Page 20 of Fade With Me

I straightened up on the rock, gazing at the torrent of crystal water plunging over the cliff, its misty veil rising into the air like a shimmering curtain. A small smile crept onto my face. “Yeah, that’s true,” I said, feeling an unexpected swell of gratitude toward him. But the smile faded as I sighed, adding quietly, “Until you go back to New York, that is.”

He shook his head. “Nope, even then. Best friends forever.” It sounded like a done deal. Glancing at his wrist, he held it up and inspected it. “We’ll need bracelets or something.”

I chuckled, ready to tease him back, but then something in the way his profile caught the light made me pause. A strange pull tugged at me, a sense of familiarity I couldn’t shake. It was as if I’d known him far longer than just a few weeks. The thought slipped out before I could hold it back. “I feel like I’ve known you forever. It’s…strange.”

Zeke turned toward me, his gaze intense, as if searching for something hidden deep within, something I hadn’t even uncovered yet. His eyes gleamed with anunreadable spark, a hint of knowing that left me feeling exposed.

“Hmm…” He paused, his voice low, almost introspective. “Maybe we knew each other in a past life.”

A breathy laugh escaped me, the idea so far-fetched it almost made me scoff. “Yeah, we must’ve been best friends in that life, too.”

His eyes held mine, steady and unrelenting, as if peeling back the layers of my lighthearted words to find something deeper. “I’m certain of it,” he said with quiet conviction before casually leaning back against the rock. His hands laced behind his head, his posture effortlessly relaxed, and his eyelids fluttered shut. “You were probably obsessed with me, building shrines and whatnot.”

I blinked at him, my face stoic, but a small smile tugged at the corners of my lips. I said nothing, but the look I gave him said it all.

He cracked open one eye, catching my gaze, and then burst out laughing. “KIDDING…sort of.”

I nudged him playfully in the side, and he let out a grunt, pushing himself up on his elbows. “Now that we’reofficiallyfriends in this life, I feel like I should know more about you. What do you do for fun, besides making those beautiful dresses?”

I paused to think. The truth was, there wasn’t much spare time to begin with. “That’s pretty much it,” I said. “Hiking, obviously. But mostly it’s just the diner andtrying to keep my house from falling apart. My schedule doesn’t leave much room for hobbies.”

His gaze dropped to my wedding ring, hovering there long enough to make me notice. “Your husband…what’s he like?” His voice was level, careful, but something in it made me uneasy, like he already knew the answer and was waiting to see if I’d lie.

I hesitated, unsure how much I wanted to reveal. The truth was complicated. My husband was a ticking time bomb, always on edge, always smiling for the crowd. Living with him was like walking a tightrope, and I was tired of balancing.

I took a slow breath, carefully considering how to phrase it. “The best way to describe him…” I paused, formulating my thought, “he dances to the beat of his own drum.”

Zeke’s eyes narrowed slightly, as if trying to read the hidden layers beneath my words. “Is that a blessing or a curse?”

I gave a small, stiff shrug and managed a sad, awkward smile. “Hard to say. With Reggie…you never really know what you’re going to get.”

His face stayed unreadable, though the tension in his jaw said he was still trying to piece together the emotions I’d just laid bare.

I turned toward him, letting my gaze hold his, hoping he could read the truth in my eyes. “He’s not just somecharacter in someone else’s story,” I said, careful with my words. “He’s the protagonist of his own.”

Zeke’s expression softened, as though he were unraveling the situation without me having to say more. He lingered on his thoughts for a second, his gaze steady, before asking, his voice tinged with a subtle understanding, “So, you’re saying he’s only looking out for himself, and everyone else is just…an afterthought?”

The simplicity of the question struck me with brutal clarity. A lump formed in my throat as I turned away, stirring the water with my feet as I avoided his gaze. “Unfortunately, yeah,” I said quietly. “That’s Reggie in a nutshell. He’s always been that way. I’ve learned to accept it.”

The way he looked at me, it was as if he truly saw me—like he could see the burden of all the years I’d spent dancing around that reality. “So...I guess it’s not exactly a love story for the ages, huh?”

The question hit me like a punch to the gut, and I couldn’t help but laugh, albeit hollowly. “Love?Please,” I said, shaking my head. “Love is just a myth. A fantasy to distract us from the harsh realities of life. People cling to it because they’re afraid of being alone.”

There was a long, pregnant silence, the rush of the waterfall swelling in the stillness. I turned to face him again, and this time, I saw it. There, in the depths of his eyes, a flicker of sorrow, a ghost of pain that he couldn’t quite conceal.

My heart tightened, and without thinking, I asked, “Haveyouever been in love?”

He swallowed, the sound thick in the air, and for a moment, I thought he might not answer. But then, his voice broke the silence, soft, fragile.

“Yes…”

The word lingered, its significance far heavier than its simple syllables suggested.

He raked a hand through his hair, frustration flickering across his face like a shadow he couldn’t shake. Leaning forward, he let his fingers skim the water’s surface, his gaze fixed on the waterfall’s cascade, searching for something in its endless flow. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and thick with emotion, each word etched into the silence, laden with unspoken meaning.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to know what it means to love with everything I am,” he said, his gaze distant, filled with a quiet longing. “Love you fight for, die for,livefor. The kind that never fades, no matter what you face. It's relentless. You’d give up anything for it…no matter the cost.”

As he spoke, his words felt like a glimpse into his soul, raw and unguarded. There was a beauty in that vulnerability, an invitation to understand him in a way no one else ever had. His love for her, whoever she was, was something deep and undying.

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