AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER25
~ MILLIE ~
The sky is pitch black tonight as I run on the sand. Tiny stars shimmer above me from the heavens, and I think I’ve made wishes on at least half of them already.
And every wish is about Dax.
I pick up my pace, trying to run from this sense of loss that is dragging me downward, making me want to sit in this sand and cry.
I will not cry. Not anymore, and especially not on a day that I should be celebrating. I had a meeting with the bank, and it looks like I’ll be able to get enough of a loan to buy the Breeze-In and make it mine and Bo’s. I even called the consulting firm in Savannah and turned down their offer. And when they offered me ten percent more, I turned down that as well, smiling as I did.
I know what I want now. While I can’t have Dax in my life anymore, some of the things I want are still achievable for me. And I’m not letting anything stand in my way.
And one of the things I want is to keep training. I still have my eye on that half marathon this winter, and I’ll be damned if I’m giving up all my progress now.
I push my feet harder against the firm sand, smiling as I remember the first time I did this. It’s so much easier now. Easier, even as I increase my speed again.
I love the feeling I get as I do. As though even when I hit rock bottom, I’ll always be able to dig a little deeper and find the strength to continue. I cling to that philosophy like a life preserver right now.
Because even at a time when I know I should only be lookingforward, I feel like there’s a part of me still lookingback. Looking back to my summer with Dax. Back to that point in time when I could be with him and enjoy this sense of love I have in my heart for him.
“Millie!” I hear someone call behind me.
I stop and whip around. I see no one at first in the darkness, and for a moment, I’m convinced that I was imagining it. Because the voice sounded like Dax.
Dax… who is running along the shoreline in his camos toward me right now.
What is he doing here?
My brow furrows. There’s this part of me that fills with hope, but then I realize he probably just left something in my house. That must be it, I remind myself. But even still, the sight of him makes my heart expand.
“Dax?”
He catches up to me, laughing as he does. “Millie, I’ve been trying to catch up to you for a quarter mile. You’re a lot faster than you used to be.”
Bewilderment settles into me. “How did you know I was here?”
“I went to the diner first, then the house, and then I guessed maybe you’d come to the ocean. I didn’t think you’d be running, or I’d have changed my shoes. I’ll be shaking sand out of my combat boots for a month after this.” His grin widens.
“Did you leave something behind?”
“Yeah, Millie. I did.”
And I try so hard to not frown when he says it as the hope in me deflates. Then he takes my hand.
“My heart, Millie. I left my heart behind.”
“What?”
“I love you, Millie. I think I’ve loved you from that first moment I took your hand on this beach. I didn’t tell you because I knew you didn’t want that from me. You didn’t want to worry about me. But—” He pulls the envelope I gave him out of his uniform pocket. “—if you’re going to worry about me anyway, then I might as well tell you, right?”
My eyes fill with tears.
“Oh, God, don’t cry. Look, if I screwed up by telling you, then I’m sorry. I just—”
“No, Dax.” I cut him off. “Don’t youdaretake it back now. Because I love you too.”
“You do?”
