“I can’t seem to get enough of your kisses.”
Kissing his cheek and holding him close again, she answered teasingly, “So, you’re saying I’m irresistible?”
“Yeah, guess I am,” he said into her hair, his fingers tingling with the need to run them through her locks again.
Sighing heavily, she said, “I’ve got to head home, unfortunately. Early meeting in the morning.”
He reluctantly released her, saying, “I don't want to say goodnight, but I know it's getting late. I'll get the painting. You get your things and I'll walk you back to your car.”
Alex opened the front door, allowing her step out into the chilly night air.
“I didn’t say so before, but I love your house, Alex. It’s so perfect.”
“Glad you like it. I have more plans for it. Maybe a garden.”
With the small painting under one arm, he linked his fingers through hers with the other. They walked hand in hand back up the path, both peaceful in their bubble of joy, the candles casting shadows on the path.
Helping her in and putting the painting and her flowers on the passenger seat, he asked again if she was sure she didn't want him to drive her home instead.
“No, there's no need. I'll text you when I get home. It's not far,” she answered as she started the car.
“I'll be waiting,” Alex said, closing her door.
She rolled down the window and said, “Good night, Alex.”
“Good night, my love.Sweet dreams.”
He watched her drive away and stayed until he couldn't see her brake lights anymore. Blowing out the candles as he walked back down the path to the house, Alex reveled in all he had experienced. His heart was full, and his mind was jubilant that he had shared his feelings with her, finally.
With a guffaw, he said,“It’s taken long enough.”
He sat on his back porch to wait for her text. When it came, he told her he would call her the next day. As he walked into the house and locked up, he sent up a prayer of thanks for bringing her back into his life and for a second chance.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
As she climbedinto her bed, joy enveloped Aria as she thought about her evening with Alex. Remembering that she had promised to text Corinna when she got home, she grabbed her phone.
Aria:Letting you know I'm home!
Corinna:AANNDD???
Aria:It's too much to text but let's go for dinner tomorrow night. Are you free?
Corinna:I'm in.
The girls made plans for where to meet and said good night.
Aria grabbed her journal, her thoughts coming faster than she could write. Forty-five minutes later, she read some of what she had written and was not surprised. She sounded like a woman who was falling in love.
People come in and out of your life, much like the perpetual waves of the ocean. Some are there for a season, some stay for much longer. Was Nicholas meant to stay for my whole life? It’s a question I will never get an answer to. I’m finally getting to the place where the pain of what I’ve lost is overshadowed by the gratefulness I feel for the years I was gifted with him. I can’t imagine my life without him, but is it time to want more for my life now that I’ve heard another man say, ‘I love you’?
Aria took a cleansing breath as she continued.
When Alex first came into my life, I didn’t see him, not the way a man like him should be seen. He is kind and gentle. We share the same love of family. There’s a strange peace when I’m around him. I didn’t see him all those years ago, but for some reason, he saw me. I still don’t understand what he saw in me, but when I look into his eyes now, all these years later, I see the woman I’ve become. Scars and all. Cracks and all. If I could talk to that younger me, I’d tell her to pay attention because many years later, this man would come back into her life. I’d let her know that the love she dreamed of would find her and heal the brokenness.
Nicholas and I were meant to be and if he were still here, he would be my future. But God chose differently for me. I can no longer feel guilty for what was not my decision. I want to be free from this weight and today, I choose freedom.
Aria read over the words she had penned, a growing feeling of joy permeating her mind, her heart, and her soul. Laying back against her pillow, her journal sliding to the bed, she stopped fighting and gave life to that joy. She would no longer hold it at bay.
