AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I close the door. I go to the table, my fingers shaking. I put the card on the table. And just stare at it.
Do I open it?
A note like this, in the night, Caesar’s strange behavior…
I know this isn’t some simple thank-you card or brunch invitation. This is one of those pieces of your history, a message that could change the trajectory of my future.
I know it’s from him.
I can’t take it any longer. I have to read it.
I pick up the envelope, sliding a fingernail under the red wax to pry it away. I slip the card out. My hands are still shaking, the paper trembling as I stare down at the swirling black ink.
What began as an obsession has stayed an obsession — I’ve found I can’t live without you.
Please, come to dinner.
My heart lunges to my throat.
He wants to see me.
The man has put me through absolute hell. Now he’s invited me to dinner. That alone won’t make me forgive him. How he signed his name at the bottom of the note might, though.
All my Love, Damian
Love.
He loves me? A seed of hope rises inside me. Can I forgive him?
Maybe…
But the way he treated me… I’m no Lindy pretzel. I can’t let him twist me up like this, making me love him then sending me away.
The heart wants what the heart wants.
Doesn’t it?
And mine is as stubborn as a bull’s.
I stare down at his familiar handwriting, wondering what I should do.
thirty-one
Damian
Istand on the patio of the penthouse at the Mark Hotel, taking in the view. The city of shining lights and energy stretches out as far as I can see. The sky’s a gray haze. Unfortunately, from here, you can’t see the stars for the lights of the city, but I know they are there. I envision the way they look over the Adriatic, sprinkled like a million glittering diamonds.
I breathe in the cool evening air, feeling a sense of peace and serenity. Even in the beauty of the night there’s an underlying current of uncertainty. My fingers cling to the iron railing like I'm afraid of falling over, spiraling down into the darkness.
The patio has been set up for a romantic evening—a table laid with candles and two plates, each covered in a silver dome to keep the food hot. The air is fragrant with the smell of freshly cut flowers and exotic spices.
I feel a warmth in my heart just from being in this moment. It’s hope, isn’t it? That’s what I’m feeling. Hope that she will, in fact, accept my invitation. In the distance I can make out the faint sound of laughter, a reminder that though my life is far from perfect, it could still be full of joy.
Will she come?
The same nerves fill my belly as they did every single night I ever waited for her to accept my invitation to dinner. Only now, after her leaving, they’re tenfold.
The past month without her has been absolute hell.
