny buds I’d coaxed out with so much effort- were thrown on the floor, their buds crushed to pulp.
At the party, they said roses meant love.
I didn’t get it.
But Cole had said if I could make pink roses bloom this time of year, he’d marry me.
Now they were completely dead.
I knelt and gathered them up, and it hurt so much I burst into tears.
I didn’t notice when Cole came downstairs.
He looked at me. “It’s just a bouquet. Crybaby again?”
“If you want more, I’ll have someone buy them.”
“This isn’t the same.”
Before Mom died, she told me to marry Cole and live well with him, or she’d worry, even from far
away.
I’ve tried hard to do what she asked.
Now I’ve ruined it. Cole won’t marry me.
“Stop crying,” he said, irritation buried in his eyes.
Chapter 2
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He hates it when I cry.
I swallowed the tears, but the hurt wouldn’t go away.
The pretty girl came down the stairs as well.
“Sorry, Nellie, I didn’t know those were yours,” she said, breezy.
“I only said I didn’t like pink, and Cole changed everything. Did I cause you trouble?”
I held back a sob.
“But this is my home with Cole.”
He used to say I could keep anything I liked.
Why was everything different now?
Cole frowned at me.
“Staying at a hotel is inconvenient for her. I’m letting her live here for a while.”
“Nellie, stop making a scene.”
I didn’t know what “making a scene” meant.
I just knew the place suddenly didn’t feel like mine.
Angry, I headed for the stairs, the way I always hid in my room.
But when I opened the door, even my room had changed.
Not a single bunny plush was left.
Everything was that blue I hate. I stumbled back in fright.
Cole steadied me, said, “She wants to be closer to me.”
“You’ll stay downstairs.”
“It’s just two months. Be good, and after that I’ll buy you all the dolls you want.”
Eyes hot, I looked at him. “Why does it have to be here?”
Chapter 2
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Cole has so many places. Why here?
My head couldn’t make sense of it, and somehow I still did.
He didn’t come pick me up last night because he was up all night clearing out my things, so the pretty girl could move in.
He didn’t come because he was afraid I’d make trouble.
I shoved him away. “Bad brother!”
I hid in the little room on the first floor. My things were piled there in a mess.
I sat on a cardboard box, hugged my big bunny, and cried until I was drenched in sweat.
But no matter how I searched, I couldn’t find the white bunny Mom gave me, or the ceramic figurine Dad made for me.
They’d been packed together in one box.
I went upstairs and knocked.
Cole opened the door.
“Cole, Mom’s bunny and Dad’s figurine are gone,” I blurted.
“I want to go in and look.”
He blocked me.
“You don’t barge into someone else’s room. You know that.”
I stared at him, confused.
Then why could they barge into mine?
He was tall enough to block the entire doorway, said, “Say I’m good, and I’ll let you
I blinked and said, “Cole’s good.”
in.”
His brow eased; he started to let me pass–and then a clatter of breaking came from inside.
A black wooden box had fallen to the floor, and the cute ceramic figurines inside were smashed to
pieces.
Chapter 2