Fragile Hearts (Poplar Falls #4) - Amber Kelly Page 0,77
anger. The other is called love and hope. You know which one wins?”
“Which one?” I ask.
“The one you feed.”
I walk upon the scene once again. Annie is pulling on her coat as she leaves the restaurant in a huff and starts to walk out to the parking lot. My attention snaps to the dumpster on the left, and I brace for what is coming next when, all of a sudden, she stops and looks right at me. Then, she veers off in my direction.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to go.
She marches up to me and stops. I see annoyance in her eyes.
“What are you doing, Brandy? Why do you keep coming back to this place over and over again and dragging me with you?” she asks, not hiding her frustration.
I take a few tentative steps forward.
“I just come to see you,” I tell her.
“But it’s not real,” she whispers.
I look past her, searching for the man in the dirty, dark jacket. Preparing to hurl myself between them.
“You can’t save me, sweetheart. It’s not ever going to end differently. You have to stop torturing yourself.”
“I don’t know how to make it stop. Everything still hurts.”
“Yes, you do. You have to stop punishing yourself. I’m not here anymore. I’ve moved on, and you need to move on too,” she says.
“What if I can’t?” I choke out.
“You can. You’ve already started,” she informs me as she reaches up and cradles my cheek with her hand. “Where is she?”
“Where’s who?” I ask, confused.
“Bellamy, silly,” she answers.
“Bellamy? She’s gone. She took a job in Denver,” I tell her.
“And you just let her go? What are you afraid of?”
I take a deep breath as a pang of regret rises in my throat.
“She’s better off without me,” I answer honestly.
“She’s not me, Brandy. She loves you, and she’ll never be better off without you.”
“I … I-I’m sorry,” I finally say the words I need her to hear. “I’m sorry I wasn’t on time that night. I’m sorry he hurt you and that I wasn’t there to protect you. Sorry that I let work steal our time.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” she says.
“I wasn’t there for you. You left because I had disappointed you again.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” she says again.
“I promised you I’d be there, and I wasn’t.”
“And it still wasn’t your fault.”
“I wish I had made it before—”
“Why? We both would have been killed,” she interrupts angrily.
I meet her eyes. “Yes, it’s what I deserve.”
“Stop that. Stop it now. Stop wasting all this time and stop pushing happiness away. Can’t you see you’re doing the same thing to her that you did to me?”
That gets my attention.
“What?”
“She needs you to show up for her.”
“I …” I turn away from her as regret tightens its grip on my throat, and words escape me.
She reaches up and grabs my chin, gently forcing my eyes back to hers.
She smiles.
“You fell in love,” she murmurs.
“I didn’t mean to,” I whisper as tears fill my vision, and her face blurs.
“Why are you here?” she asks again.
“I don’t want you to have to go through this alone,” I admit.
“Oh, sweetheart, the only one who’s going through this alone night after night is you,” she says.
“I’m afraid, Annie.”
“Of what?”
“That, one day, a whole day will go by, and I won’t think of you.”
“When that day comes—and I pray it does for you—it will be okay. You have to let go of this guilt. You have to let go of me. Don’t waste any more precious time. I want you to live,” she says.
“I miss you,” I confess.
“You’ll always have me. My heart is yours forever.” She takes her hand from my cheek and places it on my chest. “But it’s time to give someone else yours. Go after her and don’t come back to this place anymore. Be happy. That’s all I want from you. Live well and be happy.”
She stands on her tiptoes and places a kiss to my chin, like she always used to do.
“Good-bye, sweetheart,” I say as I pull her to me and squeeze her tightly. “I hope wherever you are, you are cradled in love,” I say into her hair.
I open my eyes, and I’m in my bed. Tears streaming down my cheeks and one thought in my mind.
I have to go get my girl.
Brandt
I get up, and Mom comes out of her room. We meet in the hallway.
I kiss her cheek loudly as I pass her on the way to the kitchen.