his arms on the balcony rail and stared into the distance.
“These past twenty-four hours have been amazing. A fantasy come true, but it’s time to get back to our lives. I’ve got only a few weeks to wrap up things in Georgia, before I leave for school.”
“I wil always love you and folow you with my heart wherever you are in the world. Now that we’ve found each other, I want to stay in touch, but to put the pressure of a relationship on you is too much. It’s too much for you and too much for me. When I’m in school, I need to concentrate and work hard. I can’t take off for days at a time to meet up with you. I’d never succeed. And you wouldn’t succeed trying to constantly get away to be with me. Am I making sense?”
“I’m not going to answer that,” he said stubbornly.
She smiled. He got it. He just didn’t want to admit it.
He took her hand and puled her to him, burying his face in her hair. “Dammit Libby. Why’d you have to be so sensible?” He murmured in her ear. “I don’t know how to let you go. I don’t think I can do it.” His voice broke with emotion.
“We have no choice. You need to go one direction and I need to go another. But we’l take the love with us. No one can ever take that away.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I don’t either,” she whispered.
A knock on the patio door interrupted them. Adam peered out. They released each other. Peter turned away from the door, hiding the anguish on his face. Libby waved Adam to join them.
“Hey Adam,” she said, her sadness clear.
“Hey.” He looked worried as he took in their tortured expressions. “Sorry to interrupt, but Peter, we gotta go.” Poor Adam looked miserable knowing she and Peter would be separated again.
“I’l be there in a sec,” Peter said, not facing him.
Adam quietly left them alone, each in their private pain. Libby fought to keep her composure, but each moment became more heartbreaking.
Peter turned to her abruptly. “I won’t let you do this.”
“It’l never work. I can’t be there for you, and you shouldn’t be there for me,” she said.
“Stop.” He put his finger on her lips, then leaned forward and replaced them with his lips. His kiss was gentle and soft as if healing a wound. Then he became more urgent as if sending her a message, a promise of something more to come. She clung to him, wanting to prolong their time together. Tears roled from her eyes. Peter kissed them away. She fought to hold her emotions in.
“I want you to cal me. I’l leave my number for you.
Promise?” His eyes were dark and sad in the early evening dusk, as if holding up the weight of the world. When she didn’t answer he gave her a little shake. “Promise.”
She nodded, but knew she wouldn’t. It would be easier to let him go this way. He didn’t need her holding him back.
They turned at the sound of Roger opening the patio door.
“It’s time,” he said avoiding eye contact then departed discreetly, but left the door open. Peter’s parents and brothers waited inside the suite next to a somber looking DarLynn.
Libby flung herself into Peter’s arms and hugged him tight, wanting to remember everything about him. “I love you,” she whispered, then released him and turned back to the skyline. “Now go, before I embarrass myself in front of your family.”
“This isn’t over,” he murmurred in her ear.
She stood for long minutes watching the lights of the city pop on as the sun sank behind a mountain in the distance. The sunset created a spectacular display of colors on the evening sky. When she turned around, the hotel suite was empty, except for DarLynn packing Libby’s bag.
Chapter 27
Two weeks passed since she said goodbye to Peter, She missed him so much, but was determined to let him move on and live his life without trying to take care of her. Parting again felt like picking at an old wound. The only good part was that this time it was on her terms and she and Peter had the chance to say goodbye. She tried to focus on the next two weeks. She needed to wrap up her life in Pebble Creek and get ready to start school. She carried dirty dishes past Penny, who kept peeking out the window.
“What are you looking at?” Libby glanced out