A Time for Us - By Amy Knupp Page 0,99
four or five they’d taken and this one had always been Rachel’s favorite of the bunch. In the others, they’d both been looking at the camera, but in this one, Noelle had turned her head slightly toward Rachel. The look in Noelle’s eyes was so full of love it filled Rachel with warmth every time she saw it. Up until last week, when she’d finally “moved in” by unpacking the rest of her belongings and reclaiming this bedroom, she’d had it tucked away in a box because it had been too painful to handle. Now Rachel hugged it to her chest, the warmth flowing through her.
Rachel had found the man who made her smile, who got her through the tough times and made the good times better. She’d found her soul mate.
And her sister’s diary entry felt almost like a push from the other side. Like permission for Rachel to have a future with him. To let herself have a future with him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
SOMETHING CAUGHT CALE’S eye as he came out of Mariah’s second-story apartment in a rush to avoid being late. A woman paced the sidewalk next to the parking lot, her head down, arms crossed, fist pressed to her lips as if she were absorbed in deep thought.
Was that...Rachel?
He couldn’t help but think at first that he was hallucinating what he wanted to see, but he watched her as he descended the steps, and by the time he was on the ground level, he was certain it was her.
“Rachel?” He jogged to her, concerned that something was terribly wrong. Had something happened to her mother? Someone else?
She spun to face him, and the next thing he knew, she was running at him and throwing her arms around his neck, clinging to him.
“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked, feeling panicked as he hugged her to him, bowled over by the feeling of having her in his arms again, whatever the cause.
Her shoulders began shaking and his concern grew. She buried her face in his shoulder, her sobs soundless, so he did the only thing he could do—held on for all he was worth and waited.
The next ninety seconds were eternal, but finally, she loosened her hold on him enough to wipe her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she said after gasping for air.
“What is it? Tell me what’s wrong, Rachel.”
Again, her shoulders shook, but now he could see her face and...she was laughing?
“Are you crying or laughing?”
“I don’t know,” she said, covering her mouth and nose with both hands and shaking her head. “Both. Oh, my God, I got ahead of myself. It feels so good to see you.” She took another deep breath and sobered. “Sorry. Nothing’s wrong. Yet. I need to talk to you.”
Relief started to seep in at the announcement that nothing was wrong, but the way she was acting was truly bizarre. She was...giddy. He wondered if she was drunk, but he didn’t smell alcohol.
“Okay. Where?” he asked. “Here?”
She glanced around just as one of his neighbors got out of his car, slammed the door and strode past them, nodding at Cale.
“Not here.”
“My sister’s upstairs but we can go inside if you want.”
“Over there,” she said, pointing at the playground equipment fenced in on three sides on a corner of the apartment property. Before he knew it, she was climbing the equipment to the top level.
He followed her, if for no other reason than to try again to find a hint of the smell of alcohol.
When she got to the highest tower, where the spiral slide originated, she stood, holding on to one of the bright red support rails and looking out toward the gulf. “Not a bad view here for the six-year-olds,” she said.
Cale was surprised to catch a sliver of a glimpse of the beach between two buildings. “It’s a better view than we have from the apartment, considering we have none. Rachel,” he said, curiosity and a tinge of alarm making him impatient. “What do you want to talk to me about?”
She turned to face him, looked up at him with the eyes that got him every time and said, “Cale? I love you.”
His heart stuttered and he narrowed his eyes, so caught off guard was he by the simple, to-the-point confession.
“I think I kind of started loving you the night we met, when you were my hero for introducing me to that other med student and trying to help me fit in.”
His pulse thundered and he stood there speechless, waiting for the catch,