with hints of gold from the light of the early evening sun.
“So, show me those non-racecar sheets,” Brie teased.
Alec pulled back the covers to expose pale gold sheets instead. He sensed weariness in her eyes. His real goal in getting her here had been to get her to rest. He had no plans for anything more until she was better, but she didn’t have to know that.
“Lie down on your stomach. I’ll give you a massage,” he offered.
“Okay.” She blushed before she removed her brown ankle boots and climbed into the bed. Something inside him puffed with pride at seeing her in his bed.
He knelt beside her and began to massage her neck and shoulders. The soft sounds of pleasure that came from her made him grin, but within minutes she was asleep, just as he’d planned. He settled next to her and pulled her into the curve of his body as he let himself relax. Soon, he, too, started to drift off.
Movement caught his attention as a falcon landed on the balcony outside his window. It’s brown and cream-colored feathers ruffled as the bird of prey relaxed for a brief moment.
That was how Alec felt. This slice of holiday paradise was but a brief moment to catch his breath before he had to face the challenges of the world again.
If only I could stay here with her forever. It would be a much simpler life…
12
Brie stood in her old house in Rhode Island, with dozens of boxes packed and stacked in the living room. Two movers were carrying loads up the ramp into the truck. Everything she’d bought to build her life with Preston was in those boxes or on that moving truck. A life that wasn’t going to continue. Four years and it was all over. He was in New York and she was moving to a small apartment.
She pulled her cell phone out and dialed Preston’s number. He answered after four rings.
“Hey.”.
“Hey,” she echoed softly. Somehow in the last four years they’d become strangers again.
“The stuff should be all packed in a few hours. You sure you don’t want anything?” she asked.
“No, it’s all right. My assistant can furnish my new apartment. It’s cheaper than trying to get the stuff from Rhode Island to Manhattan.”
“Oh right, that makes sense.” Brie’s throat felt like she’d swallowed glass. There was something painful about knowing that Preston didn’t want anything from their once shared life.
“You want any photos?” she asked after a minute.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. We both agreed we needed a fresh start.”
Brie had always hated that phrase, “a fresh start.” It made her feel like what they’d before had turned rotten. It hadn’t. It had simply fizzled out like a flame fluttering in the darkness until a final gust of wind snuffed it out.
“So…” She didn’t want to hang up. To end the call meant it was well and truly over.
“So…my assistant mailed you the divorce papers. Sign them when you get the chance, okay?” Preston’s tone was gentle, almost hesitant, as if he sensed what she did.
“Preston, we’re doing the right thing, aren’t we?” She didn’t want to be the one who gave up on their marriage, but she couldn’t see any other way forward for either of them.
“I think so.” Preston sighed in the phone and the sound cut her heart with fresh pain. “We weren’t really happy. We were just…coasting, you know?” She could hear him tap on his desk and pictured the way he leaned back in his chair, drumming his fingers as he talked. She knew so much about him, but that hadn’t been enough. Knowing someone wasn’t the same as loving them.
Brie closed her eyes and leaned against the living room wall. “I guess we were.”
“I wish…” Preston began.
“What?” She opened her eyes and held her breath.
“I wish we had known then what we know now. We were just kids.” Preston’s rueful tone made tears well up in her eyes.
“We were. Kids who thought we knew what love was.”
Love wasn’t flowers and roses. Love was fights late into the night. It was holding one another as you faced a devastating loss. It was a stone wall against a raging sea. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t always full of sunshine and sweet but empty promises. Love was knowing that no matter what, the other person had your back and you had theirs, even through pain and heartache.
“Take care of yourself, Brie.”
“You too.”
Preston hung up. Brie dropped her phone and