The Cinderella Project (A Comedy of Love, #1) by Crowe Stan

Author:Crowe, Stan [Crowe, Stan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Breezy Reads
Published: 2013-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

“When did you stop loving me, Jim?”

“Why do women ask stupid questions like that? I just don’t get it.”

“Why are men so emotionally deaf that they don’t get it?”

“We’re not emotionally deaf. We’re just plugging our emotional ears to drown out the nagging.”

The Monday after my all-nighter with Moiré, I woke with a start and to a troubling realization: Despite good general progress, my research still hadn’t gotten me closer to solving my specific dilemma with Ella. That thought was immediately followed a startling comprehension: I had finally allowed myself to recognize that there was a serious problem with my relationship. Slowly, painfully, I began to admit to myself that deep down I was frightened beyond logic. If Ella was the best thing I would ever find, then did that mean it was Ella or nothing? Even more, I was frightened to think that that nothing might actually be preferable to Ella. I knew better in my head, but not in my heart.

Images of myself as an eighty-year old bachelor flashed through my mind. All around me, my friends were telling stories about their grandkids and great-grandkids. They were sitting there with their spouses of fifty, sixty years, reminiscing about good times and bad, holding hands as they grew old together in bonds of undying love.

Meanwhile, I was all alone. Forever.

My thoughts switched to the other option. There I was, losing sleep again, wondering where Ella was and who she was with this time. I saw my kids asking, “Daddy? Where’s Mommy?” and I pictured myself fabricating another flimsy cover story for her.

In the end, despite my kids, I was still alone.

Moiré, said a voice in my head. Ella will wander. Choose Moiré.

I shook my head until I was so dizzy I was sure the thought would have been flung clean of my brain. Moiré was a nice, sweet, charming, attractive, intelligent… I killed my thoughts. Moiré was a pleasant girl to be around. She was… very helpful in my research. She was just a friend. She would probably make an excellent wife. For someone else, I forced myself to think.

I had to find an answer. I had to find it now.

Noticing the time, I leaped out of bed and into the bathroom of my apartment. I rushed through the morning routine and was catching my breath in the lab just eight minutes later. I dropped into the seat at my desk and called up all the notes I had made. I did a search for any topic I thought relevant to turning a relationship around and ate up the data eagerly. By the time other people started showing up at the lab, I’d reached two sobering conclusions: I could either confront Ella directly—and do all I could to demonstrate my endless love for her, in hopes that she’d recognize the error of her ways—or I could break off the engagement and start all over again.

Oddly enough, I couldn’t help but think of Moiré’s story about Ember and her man.

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