Page 18 of Letters From a Broken Heart
Taylor grins at me as she takes a step backwards and moves to climb onto the stool without looking. Her foot slips off the rung and she lets out a shriek as she loses her balance.
“No!” I'm at her side in the blink of an eye. I'm holding onto her waist and tugging her against my body. “Are you ok?” I whisper as I stare down into those blue eyes that captured my attention long ago.
Whenever I stare into her eyes like this, I swear I can read what’s going through her mind so easily. Except right now, there’s an emotion I can't decipher.
“Yeah, I’ll be ok,” she murmurs almost to herself. She slips her arms around my neck and holds onto me.
I release one of my hands from her hips and brush a blonde lock out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. I leave a smear of grease across her skin andchuckle.
“Apparently, I'm a bit greasy and now so are you.” I tug a bandana out of my back pocket and rub it across the streak I left on her cheek. She leans into my touch and her eyes slide shut. She looks so beautiful and perfect right now.
I wish I could snap a photo of this moment so I can remember how she looks right now forever. I’d make this photo the background on my phone and smile every time I saw it.
“You’re kinda cute with grease on you.” I grin as her eyes flutter open to meet my gaze.
“You’re kinda cute when you’re covered with grease too.” Her bottom lip slips between her teeth and she bites down gently.
“I'm glad because I think I'm covered with grease more often than not.”
The sound of the backdoor slamming shut pulls my attention away from Taylor. I know it’s Jack and I'm not sure I'm ready to lose Taylor yet.
“Let’s get you on this stool so you can sit there and look pretty for me.” I wink at her, letting her know I'm teasing her. I grip her waist again and easily lift her onto the padded seat. Her feet hang down and she moves them back and forth as she watches me carefully.
I take a step back and frown at the stains on her shirt. There are two distinct handprints on the fabric from where I grabbed her.
“Jeez, Tay. I ruined your shirt.” I run a hand through my hair and scowl. I know I’ll have a bunch of grease in my hairnow, but that’s no different than every other day. I'm messy whenever I'm in here working on this car.
She glances down at her shirt and smiles. “Nah, I don’t think it’s ruined at all. I think it’s kinda perfect. It’s a constant reminder of how you’ll always save me.”
“Easton? Are you ok?” Taylor places her hand on my cheek, bringing me back to the present. Her eyes are stormy and full of so much emotion. So similar to that day in the garage.
“Yeah, sorry. I was stuck in a memory.” I shake my head, trying to clear it from my thoughts.
“What memory?”
“Do you remember when you almost fell in the garage and I caught you, but covered you in grease?”
“Yeah, I do.” A soft smile spreads across her face. “I loved that shirt and I didn’t even care about the grease stains.”
“Why? I really thought you’d be annoyed.”
“Nah. It was visible proof you cared about me. I kept thinking if we dated, I’d wear that shirt all the time.”
My brows draw together as I try to figure out why she’d wear it if we were dating. It doesn’t make sense to me.
Taylor rolls her eyes as her smile grows. “I liked knowing that’s what your hands looked like on me. Everyone knew you spent your free time in the garage working on old cars. They’d know where those hand marks came from.” She lifts her shoulder in a halfshrug. “I don’t know. I guess I liked the idea of everyone knowing I was yours.”
I take a step closer to Taylor. I want so badly to kiss her and remind her of all the reasons she should’ve picked me over Jack, but I can't do that. Not today. Today belongs to Jack, but the rest of our lives? That belongs to me.
“C’mon, beautiful. Let’s get through the rest of the day so we can go home and relax.” I slip my hand into Taylor’s and tug her towards the door.
Chapter 9
Taylor
I watch them slowly lower the urn burial container into the ground and I feel… nothing. Absolutely nothing.
I glance around at the tears streaming down everyone’s face and I wonder what’s wrong with me? Why am I not crying?
