Page 95 of Love is a Harmony
“The paps have sure mucked it up now, but I’ve never cared about that.”
“But I do.” She lowered her voice. “I won’t be your newest scandal, Noah.”
Those words had him stepping back. “My scandal? We’re married, love, not having some torrid affair.”
“We are in ashammarriage. We got married for Stella, no other reason.”
“I know, but since then—”
“Since then, what? Tell me, Noah. You knew the rules when we started this.”
A harsh laugh left his lips. “Oh, yes. Your rules. Don’t fall in love with you. Well, guess what, Mel, you’re too bloody late.” His chest heaved. “It’s too late.”
What did one say when the words they’d desperately wanted to hear, yet feared would come, struck them? What did one do when faced with an impossible choice?
Whatever she did, she’d lose a man she cared for.
Accepting Noah’s words as the truth meant giving up the connection she clung too with Justin.
But denying him…
“Don’t.” She stepped back. “Don’t say that.”
“Say what?” He advanced. “That I love you? That I think I have loved you since the day we married? That you, Melanie Snyder, are going to break my heart?” He stopped when only inches separated them. “You know it. I’ve always known it. This is the moment, isn’t it? The one I’ve known would come. I broke the one rule you set for us, but you never did.” He leaned down, his breath warming her face. “You can’t, can you?”
Tears welled in her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. She didn’t deserve the relief of crying, the rush of emotions.
She’d always believed she belonged in the depressing office with no beauty, no joy. Because there was none of that without Justin.
Until there was.
Noah wasn’t finished. His voice softened to something resembling kindness. “It will always be Justin. He’s not coming back, Mel. I’m here right in front of you, and I love you so bloody much it hurts. Standing here unable to kiss you… it takes the breath from my lungs.”
She closed her eyes.
“No.” He reached out, his fingertips caressing her face. “Look at me when you tear me to pieces. This media storm, the viral gossip, it’s only your excuse.” He pressed a palm to her heart. “Grief isn’t supposed to hold us hostage. This heart, it heals.” He leaned down, pressing his lips to her cheek. “But only if we let it.”
With that, he backed away before turning from her. “Stella?”
Stella ran into the room, her eyes darting from the frozen Melanie to Noah.
“We’re leaving.”
“I don’t want to go.” She crossed her arms. “I want to stay with Mel.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Come on, Stell. Melanie has other things to do.”
A tear leaked from her eye at the dig. Her mind went to the letters in her closet, the ones that kept Justin alive in her.
What if the dead weren’t meant to be kept alive? Maybe Noah was right, and hearts were supposed to heal, people were supposed to move on.
“It’s too late.”
Noah Clarke was in love with her.
She wiped the tear away and sank onto her couch.
Why couldn’t she let herself love him back?
