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She looked back at the ocean. "I hate to disagree with you, but I can't think of anything that would smooth things over. There are no edible arrangements that say ‘sorry for keeping a secret from you for a decade’. If I’m being honest, I should have told her," she said, surprising me.
"What would've been the point? We weren't even together."
"Transparency? I mean, you need that with a best friend, right? All that time I told myself I had kept my mouth shut to spare her, but I'm realizing that wasn't it."
I looked at her in confusion. "What was it?"
She looked at me and tears fell unbidden down her cheeks. "It still hurt too much. It hurt to talk about you, it hurt to think about you, even though I did it all the time. I knew if I mentioned it, I would fall apart and I was never ready to talk about it. I kept waiting for a time when it didn’t hurt so much that I could bring it up casually, but it never came. The pain always felt fresh. I know it couldn't have been that way for you, but..."
I scooted closer to her on the seat, then pulled her into my arms. "Don't make assumptions, Haley. There wasn't a day that went by where I didn’t secretly wish you would come runningback to me. All I could think about was yanking you back into my arms, and never letting you go again, if given a chance."
I buried my nose into her hair and inhaled deeply, finding instant relief in the familiar scent of her. "The only thing that gave me pause when you came back was the whole Marcus situation," I explained. "But I think deep down, I knew I wasn't going to be able to stay away for long... you're where I belong, Hales," I admitted, and she leaned her head back, looking at me with fresh tears in her eyes.
"That's how I feel about you—you’re home," she said, and I couldn't help but kiss her. I tasted the tears on her lips, and we sat together on the porch for a long time kissing, getting to know each other again with no rush. There would be time for urgency later, but at this moment, my fingertips wanted to relearn all the dips and curves of Haley's face. My memories of her had to sustain me for over ten years. Now it was time to treat myself and discover all of her. We stayed out there for a long time, running our fingers over one another, familiarizing ourselves, and taking our time.
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I stood from the seat and reached down to scoop her up, carrying her in my arms back to her bedroom, and laid her out on the bed. We made love slowly, deliberately. I wanted to taste every inch of her, and even though my body demanded that I move more quickly, I was determined to savor every inch, relish in every little mewl and gasp.
When I sank myself deep inside her, she was nearly clawing at me. "Coop," she said, "Please, please."
I couldn't lie. The begging turned me on, but there was no way I could deny her. I started moving my hips with purpose. What started out as a slow lovemaking session turned into a frenzied coupling, needing to be consumed by her, to feel her kisses over my jaw as her small hands clutched onto my shoulders, reveling at her chants of, "More, I need more."
I knew with a certainty down in my soul that I would give this woman whatever she wanted. She wanted more. I'd give her more. If she wanted less, then I would give her less, although that would be difficult. She wanted me to take her to the moon—and I would make it happen.
After Haley and I reunited at the community center, I thought it might take a little time to let ten years of bitterness and resentment go. But in her arms, as we chased each other's pleasure, I felt that bitterness melting away, evaporating into the cool air that was coming in through the cracked window.
Could it really be this easy? Could I just let it all go and enjoy this woman forever?
I was ready to find out.
Haley
When I woke up the next morning, I had a bone deep sense of what I was going to have to do.
Still, it rattled me. It felt like I was walking around somebody else's body as I pondered moving ahead with this idea.
The day before, I had felt, for the first time in my adult life, what it was like to be loved completely and without judgement. This wasn't the kind of love my parents had given me. Cooper didn’t have to choose me, to love me. No matter how misguided, I ran away from him and stole years of happiness from us both. Now his sister, whom he adores, isn’t speaking to us. No matter how we got here, I feel his love deep in my soul and I know this is it. I belong to him. I’ve always belonged to him.
I spent so many years dismissing my time with Cooper as immature, adolescent love, even as I struggled to move on. Then I made one relationship mistake after another, sabotagingmyself, because I knew it could never compare to what I had with Cooper. Marcus had been the ultimate test. Could I move forward without Cooper? And the truth was when I saw him with Skylar, there was a thread of relief. And I unconsciously ran straight back to Cooper, right where I was supposed to be.
Even though it meant hurting my dearest friend, Tess. It was tearing me up inside, and I hoped we could fight our way through this. I understood why she was upset, and I would have to live with the consequences. All I could do now was hope for healing and forgiveness.
So I turned my attention to helping the community heal from the storm. After we made love, Cooper and I only slept for a couple of hours before we dragged our tired asses out of bed, got dressed, and wandered out to the street. We met several of our neighbors, out cleaning up their yards and repairing what they could. Thankfully, everyone had electricity and water, so Cooper and I did what we could to help them get settled before moving on to the community center.
Unfortunately, our beloved community center didn’t survive the storm. When we arrived, there were already a dozen residents assessing the damage and beginning the cleanup effort.
There wasn't a lot of talking—people just handed out brooms to one another and shared trash bags. We took turns watching the neighbors' children while their parents tried to get a hold of the insurance company and schedule times to have their houses evaluated. Cooper set up an unofficial tag football game in the middle of the street to keep the kids occupied while I helped one of our friends clear out the spoiled food from her refrigerator.
"I appreciate you doing this, Haley," Mrs. Pepperdine said.
"It's no problem. Someday you may have to return the favor," I told her.
Her eyes lit up then. "Does that mean you're staying?"
I smiled, and she lowered her voice. "So you and Cooper..."
"It's funny how things like this bring people together," I beamed.
"You sound so casual, Haley. Like it wasn't fate, stepping in to make sure you two got back together," she said.
