AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’d heard nothing from Claire all day. He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d expected...but it definitely wasn’t nothing.
Maybe he’d hoped for a text that said,I got your emails. Can’t wait until you get home, followed by a naked picture?
A kiss or heart emoji at the very least.
What did her silence mean?
By the time Graham’s buddy dropped him at home, his stomach was in knots. Suddenly he was thirteen again, back in that media room waiting for the girl he liked to show up.
He shook the thought away.This is different. Claire’s different.
Maybe she couldn’t figure out her password and never read the emails? The thought gave him a sliver of hope, but not much.
He walked in and spotted her immediately, sitting on the couch with her back to the door. Gertrude charged toward him in greeting, tail wagging, but he couldn’t even look at his beloved dog. All he could do was wait for Claire to turn so he could see her face.
That’s when he saw the laptop on the table.
He slowly made his way to her, the thump of his crutches on the hardwood echoing in the silent room.
She looked up when he sat beside her.
She lifted her lips in a small smile, but she wasn’t happy. Pink splotches covered her face and her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy.
Somehow, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
Something dark and anxious tightened and twisted deep inside him. He inhaled her scent, wondering if this would be his last chance to do so. He meant to be patient and let her speak first, but the words crawled up his throat. “You read them?”
She nodded and squeezed her eyes shut. Her lips trembled.
His voice scratched and cracked. “You don’t feel the same.”
It wasn’t a question.
She propped an elbow on one knee and dropped her forehead into her palm. “No. I do.”
He leaned in, a tiny, foolish ray of hope peeking around the corner of his terrified heart. “What?”
“I do feel the same,” she said, sniffling. “But that’s the problem. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Had she just admitted she loved him, too? In such a morose, troubled way? Elation and trepidation hit him in a one-two punch.
Graham reached out to take her free hand, skin prickling when he touched her. “Is that such a bad thing? I know there are things we were both afraid of, but that was before. You’ve helped me start working through my issues without even knowing. Maybe I can help you, and we can come at yours together. Isn’t love supposed to be able to overcome all fears? Or something?”
He was so bad at this.
She yanked her hand back. “What I have isn’t anissue, Graham. It’s trauma.” She suddenly stood, making a wide berth as she circled the couch.
Gertrude retreated into the hallway.
Claire walked toward the sink and spun around, eyes full of anguish. “I wastherethat day. I stood there and watched that plane crash into the ground and burst into flames, knowing my dad was inside and there was no way he’d survived. I felt the chaos of the audience around me, but to them, it was a nameless pilot that had just died before their eyes. Don’t compare what I went through with a bunch of rich assholes from high school.”
Her pain sank in like a corkscrew in his gut. He couldn’t comprehend how she must have felt in that moment, or in the years since. “I’m—I’m sorry.”
Her hips fell back into the cabinets and she covered her face with her hands.
Graham grabbed his crutches and stood, but she immediately shook her head.
“Don’t. Please,” came her muffled voice.
