AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I touch his hand, my fingers light against the dry warmth of his skin. He opens his palm, the ring there between us.
“Will anything change?”
“Everything and nothing,” he says, his face tilted toward mine, the smoky scent of the fire drifting between us. “Whichever you choose. Everything and nothing.”
I nod. “I need to think about it.”
He takes my hand then, turns my palm up, and brushes his thumb over the soft, sensitive spot in the middle of my hand. “Here.”
He places the ring in my palm. It’s warm and solid.
“I haven’t said yes.”
“It’s a gift either way. I made it for you. It reminds me ... do you remember the night you came to my place, burned up all that liquor?”
“This ring reminds you of that fire?”
“No,” he says. “It reminds me of your heart.”
I close my fingers around the ring. The diamonds and the cut of the ruby prick my skin. “My heart?”
“You think you can’t love, but I’ve never met someone who loves so much.” He smiles then and says, “I’m honored to be your friend. I’d be honored to be more.”
I hug him then. I wrap my arms around him, my right hand clenching the ring he made for me. After a moment he tugs me close and I lay my head against his shoulder.
“I hope you say yes,” he murmurs into my hair, his hand feathering over my back.
I should say yes.
I could say yes.
Only.
The watch wrapped around my wrist calls to me. It whispers ...You still love him.
I’m still in love with Aaron.
Which means before I can answer Max, I need to know why.
Why did Adolphus Abry’s watch show me a man, a dream, that I could never have but also could never let go?
45
My mum picksup her phone on the second ring. “Hullo?”
Her voice is muffled by the throbbing beat of a dozen drums. Ah. She’s at a drum circle.
I walk to the window of my bedroom and peer through the frosted pane at the half-moon waxing over the snow.
“Mum—”
“Moonbeam! Happy winter solstice!” Her voice has that high, chipper beat I recognize from weeks-long spiritual retreats and fireside chats outside camper vans.
“Right, happy solstice,” I say, speaking loudly to be heard over the bang and thunk and beating of at least twenty people banging drums.
I should’ve expected my mum would be at a party, but once Max left for the night, after pressing the ruby and diamond ring firmly into my hand and saying, “Think about it. Take as long as you need,” I felt the urgent need to call my mum.
I pace across the length of my bedroom, the soft wool rug whispering under my feet. There’s a draft spilling through the window, a cold winter chill that no amount of modernizing can fix. This is a centuries-old chateau. Drafts are part and parcel. Still, once I left the warmth of the sitting room I threw on a wool sweater over my camisole.
