Page 138 of Wait for Him

Everything inside me stops.

"She's been planning this for a month," Jade says quietly. "She wanted it here tonight. In your hands. On the actual day." A small smile touches her mouth. "She made me swear on my bar license."

I run my thumb over my name on the front.

Her handwriting.

My Rose.

"I wanted to give it to you in private. Take your time." Jade squeezes my arm once, which may be the most affection Jade Gallagher has ever voluntarily shown me. "I'll keep the vultures off the balcony."

She slips back inside and pulls the door shut behind her.

I'm alone with the only thing in the world I want. I've had nothing from Rose except the proof that she was still somewhere out there.

Now I'm holding something she touched.

Something she wrote for me.

On my birthday.

I have never torn anything open so fast in my life.

The first line is just my name. Jackson. And that's enough to start the tears all over again.

Not Marcus. Jackson.

I close my eyes, pull in a breath and read.

Jackson,

Thirty-one, huh? How are the bones feeling? Rickety? Since I'm not there to supervise your decline, I've written you some guidelines for getting old.

1. Increase your calcium intake. This is important for your bones.

2. Start taking yoga. It will help with flexibility. As you age, that's one of the first things to go.

I'm laughing through the tears now. Actually laughing out loud, alone on a balcony, while Rose bullies me about osteoporosis from wherever the hell she is.

Naturally, this is how she comes back into my life.

3. Live. Laugh. Love. Cliché? I know. But it's important to keep the heart soft. Mine has hardened so much over the years, but it was always soft with you.

Fuck.

I stop there for a second, thumb pressed against the edge of the card.

Then I keep going.

4. Don't wait for me. This whole healing thing is bullshit.com. But it's needed. I need it, and I don't know how long I'll be gone. I'm sorry I was cold to you. I can't imagine what it did to you, finding out what your father was. I know your heart, Jackson. I know you were trying to protect me, and I'll always love you for it. But live your life. Whatever we once were, whatever we could have been, it's no longer in the cards for us.

I have to stop reading. I look out at the city and breathe through it, because that's her lawyer's hand right there. It’s clean, final, signed and dated. And then I read number five.

5. Take care of yourself. I heard you're boring now. How dare you. I can't be associated with boring people, and I'll expect my best friend to be my best friend when I come home. And I am coming home, Jackson. I just won't be the same woman who left.

My eyes close.

When I come home.