Page 52 of A SEAL's Heart
Blades of grass lick at the For Sale sign, and the neighbor’s cat crouches by the trash cans.
I wonder who will buy Jake’s house. It’s perfect for a young family. Visions of me and Ed living there flit into my mind, and pain shoots through my chest.
That’s a life that will never be.
My gaze travels upward, past the second-story windows where Jake’s room was, and upwards to the attic level.
My breath catches. There are three pages from his notebook stuck to the window. My hands go to my chest as I read the words in black block letters.
You’re right. I’m a coward.
I don’t know how to stay.
But I’ll learn.
I don’t dare to breathe. My heart soars as I read the words over again.
But I don’t know when he wrote them. The notes might have been stuck there all week, and in my stubbornness I didn’t see them, so he left anyway.
The sound of a car engine has me glancing down at the street as Ed’s pickup comes around the corner.
A shaky laugh bubbles out of my chest. He didn’t leave.
Without stopping to change, I race downstairs and pull open the front door just as he pulls up outside his house.
He climbs out of the pickup as I cross the road.
We meet in the middle of the street, Ed in his tight t-shirt and jeans and me in the oversized t-shirt I slept in and bare feet.
We stare at each other and my gaze scans his face, looking for answers.
“Are you leaving?” I hate how desperate I sound, but I need to know. I need to know if he’s messing with me or if this is real.
Ed shakes his head. He opens his mouth, and his brows knit together in concentration.
His hand thumps over his heart as his mouth forms a sound, a word.
“I…” He takes a breath and contorts his mouth, working hard to form the words. The strain causes a bead of perspiration to form on his forehead. “…belong…”
He takes my hand in his and puts both our hands over my heart. “…here....”
I sag toward him in relief. “You belong here?”
He nods. And his mouth moves again. “…with…you…”
Tears spring to my eyes, but this time they’re happy tears. “You spoke.”
He grins, and his face distorts in concentration.
“I…love…you…”
Tears leak from my eyes, and Ed wipes them away with his thumb.
“I love you too.”
He smiles and pulls me toward him.
I sink against his chest, and his hand strokes the back of my head. He’s breathing deeply, and I get the feeling there’s more he wants to say, but for now this is all I need.
