AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I drank to try to forget about what I’d done,” I push on. “But the more I drank, the further away from you I got. I’ve been hanging on by a thread. A very worn, frayed thread and the night I confessed…it snapped. After you left that night I lost it.
“I looked in the mirror and saw a man I despised. I saw a monster, a coward. I knew I wasn’t worthy of you and never would be. But I’m selfish, Luna, and I can’t…” I choke on my emotions bubbling in my throat. “I can’t lose you.
My words are strained. The strong walls that men hold back their emotions with are starting to crumble, but I don’t care. I want to watch it fall to ruins. I want nothing between me and Luna.
“Can we…try? For real this time?” She asks, unsure of herself.
“We were trying.”
She shakes her head and I watch as her face turns to something that looks like regret.
“I wasn’t…I wasn’t all in. I had one foot out the door and I think that’s why I letherwords hit me so hard. I was just waiting for something to give me that reason to pull away. But this morning...”
She takes her hand from mine and reaches into her purse, producing a tissue. She gently dabs her face and her eyes then crushes it in her hand.
“This morning when I woke, I felt worse than I had after you confessed. It hit me that I could really lose you and it was then that I realized…I don’t want to do this life without you.”
I can hear the pain in her voice but I’m smiling. Not because she’s hurting but because she said she needs me. She wants me. She wantsus.
I push my way out of the booth and rush to her side and take her face in my hands, crushing my lips to hers. I don’t care who sees us or what they think. My wife is here and always will be. Nothing else matters in this moment.
I murmur against her lips, “I love you. I love you. Always, baby.”
She shakes her head and I feel her smile against my mouth. I reluctantly pry my lips from hers because I’m about two seconds from being arrested for public indecency.
“Wanna get outta here?” I ask.
Her button nose scrunches and her head bobbles rapidly in agreement.
I stand and search for our server.
“Excuse me, sir,” I call out to him. “Something has come up. Can we get the entrees to go and the bill?”
“Of course. I’ll be right back,” he says and hurries off.
Luna wipes her face clean again and stands up from the booth, ready to flee.
“There’s a hotel not too far from here. Wanna spend the night with me, Mrs. Hart?” I growl into her ear.
“Mr. Hart. How very naughty,” she feigns then smiles. “Yes. The answer is always yes.”
The server returns with our food and the tab and I pull out several bills that is more than enough to cover the tab and a generous tip for our waiter.
I scoop up the bag with our food and Luna’s hand and haul us out so fast, she practically has to run to keep up.
Tonight is a fresh start. We walked through the flames and now we would forge our way through the ashes.
Epilogue
One year later…
Roman
The door clicks softly to the girls room after several minutes of soothing Helene. We decided that it was time for the two of them to have their own rooms, but they wanted none of that.
Helene couldn’t stand the thought of Poppy being alone at night because sometimes she has bad dreams and she needs to hold her hand. And Poppy, my sweet girl, said that sometimes she has to sing Helene to sleep because she gets the wiggles. Whatever that means.
So, after listening to their reasons why they couldn’t be apart, I assured them that I would speak to their mom about it. But I already know what she’s going to say.
