Page 36 of Chasing After You
“A shooting star.” Nessa sounds breathless at the sight. Her mouth spreads into a smile so wide, she’s beaming. “Now there’s something we didn’t have last time around.”
I watch the sky a moment longer, holding on to the magic of this moment before it passes us by like so many others. “We didn’t need one then.” I lower my gaze to find her staring back, a new question forming in her eyes. “We already had everything we could have wished for.”
Her eyes gloss over with emotion. “What are you wishing for now?”
“Can’t tell you,” I muster a smile. “Then it won’t come true.”
“Maybe I’m wishing for the same thing.” She studies me a moment, her gaze sweeping back and forth between my eyes and my mouth. She wants to be kissed. Not nearly as bad as I want to kiss her, but still, she’d let me if I tried. She’d let me and kiss me back for the moment, but then what?
How long before the past blends with the present again and we’re standing on the brink of a future now in turmoil because we made impulsive choices while stuck in time?
“Maybe you are.” As gently as I can, I start to untangle myself from her. “But even if we’ve made the same wish, it’s not coming true tonight.”
A shadow of hurt darkens her eyes before she understands what I’m saying. “I’m back to being a divorced woman on my first couple’s vacation with a man who isn’t my husband, aren’t I?”
I could tell her that I know she’s not really here with Oliver. But then she’s made no effort to tell me herself. So, I bite the bottom corner of my lip, holding it until it hurts. “Time travel is tricky business, isn’t it.”
“I suppose so.” She slips further away from me, and I swear I can feel the pieces of me that inevitably find a home with her, ripping away from me all over again. “Maybe it’s time we put out the fire.”
I know she means the one still flickering away in the pit, but that’s not how it feels. It feels like she’s saying it’s time to put us out. To drown the spark between us once and for all.
I start to move toward the pit, preparing to smother the flames with dirt when she grabs my arm and stops me. “Can I ask you something? Can I ask you and you just answer, even if it sounds like the dumbest, most random question ever?”
“You can ask me anything.”
Her eyes lock on mine and I swear I can see it, a wondering she’s held inside her, buried there, for God knows how long, slowly surfacing. “You always called me before soundcheck, and then one day, you just stopped. Why?”
“I didn’t stop.” I never wanted to. “Youstopped taking my calls when you took that summer job. And I didn’t want to bug you with my old shit when you were so caught up in your new thing, so I let it go for a while. And then...” I don’t finish my sentence. I don’t need to. We both know what happened next.
“No,” she shakes her head. “You stopped before. I remember. The day I took that job, you forgot to call me. I know because I called you when I didn’t hear from you and by then, soundcheck was over.”
I think back. It’s not hard. That day will forever be etched into my memory in great detail. It was the beginning of the end. “I didn’t forget to call you. I missed my chance to call, yeah, but I tried to. I intended to.”
She frowns, gnawing on the inside corner of her lower lip. “What happened?” She’s asking, but she sounds scared of the answer. Like maybe she’s not so sure she wants to know.
Honestly, I’m not so sure I want to tell her.
But, I told her I would. So I do.
“I had this trip planned. I was going to surprise you.” I try to laugh it off, make light of what still weighs heavy on my heart two years later. “Romantic treehouse. Hot tub under the stars.Amazing meals. A fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows to take in the surrounding nature.” I shake my head, chuckling. “You should have seen the pictures. It was the whole fairy tale deal.” I shrug. “Anyway, at the last minute, Gary tried to book the band for some appearance, and he wanted me to cancel the trip. I was on the phone with him, telling him what he could do with his desires...when I should have been calling you.”
Her hand moves to cover her mouth, trying to hide her expression, but I can see all I need to in her eyes. Regret. The thing I didn’t want her to feel. The reason I never told her before. “I had no idea.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
“I never would have taken that job.”
I nod. “I know.” I take a step toward her. “But you needed to. You taking that job, it changed your whole life, Ness. I’d never have wanted you to miss that for a few days of fun in a treehouse.”
She just stares at me, speechless.
Then it happens.
One drop.
Then two.
The sky opens up and a wall of water comes crashing down on us, leaving us soaked to the bone.
