AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He steps back and my heart breaks at the tears standing in his eyes. There have been so many times I thought that what I feel is one sided. Because despite his request for me to be patient, nothing ever changed.
We loved each other in the dark. In the light of day, we went about our separate lives.
There have been times I felt resentful. Like he was stringing me along, but it isn’t true. He had plans and I didn’t fit into them. The same way he doesn’t fit into mine now. We have so much history, but we’re both barely adults.
I can’t bear to leave without telling him. I bring my palm to his cheek and look him in the eye. “I love you, you know. I have since I was thirteen. I’m sorry it has to end but I wanted you to know that.”
He lays his hand over mine, still resting on his face. “This isn’t the end, Ella.”
Sighing, I shake my head. “I’m not making any promises, and I don’t want any from you. Four years is a long time, and we have lives to get on with.”
“Let’s call it…a pause. For us to get where we need to be.”
It’s a nice thought but the future feels so far away, despite how fast time seems to be going now. “Okay. A pause.”
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a flattened coin, the mate to the one I still have in my jewelry box at home.
He kept it. He carries it with him.
There are no stopping the tears when he holds it up in front of my face. “Kiss it for luck.”
CHAPTER6
FIVE YEARS LATER
“You can’t just take off!” Wilson exclaims, watching me throw some clothing into my suitcase.
“I’ll be back in a few days. My flight returns on Tuesday morning.”
He steps between me and the closet when I try to retrieve some shirts. “Stop. You said you’d be at our gig tomorrow night. This could be my big break and you’re going to bail on me?”
Anger simmers at the edge of my nerves.
When I met Wilson Harolds, I thought he was so cool. A drummer with a local band who has big dreams. I was thrilled when he asked me out and for the first year or so, being his girlfriend was exciting. Lots of bars and parties.
The last eight months have changed things and let me get a peek underneath who he is under the surface. There’s not much there but a man-child who always has to have his way.
“I’m sorry someone died and messed up your plans, Will, I really am.”
Missing my sarcasm completely, he shrugs. “It doesn’t have to. Just don’t go. Send some flowers or something.”
“No.” I veer off to the dresser to grab a few things. “She was my neighbor, and her kids are my friends. I’m going home for the funeral.”
“You said the funeral was Monday. Why are you leaving tonight?”
Because Alden might need me.
I haven’t seen him for over two years, and even then, we barely talked. My eighteenth birthday was the last time we spent any real time together, the last time he climbed through my window.
I moved on. He did too.
“To support their family in their grief. That’s what you do, Wilson, when someone dies.”
“Don’t preach at me,” he snaps. Hmm, he caught the condescension. I’m almost impressed.
“Then don’t be an asshole!”
A car horn honks from outside and he grabs his wallet, tucking it into his back pocket. “This is ridiculous. I don’t have time to argue with you. I have to get to rehearsal. If you leave, don’t bother to come back, Ella.”
