AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He stood on her welcome mat.
The man who hadn’t left her thoughts in days wore black running shorts and a black-and-gold Hurricanes sideline T-shirt like the ones the players wore. He must have come straight from practice, because he made a point not to wander around town in team gear that made him all the more recognizable. He looked good enough to eat, reminding her why all the gelato in the world was not going to satisfy her craving.
“May I come in?” he asked, making her realize she’d stood there gawking without saying anything.
“Of course. Just a sec.” She closed the door partway to remove the chain, then opened it again, more than a little wary.
She told herself it was just as well he’d stopped by, since she had wanted to give him that damn deed back to the manufacturing facility. Except he looked as tired as she felt, the circles under his eyes even darker than the ones she knew were on her face. The rest of him looked as good as ever, however, his thighs so deliciously delineated as he walked that she thought about all the times she’d seen them naked. Against her own.
“How’d practice go?” Her voice was dry and she cleared it. She’d continued to work for the team from home, not wanting to leave him in the lurch.
He hadn’t said anything about her absence at the training facility, acknowledging her work-related emails with curt “thanks” that had been typical of him long before now.
“Poorly. I haven’t been myself this week and I’ve been pushing the guys too hard. Henri called me on it today. I’m going to do better.” He wandered around her living room, touching her things, looking at her paintings over the ancient nonfunctional fireplace.
She was surprised that he’d admitted to screwing up. No, that wasn’t true. She was more surprised that he’d screwed up in the first place. He normally put so much effort into thinking how to best coach a team, he didn’t make the type of mistakes he had described.
“I’m glad. That you’re going to be better with the team, that is.” Nervous, she wandered over to the refrigerator that was so old that modern retro styles copied the design. “Would you like a gelato?”
She pulled out a coconut-lime flavor and cracked open the top.
“No, thank you.” He set down a statue of a cat that she used to display Mardi Gras beads. “I came here to bring you this. You left it behind when you moved out your things.”
He set a familiar ring box on the breakfast bar dividing the living area from the kitchen. Her on one side. Him on the other. A ring in between.
As if her heart wasn’t battered enough already.
“That stone is worth a fortune.” She hadn’t taken the yellow diamond either, of course. That one, she’d left on his bathroom vanity.
“And you’re worth everything to me, so you can see you are well suited.” He opened the box and took out the ring. “It’s not an engagement ring. I’d already given you one of those. Adelaide, this one is the grown-up version of that bracelet I made you. Something you’ve worn every day of your life since I gave it to you.”
“Friendship is forever,” she reminded him, something he’d told her the day he gave it to her.
He came into the kitchen and eased her grip on the coconut-lime gelato, then set it on the linoleum countertop.
“I’m glad you remember that.” He held the ring close to her bracelet. “Look and see how the patterns match.”
“I see.” She blinked hard, not sure what he was getting at. But she couldn’t wear that beautiful ring on her finger every day without her heart breaking more.
“The spoon part is supposed to remind you that you’re still my best friend. Forever.” He slipped his hand around hers. “The rare blue garnet is there to tell you how rare it is to find love and friendship in the same place. And how beautiful it is when it happens.”
Her gaze flipped up to his as she tried to gauge his expression. To gauge his heart.
“That’s not what you said when you gave it to me.” She shook her head. “It’s not fair to say things you don’t mean—”
“I do, Adelaide.” He took both her hands in his. Squeezed. “Please let me try to explain. I got it all wrong before, I know. But it was not for lack of effort.”
“It was a beautiful date,” she acknowledged, knowing she’d never recover from loving him. There would never be a man in her life like this one.
And it broke her heart into tiny pieces if he thought he could win her back by trotting out the right phrases.
