Page 100 of Blossoms of the Heart
Nothing really had happened so far with us in the time that she’d been here, only internal turmoil. I didn’t want that anymore.
I wanted to see what we could have had, just like Mitsuke had said.
I might have been a whole five years older but Mitsuke was wise beyond her years. Definitely a woman who had her head screwed on.
More importantly she knew me. Sometimes more than I knew me.
She knew that the answer to all of this was it killed me to not know what would have happened if I’d gotten a chance with Phoebe.
“It’s real.” There, line crossed. Intention stated.
She gazed up at me in silence, taking me in. I thought it was the perfect time to reach into my pocket and give her the present I should have given her eleven years ago.
I released the coil of hair that I’d had looped around my thumb and held out the little navy pouch to her.
“What’s this?” She took it and smiled.
“Your birthday present.”
“My birthday’s not till August.” Her smile widened. “Is this you giving me an early present so you don’t forget on the day?”
That wasn’t a date I was likely to forget, given what it signified eleven years ago. “The twentieth of August, princess.”
Her lips parted, and her brows raised. “You remember?”
“I never forgot.” I didn’t usually remember stuff like that but for her I did because her birthday for her was like a national holiday. “That’s a very late present. Eleven years late.”
She held my gaze as her lips parted. Realization dawned on her face. She knew the only present I could mean was the one I never got to give her.
Her eyes glistened with tears and her grip tightened on the pouch. She blinked several times then looked down at the pouch and opened it.
Phoebe sucked in a sharp breath when she reached in and pulled out a silver chain with a white shiny pearl attached to it.
She gasped. “It’s a pearl, like an actual pearl.”
“Yeah. Found it off the coast of Fiji, the spring of that year and I thought it’d make a good eighteenth birthday present for you.”
Before I could even finish she’d thrown her arms around me. “I love it. Thanks so much.” She said against my chest. Then when we pulled apart we just kissed on instinct like that was normal. As if it was habit.
Our lips met for a brief but powerful kiss, one that didn’t make me think of sex, but it sure as hell unlocked something inside me I never knew was there.
She stepped back , surprised at herself and pressed her fingers to her lips.
“I…”Talk Tai. I needed to do the talking this time and not any of that bull shit I’d been dishing out for the last few weeks. Pulling in a steady breath I continued. “I didn’t keep in touch because I thought it was best to stay away.” Her mother told me to stay away, made me feel like scum. “I cared so I wanted to do what was best for you, and I never got to give you that. Look at you, we both know you can do better than me.”
She shook her head at me. “There’s nothing better than what you want. My mother was out of line, and completely horrendous. I’m so sorry she said those things to you.”
“Forget it.” I didn’t want to remember. It wasn’t one of my finest moments.
“I don’t think I ever will.”
“I want you to. Your mother isn’t here now.”
A little smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. She tried to hide it.
“No, she’s not.” She held my gaze and I saw the reflection of the same desire that coursed through me.
My pulse raced, same as my thoughts as I thought up all the ways I wanted to get nasty with her.
