Page 132 of Falling Back to You

“I made this one”—Khia tugged on the one with a confetti of colours—“and Miss Noelle did this one.” She pointed to the striped navy-and-white one—Chargers’ team colours.

My eyes found Noelle’s across the room. “Thanks.”

From the way her cheeks were flushed, I doubted Khia giving them to me to wear was part of the plan. But I wasn’t complaining.

Chapter forty-seven

Noelle

I plunged my hands into the sudsy water. If only it was that easy to wash away my regrets. I’d be squeaky clean in no time. Cal was finishing putting Khia down for the night, and while doing the dishes wasn’t technically my job, I couldn’t bring myself to leave them.

I wasn’t ready to slip away yet. Introvert I may be, but I’d always take more time with Cal.

Soft music filled the kitchen, and my heart skipped as “A Thousand Years” played.

Cal smiled at me, phone in hand. My eyes snagged on the woven bracelets still tied around his wrists, and warm contentment seeped through my body.

He gently tugged me away from the sink and dried my hands.

“What are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” He swept me into a dancing frame, swaying back and forth. “We’re dancing.”

“It’s our song,” I whispered, peering up at him. The song we’d danced to a dozen times and planned for our first dance at our wedding.

“Would you look at that,” he drawled, smirking. “I’ve been waiting a long time to hold you in my arms again.”

“You were always better on your feet.”

Cal chuckled, and it rumbled under my ear as I leaned against his chest. “It’s all about who’s leading.”

“Who was it that steered me into the balloon arch at Shane and Shawna’s wedding?”

He huffed. “We were fifteen, and I was better on skates than in dress shoes.”

“Excuses, excuses.”

Comfortable silence settled between us as we swayed—his chin resting on my head, my hand on his heart. His thumb rubbed gentle circles over my lower back, and I sank even farther into his embrace.

We couldn’t rewrite our story. We were two different people—shaped by the past and embracing the present. But we could start a new chapter, one built on forgiveness and trust, crafting the future into something beautiful.

One page at a time.

“I tried to find you.” Cal whispered the soft confession as the song started again. “Myles even made a social media account to help me.”

Say what now? “Myles on social media?” Even now the man didn’t post anything beyond what Bells made him post. And it was usually a picture of him and Juliet. Because the man was head over heels in love with his wife.

“One time when we were in New York for a game, we went out for a night on the town.” Cal shifted uncomfortably. “We passed a restaurant—Sully’s, I think—and, uh . . . I saw you. With a guy. You were on a date.”

“You saw me?” I asked hoarsely. My mind sorted through files of memories, looking for the right one. “And you didn’t talk to me?

“It was three years after you left. You had moved on, and—”

“Cal,” I said, my heart breaking. We’d been so close yet so far. “It wasn’t a date.”

“It wasn’t?”

I shook my head, the memory clicking into place. I’d only gone to Sully’s once, and it definitely wasn’t a date. “That was Spencer, my friend Aubrey’s boyfriend. I was third-wheeling with them, and she’d gone to the restroom. He was asking for my help planning their proposal.”