AllFreeNovel
Share Us
If only she’d let me.
She brings my arms around her and I hold her tightly against me, hating that she’s never felt like she was enough. I hate that she’s been carrying these burdens—in silence—for so long.
“I know you don’t understand but…they need me,” she whispers into the fabric of my shirt. “My family needs me.”
“What if I need you, too?”
She laughs sadly. “You don’t. You’d go much further in life without me and my problems holding you back.”
“You’re so fucking wrong, Alana. What the hell about till death do us—?”
She holds up a hand, stopping me. “There’s no point in arguing about this, Davis. We’re not right for each other. I’ve accepted it. It’s time that you accept it, too.”
Standing on her tiptoes, her arms come around my neck and she quickly brings her mouth to mine, swallowing all my arguments. Her tongue sweeps into my mouth and she kisses me with a passion that makes me too weak to argue with her.
Alana breaks the kiss. She turns away from me, returning her attention to the mirror. She blots at her puffy eyes and she adds a few more layers of gunk to conceal her pain, sliding on her mask for the world.
But I see her. I see the unhappiness she’s hiding. And I can’t look away.
I watch the entire display, raw and potent anger burning inside my chest. I hate that she feels like she has to play this role in the world.
When Alana is done pulling herself together, her attention moves out the window where the wood-chopping sound seems to be getting louder.
“You’re right. Idoowe you closure. This is our moment, I guess. Because when we leave this cabin, our time together is up.” Her soft fingers lace through mine. “So we can spend these last moments together arguing about a past that we can’t change and a future we’ll never have, or we can enjoy the present for what it is.”
I twirl her hair around my finger. “Right…”
I’m standing here, drowning in my feelings, helpless to her touch, trying to forget about our sad reality outside the walls of this cabin. My heart feels like it’s coming apart in layers. This fucking sucks.
She glances at me with puffy, resigned eyes and a sad, watery laugh. “Come on. Let’s go revive our chakras or whatever the hell.”
I sigh. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
21
ALANA
“And I know that some of you may be skeptical about the whole spiritual revival thing, but renewing our spiritual connection was one of the most important decisions Grace and I have ever made.” The handsome stranger standing on the small wooden platform drapes an arm around his blushing wife’s shoulder.
The woman leans into the microphone in her husband’s hand and her voice reverberates across the crowd. “It’s that decision that saved our marriage.” She absolutely beams, kissing her husband’s cheek. “I love you, Daniel.”
“Love you, Angel.”
The small group goes up in applause and I swear, there’s hardly a dry eye among the crowd surrounding the stage. The couple sharing their testimonial look absolutely smitten with each other, and it’s hard to believe that a few short years ago, they almost called it quits on their marriage.
Their story makes my heart squeeze. It gives me hope. Raw, pure, completely misplaced hope filling up my chest.
I have to remind myself that second chances are rare. Most failed relationships don’t get a do-over. Yes, Grace and Daniel Trotten were able to recover their dead marriage and their testimonial is truly heartwarming.
But Davis and I, we’re different. Right? There’s just no way around the obstacles holding us apart. Right?
“You okay, Princess?” I feel Davis’s hand at the small of my back, rubbing slow circles.
The adoring flicker in his eyes makes my knees weak. When I look at him, I see a man who’s irreplaceable, a man I’ll never get over, a man I can’t have. And it rips me apart inside.
I wipe my eye, pushing away a stray tear, and I smile. “I think I need to take a walk,” I tell him.
His brows pull low with concern. “Want me to come with you?”
