Page 60 of The Unbound Bookshop
This is what he wanted to talk about, what he’d wanted to tell her.
All night long, he’d known this would happen.
They’d laughed together, held hands, and stolen secret kisses.
She’d never felt more foolish or so agonizingly disoriented.
Desperate to escape, she set the champagne flute on the ledge of a stone planter and scrambled up the back steps into the house. She bumped into a server with a fresh tray of hors d’oeuvres exiting through the French doors. Mumbling an apology, she kept her head down, embarrassed by the mounting tears poised to tumble down her cheeks any moment.
She made it out the front door, down the marble steps, and onto the gravel drive before she heard Flynn’s voice.
“Sage, wait!” he called after her, urgent and breathless.
“I did wait for you,” she shouted back without looking over her shoulder or slowing her pace. “For five excruciating hours, I waited on that dock for you.” Bleary-eyed, she followed the faint glow of pathway lights lining the sloping drive.
“Please, Sage. You don’t understand.” His voice drew closer, and she kicked off her heels, leaving them behind as she quickened her pace, ignoring the prick of pebbles beneath her bare feet.
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand.” Hurt and frustration rose in her chest, crowding out her lungs, suffocating all rational thought, leaving only her raw emotions. Whirling around, she asked, “Do you have any idea what those five hours were like for me? I thought something horrible had happened to you. I thought I’d lost you, too.” Her voice broke as the memory of that day barged into her thoughts. She’d never been more terrified, convinced nothing but an awful act of fate could keep him from meeting her that day.
A sob welled in her throat, and she bit the inside of her cheek to keep it at bay, determined not to break down in front of him.
“I’m so sorry.” He stood beside her now, his tone an avalanche of remorse.
She couldn’t bring herself to look at his face, to see the emotion in his eyes. Pain and confusion mixed with the past and present, leaving her a muddled mess. She suddenly needed him to know exactly what she went through that day. “I went to your house after you didn’t show up, to see if you were okay. Your mom told me you’d left. She said you finally came to your senses and didn’t want anything to do with me anymore.”
“I’m sorry she said that to you.” Flynn sounded genuinely pained by his mother’s words, but Sage couldn’t see past her own blinding hurt. “You know it wasn’t true, right?”
“And how would I know that?” Pain clawed at her chest, desperate to escape in a weep or a whimper, anything to release the pressure crushing her heart. “You didn’t call. You didn’t write. You simply left. You let your dad use his money and connections to get you into Wharton in Kevin’s place, and then you just disappeared from my life without a word.”
She glanced up at the stars, blinking rapidly to delay the burgeoning tears.
Whatever you do, do not cry in front of him.
“I’m so s—”
“Don’t!” She held up a trembling hand. “Don’t say you’re sorry. I’m tired of yourI’m sorryswhen nothing ever changes. The last time you left, I fell apart. But not this time. This time will be different.” Her voice shook, and she gathered a steadying breath. “This time, I’m the one leaving. And I don’t want you to follow me.” The words left her mouth like sharp, unflinching stabs, meant to leave a mark.
She quickly spun around and resumed her trek down the hill before he could spot the tears falling freely now.
Music and laughter from the party trailed after her, blending with the crunch of gravel beneath her throbbing feet and the gentle hum of the distant sea.
But there was one sound she didn’t hear.
The sound of Flynn coming after her.
Despite her attempt at self-preservation, to fend off more pain, the deafening silence hurt as much in that moment as it had ten years ago when she stood alone on that dock.
Chapter 34
FLYNN
Flynn stood frozenin agonizing indecision.
Should I go after her?
Every fiber in his being ached to rush after Sage, to explain the misunderstanding. His mother had acted on her own, trying to pressure him into taking the promotion. But it wouldn’t work. He hadn’t changed his mind.
But what if Sage wasn’t ready to talk? What if she needed more time?
