Page 44 of Falling Back to You

You made ice cream runs without me?

JULIET:

Not anymore, babe. Cal was bribing me in middle school.

GREYSON:

You were blackmailing him, you mean.

MYLES:

That’s my girl.

PAISLEY:

Sometimes the first step’s the hardest. But you did it! And Hails really was the perfect person. Did she tell you about her man ban?

GREYSON:

Man what?

PAISLEY:

I’ll explain later.

ME:

she did and it wasnt a painful experience and i got wings out of it

JULIET:

I’ll consider that a thank you.

ME:

yeah yeah cream puff you did good

JULIET:

Cream puff? Let it die, Cal.

GREYSON:

You never learn do you, man?

MYLES:

Guess the real question is, are you ready to date for real?

Excellent question.

One I had no idea how to answer.

My fingers hovered over the keys. It would be a calculated risk spilling my guts to them. Confessing that the only person I wanted to date was Noelle. With the exception of Paisley, the others had been a part of the Cal-and-Noelle chapters. And no doubt they’d have a boatload of opinions I didn’t want to hear about taking a second chance.

The thing was, I’d tried to forget Noelle. Tried to not love her. I’d thrown every distraction and vice at the hole she’d left in my heart—parties, alcohol, women. Even once God got a hold of me and turned my life back to the straight and narrow, that longing for her hadn’t gone away. I’d begged, pleaded, and bargained to forget the woman who’d stolen my heart.

Finally, I settled on praying that if He didn’t take the love for her away, I’d get a second chance with her. Or at least closure.