AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Seven
Noah
I felt like a Peeping Tom, watching Ella talk to her brother’s grave. I felt even worse when I witnessed her interaction with Clint. He was a decent guy, and he must be divorced if he was asking her out. She had rejected him, and as she turned away, I’d heard the guarded edge in her tone.
I was happy about this—not because she had to be guarded, but because she clearly didn’t want to go out with this guy. Of course, part of me wanted to punch Clint out and tell him to stay away from her. How dare he talk to her anyway?
Yet, Ella wasn’t mine anymore.
Mine. There was a hollowness in that word that made my heart heavy. It would always be like that, because she was supposed to be mine.
Once both of them had left, I approached the grave and stared down at Greg’s gravestone face. I bent down and touched the etched portrait of him. It always surprised me that grief could flare up so fast. For years, I had pushed it all to the side, been numb to it. Today, it felt so real.
Eight years ago on this day, my best friend had died. In total, I’d lost two best friends.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped and turned around. I hadn’t expected Ella to double back; that was why I’d come over here in the first place. Despite racking my brain, I couldn’t find any words.
No one could deny that Ella was beautiful. I’d been reminded of it yesterday, and all through the night I had been tortured by thoughts of her. She’d grown up, matured. The angles in her cheekbones were more defined. Her hair was long and wavy—a sharp contrast to its chin-length cut when we were young. Despite all these changes, her eyes remained the same. Those hauntingly blue eyes were like a dark sky before lightning struck.
“What are you doing here?” she repeated. She was glowering at me.
I took a step away from the grave and gestured to it. “I’m remembering.”
She shook her head and paced in a circle. “Of course you are. Why wouldn’t you be?”
I wanted to make this right, but there was nothing I could say. She’d made that clear when she had told me we couldn’t be together because it would remind her how she had lost her brother. “I know I said it back then, but I’ll say it again today; I’m sorry.” It sounded weak to my own ears.
“I will never accept an apology from you.” She pursed her lips. “Or from myself.”
Cold swept through me at her words.
She gazed into my eyes, and my heart melted into a fluid that yearned to be in her hands, molded by her touch. It didn’t matter how many years passed … she was still the only woman who could ever truly be in my life, in my heart, in my soul.
For a few seconds, she seemed to be calculating something.
“Ella, could we talk? I just want to catch up. To talk about you being back here, to … tell you how sorry I am about your grandmother?—”
She cut me off with a wave of her hand. “How long are you staying?”
The question took me by surprise. “A week. To check on my dad and comfort my mom.” The answer was automatic, like something I would tell a military superior.
“Well, I’m staying for good, so it doesn’t matter, then, does it? You’re leaving.”
I was confused. Did she want me to stay? Or was she pointing out how superfluous it was to talk to me?
She rushed away.
I stared after her, feeling like the ground beneath me had somehow shifted. How was I supposed to react?
Suddenly, little Jason and Trent were rushing toward me. Jason called out, “Uncle Noah! It’s time for dinner.”
I put on a fake smile. “Let’s go.”
It wasn’t like this was something new. I’d never thought Ella would forgive me. I’d known that her losing her brother had changed all our lives forever. Sadness pierced my heart, but I didn’t let it come to the surface. Not now. Not with my nephews here.
But why did she care how long I was staying?
