Page 93 of Whiskey Lullaby
If I closed my eyes, I could hear her voice. Tears streamed down my face, my breath caught on a soft cry. Even after she was gone, she tried to take care of me. How could I be upset withthat?
42
Noah
I’d been to Melbourne, Cambria, Sydney, but never Perth. I stood at the shoreline, watching the waves form into whitecaps under the moon and then roll to shore, crashing against the soft sand. And the stars. God, the stars. Over the past year, I’d forgotten to take the time to just look up atthem.
My phone buzzed in my pocket for the fifteenth time since I’d come out to the beach. I knew it was Debra, threatening me. The first text she sent was filled with profanities. I responded to that one, saying I’d told the arenas I intended to refund the tickets from my own account. All that did was piss her off even more. Now it was ringing.Damn, she isn’t going to give up!I pulled my phone to my ear. “What?” Isnapped.
“You canceled threeshows!”
“We went over this over text.Yes.”
“I can’t… I can’teven…”
“Look, do you need anything else, I’m kinda busy here and I have to leave for a flight in about twelve hoursso…”
“I swear to God, Noah, if you didn’t make the money you did…” She let the empty threat hang in the air for dramatic effect, Iguess.
“Yeah, yeah. Alright. I’ll be in Chicago onSunday.”
“You damn well better!”Click.
She just had to have the lastword…
A shadow fell onto the sand beside me and I turnedaround.
“You read the letters then,” she said softly, staring out at theocean.
“Yeah.” I sighed. “I wish you would have toldme.”
“I didn’t want you to think I was some shelteredlittle—”
“No, Hannah, how you felt. I wish you’d told me how you felt, because had I known…” I shook my head, thinking of the past year and a half I could have spent with her. Thinking about the moments we lost because of stupidity, because we feared rejection. Hell, I had taken chances with so many things in life, I should have taken a chance that she’d break myheart.
Sighing, I swept my hand over her jaw. “I’ve only ever loved you. It was only everyou.”
She rubbed her lips together. I leaned down to kiss her. Soft at first, then hard. My tongue brushed her teeth and I fisted her hair, tugging on it as I deepened the kiss. Kissing her was like breathing in a sunrise, a promise to start over, to not fuck up, and I soaked that up. This woman was my muse, the first thing I thought about when I woke up, the last thing I saw in my mind before I fell asleep. Hannah Blake was the definition of myeverything.
I placed my forehead against hers, stroking my thumbs over herjaw.
“I love you too much to lose you twice,” shewhispered.
“You never lost me the firsttime.”
Epilogue
Noah Summer 2017
Love isn’teasy.
As much as I’d love to brag and say it was like a Southern version of “Cinderella” after I flew out to Australia to get her, it wasn’t. But, you take away the singing mice, pumpkin carriage, and fairy godmother, and it wasclose.
“Boy”—Grandma swatted something from my shoulder— “you sure dress upnice.”
“Thanks,Grandma.”
Smiling, she patted my cheek. “I done alright raising you, Iguess.”
