Page 94 of Fall From Grace

“See ya tomorrow,” someone called out to Noah, and I raised up and tapped his shoulder so he’d place my feet down. I wiped my eyes and mouth as I climbed into the driver’s side.

“Bye,” Noah said as he waved.

“Gus?” I asked, and he picked him up and placed him inside the truck with me.

I scooted to the middle and waited for Noah to climb in. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and checked the time. It was after four which meant I slept for a few hours. No wonder my neck was so sore. I rolled my neck and shoulders.

“I don’t see how you slept on top of a desk,” he muttered as he climbed in and shut the door. “Only you.” He smiled.

“My neck is killing me,” I admitted as I glanced at the garage again and smiled. “Are you getting off now?” He nodded as he pulled out. “My Escape’s at Janet’s,” I told him. “Do you still live with them?”

“No,” he answered. “I’m taking you home. I want you to see it.”

“You have a place too?” I asked, amazed. “I just finished college, how do you manage to have your own garage and place already?”

I could easily afford my own place with my savings, and all I had to do was find a teaching job, so maybe we weren’t so far apart or at least I hoped.

“It’s called being in debt,” he said with a smirk, and I smiled. “Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Dean and Janet, there’s no way I would have gotten this far. Running the garage is a lot more of a pain than it had been just working there, but I enjoy it despite the headaches that come with it.” I nodded.

“What about your dad?” I asked casually.

“I had to cut ties with him,” he answered. I couldn’t believe it. “He gave me no choice, he wasn’t going to change, and I know somewhere deep down, there’s a part of him that loves me, but he’d rather use me than love me.”

“I don’t know what to say,” I told him as I searched his face as he drove. “I’m sorry, I had liked John despite everything. Even as a kid, I thought he looked like a parent some days when he helped us, it just wasn’t enough to make up for the bad things he put you through... I think that was the right choice.”

He looked at me sadly. “Why didn’t you tell me he was harassing you for money?”

My eyes widened. “It was only a few times.”

“Fuck, Grace, you’re my sun, you’re my moon and stars; my world revolves around you no matter how much you want to deny it. Do you know how sick I felt when I found out that he’d bugged you while we were together, it’s embarrassing and I can’t stand the thought of you putting up with that because of me.”

“I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d end up giving him whatever he wanted so that he would have left me alone, and I didn’t want to see that happen either. I hated to see him take advantage of you.”

“It’s the same for me… That’s what made cutting ties with him so easy.”

“Noah… you can’t just make choices because of me. You can’t just cut your dad out of your life because of me.”

“I did it forme, Priss, so that I could be with you comfortably and without the burden of him making our life hard. You know I love him despite everything he is, it’s like it’s in my DNA to love him, but I love you more—I want you, our future, our happiness more than anything else, and I’m not going to feel sorry for it either.” He looked away from the road again to look at me. “It’s that easy, Grace, to be happy.”

He placed his hand on my knee and I glanced down. I was letting him pull me in, I felt it, the rattle in my chest, the need for him burning into my very existence.

He pulled into a long driveway and my eyes took in the two-story house. It was beautiful. Simple, nothing at all grand, but it stirred the longing somewhere deep inside me. The yard was big, I could already picture him cutting the grass as I planted flowers. I could see myself on the swing on the porch, my feet propped up in his lap as we read together like we always did growing up. I could see us leaving in separate cars every morning with a goodbye kiss and smile before going to work. I saw everything so perfectly that it stung my eyes and I had to look down once again.

“Well, what do you think?” he asked. “It’s us, right?”

I finally covered my eyes. “Why are you doing this?”

“Why did you come to me?” he asked back. I looked up from my hands as he placed the truck in park and met my eyes with resolve. “You came this far by coming to me today, it’s time to come the rest of the way.”

Noah’s words were magic and chaos to my heart and body.

“Come back to me all the way,” he whispered beautifully.

Then he opened the truck door, climbing out and pulling me with him. I let him lift me up slowly before he placed my feet on the ground. Static was between us as I let him take my hand and lead me. Gus followed behind us as we walked to the backyard. Noah pointed to the huge beech tree in the yard. “And that is the main reason I bought this house so that I could build a treehouse for old times’ sake and for our future kids.”

He grabbed my other hand and moved in close. “The future that I pictured growing up, the words I said, and the promises I made to myself are here. I’ll make you happy and when you’re happy and next to me for every year here on out, I’ll be happy. Your mom was on my side, she said for me not to disappoint her and I haven’t, but I will if I let you go again.”

“Noah—”