Page 61 of Legacy
“Aara, love,” Henry says. “Are you okay?”
I sigh. “I’m fine. What are you doing here?”
He looks away sheepishly, his jawline prominent. I avert my gaze. “Your mom didn’t tell you? I bought a unit here to stay when I’m in town. I fell in love with the place and wanted to have something permanent in San Diego.”
“Here.” I nearly choke on the solitary word. “Why here? Where I live?”
He lifts one shoulder. “Well, doesn’t matter now, it’s sort of ash and smoke now.”
Touché. “I can’t get rid of you. I don’t know why you just won’t go away, Henry. I hope now that it’s smoke and ash you’ll go far, far away and let me live my life.” Aurora is now standing by Henry’s side and he immediately grows uncomfortable, his jaw grinding. “Aurora. Nice night.”
She pulls an ugly face. “I told Henry not to buy this crappy condo in the first place. Now maybe next time he’ll listen to me. That townhouse in La Jolla was so much nicer. It had a pool and it was on the beach. I’m going to call the realtor and see if it’s still available. Ugh, what a nightmare.” Her English accent is way less attractive than Henry’s.
She’s oblivious. Laughably so. A hundred people lost their home, maybe their lives, and she’s worried about a pool. I close my eyes and inhale deeply, then cough.
“You weren’t even living here anymore, I didn’t see any sense in looking somewhere else. You know how quick real estate goes around here.” He looks behind him to see where Aurora went before asking, “How did you get here?” Henry peers around my shoulder and sees Luke. I mean, I assume he sees Luke because terror washes across his face. I love it and I hate it at the same time, because right now I’m pissed.
“You know why I’m not living here? You made it a circus! It’s bad enough being in the limelight for the training and my career, but then you brought your show pony publicity circus to my door. Literally to my door. I couldn’t stay here because I didn’t have a choice!”
“It’s worth repeating,” Henry says, gesturing to the buildings in flames. “Not that it makes a difference anymore.”
I sigh, defeated. “Don’t you have an interview to give, Henry? Better yet, an angry heiress to indulge?”
I sense Luke before he sets his hand on my waist. “The one and the only Henry Durnin?” Luke growls. He eyes his worn-out band tee and sweat pants. “You lived here?” At least he gets the tense right. Henry confirms as much and Luke introduces himself as my friend. Annoying, but required. “We should get going, Aara. Your phone is blowing up in the car.”
Such a pragmatic request when my house is literally in flames.
“I want to talk to Aarabelle first,” Henry inserts and crazily doesn’t seem to regret his word choice even though he should. “Excuse us for a few moments, please, Mr. Hart.”
Luke laughs, one hand pressed on his stomach. “Talk then, but I’m not going anywhere unless she tells me to.” He looks at me. “You going to tell me to leave, Dempsey? You want to be alone with him?”
If I wanted to hurt him, I’d say yes and order him away, but I can’t.
“No, he stays,” I say to Henry.
“He ya bodyguard or something?”
I look away. “Something like that. What could you possibly have to say to me at this point?”
Henry shuffles his feet and once again looks behind him. “She’s not here, Henry. She won’t hear what you say.” I fold my arms across my chest.
“But he will.” He nods his head at Luke standing watch, pretending not to listen to every word we speak.
“So what?”
He takes a step closer to me and I lean away. Ash is raining from the sky, but I get caught in his gaze. Like I did so many times before. In that place that defies all fucking human logic. I open my mouth to say something, but close it again when I realize I don’t know what will come out.
“It’s hard to tell you I still love you and I made a mistake when your friend looks like he wants to cut off my head and then shove it into my chest cavity, Love.”
I stare blankly. Stuttering, I reply with, “What did you say?”
“I said I love you Aarabelle and the only reason I said yes to this tour was because I wanted the chance to see you again face to face. I knew there wouldn’t be another way. To see if the spark between us is still there. It’s there. I can feel it. Just say the word and I’ll drop Aurora. We can go back to the way we were before I was a blasted ninny. I made a mistake. I’m sorry, Love. I’m so, so sorry. Please take me back.”
I swallow hard and try to fix the emotions boiling together—separate them into neat mental containers so they don’t cause me to say or do anything rash. Peeking over my shoulder, I find Luke is staring at me, rage simmering so close to the surface I know it will explode any second. He blinks once and looks away, but I see his chest rising and falling and I recognize that he’s not angry. He’s scared of my reply to Henry’s question. Because his ex-girlfriend, or whatever, burned down my house, which is a long conversation for later. Does he assume my love is so fickle? I’m lost in thought, flipping through responses and weighing the consequences of each. It’s taken too long, and I hear Hart start to walk away. I reach back and grab his wrist.
“Stop,” I tell him, meeting his eyes. A mistake, now that the disappointment is crystal clear. “You stay.”
“Henry,” I say, forcing myself to stare him in the eye when I say it. “I never loved you. You never loved me. Not the way you were supposed to. You did the unthinkable when you let me fall for you without any intention of loving me back.” Henry’s lips turn down. I go on. “When I realized what equal love felt like, it changed the way I viewed the entire world.” Gently, I squeeze Luke’s hand. “Sometimes in love you only get one chance. There aren’t second or third tries. You have to get it right the first time. I can’t even be sorry because you failed so horribly at loving me. I’m strong enough to catch myself, but this time I didn’t have to.”
