AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Thirty-Seven
Malakai
It’s beentwo weeks since I sent the letter. Two weeks of obsessively checking my phone, waiting for Connie’s call. Grant delivered the letter with the package just like I requested, leaving it on Connie’s doorstep, messaging me the very same day.
Like a fool, I’d hoped Connie would read it and call me. I hoped that she would see the honesty in my words, and that even after reading my notebooks, she would still want me.
I guess her silence really only tells me one thing, that she’s changed her mind.
Looking out to the deserted beach from the deck of my hut, I gaze at the darkening sky. It’s a midnight blue, a colour that reminds me of Connie’s beautiful eyes. So rich, so full, so open with possibilities.
That night when I left with Veronika, I had no time to say goodbye. No time to wrap Connie in my arms and tell her all the things I needed to say. Time wasn’t on our side, and I’ve had to keep my head down until Grayson’s court case was heard and his sentence given.
He’s a better man than I’ll ever be. He sacrificed his life and his happiness for all of us.
But that was over a month ago. Fear had kept me away. Fear of my feelings towards Connie. Fear that I’ll never live up to the man she believes me to be.
Then one morning I’d awoken and realised that I had to take a leap of faith. That I don’t want anyone else apart from the girl who broke down my walls as though they were made of sand and not granite. So I wrote the letter and asked Grant to deliver it with my notebooks and the conch shell, hoping, praying she would still find it in herself to love me.
Sighing heavily, I stand and wander towards the row of huts that line the beach a little further along the stretch of sand. There’s a bar that stays open for the tourists who’ve come here on a romantic break away. This portion of the island is for adults only. A holiday destination for the loved-up. I’ve mostly kept to myself, needing the privacy that this resort caters to so well. Each hut has their own private section of beach, undisturbed by anyone else. During the day, I’ve spent the time writing in my newly purchased notebook. Everything within the pages is about my Little Siren. A love story of sorts, I suppose.
At night, I swim in the ocean or walk to the bar and have a couple of drinks.
The rest of the time, I wait for my siren’s call.
This is the longest I’ve ever lived on land and whilst I miss Princess, I needed to feel the surety of the ground beneath my feet. She’s moored up in the harbour a mile or so from here, ready and waiting for the moment we can set sail back to Connie.
I realise now that moment may never come.
Reaching the bar, I nod to the bartender and he brings me over a bourbon. Instead of knocking it back, I take a sip and lean against the bar, looking out across the ocean. Tonight the moon is a round silver orb in the sky. It looms large above the water, its reflection sparkling against the midnight-blue sea. The bar has a handful of couples, all lost within each other’s orbit. No one notices me sitting alone and that’s perfectly okay. I don’t want to talk. I just want Connie.
I just want my Little Siren.
Finishing off my drink, I place the tumbler back on the bar and move to stand. A light breeze buffets against me, filling my nose with a familiar scent, of a sweetness and a foreign sea that pulls me up sharp.
It can’t be…
Then I hear the strumming of a guitar and my heart clenches inside my chest as the couples turn their attention to the person playing just out of sight. My steps falter as though I’m wading through viscous honey towards the sound, drawn inexplicably towards it.
Little Siren…?
Her voice greets me, the melodic softness making my insides melt, and my blood thrum with fire, a combination that has my skin breaking out in sweat. Hoping that I’m not mistaken, I move around the corner of the bar and lay my eyes on the one person I’ve longed for my whole damn life.
Connie.
Time stills alongside my breath. She’shere.Our eyes meet and a riot of emotions cascade over her beautiful face ending with one I never thought I’d deserve.Love. Smiling gently, Connie begins to sing…
A thousand words reveal your soul
A lifetime scrawled across the pages
My heart it weeps for you
But the past doesn’t matter when you make me whole
Oh, my love, my love, my love
Don’t you see there’s nothing that can break us
