When I don’t follow, he waves for me. I carefully climb from the car.
“What do you think?” he says.
It takes me a moment to realize he’s talking about the duplex.
“It’s . . . nice?” I say. “Is this . . . ? Do you mean as a possible place for me?”
He nods. I just keep looking from him to the duplex. Is this his way of saying he still wants to support me? Or is he changing the subject, distracting me from talk of custody?
“I . . . I’m not sure I could afford it,” I say. “I have the down payment, but I should wait until I have a new job. I’ll get a full-time one. I should—since I don’t have Charlie to look after.”
“Do you want Charlie to look after?”
My heart leaps, but I keep my expression neutral.
“In an ideal world, Bree, what would you want?” he says. “No pressure. No judgment. Full-time job? Full-time parent? Part-time both? Go back to school?”
“I . . .”
“Perfect world. Just tell me.”
“I loved being home full-time but . . .”
“No judgment.”
I take a deep breath. “In a perfect world, I’d stay home with Charlie and go back to school part-time. I’d let her go to daycare a couple of days a week because I think it’s been good for her.”
“Then that’s what you’ll do.”
I nod. “Okay, I’ll find a better apartment—”
“I’d like you to live here, Aubrey. The left-hand unit has a nice sunroom you can use as a study. The right-hand one is better for me—the office has a lousy view, which will keep me from getting distracted.”
I turn to look at him.
“This is for us,” he says. He steps toward me. “You’re concerned that I don’t want you parenting our daughter anymore. This is my answer. I found it yesterday, and I haven’t changed my mind. I would like to change the custody arrangement. To this.” He nods at the duplex. “Extreme co-parenting. If you’d be interested.”
Tears prickle my eyelids. “I would absolutely be interested.”
He shoves his hands into his pockets. “I’d love to just ask you to move back into the house, so we can try again, but even if you want to try again—”
“I do.”
“Then I think we need to get to know each other first. Start over, and let me meet the real Aubrey.” He looks up at the house. “Which will be a lot easier like this.”
“I get to date the boy next door?”
He smiles. “Yes, I guess you do. And if it works . . .” He shrugs. “The neighborhood is a work in progress. It’s a good investment. Easy to sell if we want closer quarters. I just don’t want to rush. I’m sorry. I know that’s not the most romantic solution—”
I throw my arms around his neck. “It’s the perfect solution. Thank you.”
He kisses me, a long and passionate kiss. When he pulls back, he says, “Will you come with me to get Charlie?”
“That depends. Think we can find a hotel along the way?”
His brows arch.
I grin. “Well, you did say you want to get to know me again. Not to rush or anything . . .”
“That doesn’t sound like rushing at all. Perfectly logical.” He puts his arm around my waist and leads me back to the car. “I’ll tell my mother to expect us first thing in the morning.”
Also by Kelley Armstrong
Rockton
Watcher in the Woods
This Fallen Prey
A Darkness Absolute
City of the Lost
Cainsville
Rituals
Betrayals
Deceptions
Visions
Omens
Age of Legends
Forest of Ruin
Empire of Night
Sea of Shadows
The Blackwell Pages
(co-written with Melissa Mar)
Thor’s Serpents
Odin’s Ravens
Loki’s Wolves
Otherworld
Thirteen
Spell Bound
Waking the Witch
Frostbitten
Living with the Dead
Personal Demon
No Humans Involved
Broken
Haunted
Industrial Magic
Dime Store Magic
Stolen
Bitten
Darkest Powers & Darkness Rising
The Rising
The Calling
The Gathering
The Reckoning
The Awakening
The Summoning
Nadia Stafford
Wild Justice
Made to be Broken
Exit Strategy
Stand-alone novels
Aftermath
Missing
The Masked Truth
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
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13
14
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19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
Also by Kelley Armstrong
Copyright Page
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
WHEREVER SHE GOES. Copyright © 2019 by KLA Fricke Inc. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data (TK)
ISBN (hardcover)
ISBN (ebook)
First Edition: June 2019
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
9781250181350
Our eBooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, ext. 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].
Cover
Wherever She Goes (ARC) Page 25