Page 73 of Noah's Reckoning
Exit. Gone. Another company. Not in Alaska anymore? No, that couldn’t be. Not if today was her last day. She would still need to pack, get her shit together, get out of her lease.
“We’ve got to go,” I told them. “I’ve got to get to camp, schedule a flight out tomorrow.”
I needed to keep calling her until she answered.
“Ark, man, do you really want to do that?” Eli asked. A pained look on his face. “Chase her down after she dumped you.”
“Dumped me? She didn’t dump me.”
“You’ve been wandering around camp these past two weeks like a guy who had his heart ripped out of his chest. You’re telling me she didn’t shake you loose when she left last time?”
No. She told me she loved me, and I freaked out. Yes, it was a two-week freak-out, but it was the first goddamn time anyone had ever said that to me. I was entitled!
“Then why would she leave?” Shelby asked me. “Without even telling you?”
“I fucked up,” I muttered. “Bad. But I can fix this. I’ll head to Anchorage tomorrow. Show up at her place and we can…we can fix this.”
Eli and Shelby exchanged a glance then Shelby nodded. “Okay, Ark. We just assumed you’d your heart broken, but if you think you can fix this, then you should go after her.”
“You saidfall in love again,” I repeated the words she’d said earlier. “What did you mean by that?”
“Well,” Shelby said with a shrug, “it was obvious to anyone who saw you together. We all knew you loved her, which was why it upset us so much when we thought she broke your heart.”
She didn’t break my heart. I broke hers with my silence.
“Can we please go now?” I barked.
They both started to scramble, feeling my urgency.
I still had time, I told myself. I had to have time. One conversation and I could fix this.
* * *
Anchorage…the next day
Ark
I stared at the envelope on the foyer table. When I got to her place, there had been no car in the driveway, but it hadn’t prevented me from ringing the doorbell ten times. The door was locked but, checking under the welcome mat, I spotted the key.
I let myself inside and there it was. Right there on the table.
An envelope with my name on it.
She must have known I would come. Would have realized it after I blew up her phone all last night.
Which meant she’d done this intentionally. Left before I could get here.
“Fucking coward,” I said aloud in the empty house. Except I didn’t know if I was talking about her for leaving, or me for not wanting to read what was in that envelope.
I walked forward and snatched it off the table.
I pulled out the single sheet of stationery and grimaced at the first line.
Dear Noah,
You probably could have guessed I wouldn’t have been very good at this. The goodbye part. After all, it was my first time falling in love. But I don’t know that there is anything left to say, so I won’t be returning your call. I suspect you heard about me leaving Dyson.
You’ll be angry with me for not telling you. I get that. And you’ll start to reconsider what you should have done now that things are final. But the reality is you had two weeks to call me and you didn’t. Me leaving the company shouldn’t be the thing that changes your decision to walk away.
