by Mae, Mandee
“Okay, send me the address and I will meet you there in an hour.” What the hell does he want to look at seven at night? Does he not realize I have shit to get done?
“Thanks, man. See you in a bit.” And he hangs up.
Okay, I have enough time to get started on this shit before I have to meet up with Caleb. He sent me the address, which oddly enough is just down the street, and it’s close enough for me to walk.
There is about 15 minutes before I have to meet Caleb, so I wrap up my paperwork and head toward the house he wants me to look at with him. It only takes about 10 minutes to get there. Walking up to the house, I can see there are only a few lights on. It looks like there are some lights on out back too. He said the front door would be unlocked, so I turn the handle and let myself in.
“Caleb, man. It’s Myles. Where are you?” I yell out and get no response. The house seems to be in good shape. It really doesn’t look like he needs to do anything to it. I walk around to see if I can find him in any of the other rooms, and nothing. He’s not in the house.
I remember seeing some lights on out back, so I head to the kitchen and find the sliding door open. He’s probably out on the deck enjoying the view. I walk through the sliding doors and onto the deck. There are lit candles everywhere. Dozens of them.
“Caleb. What the hell is going on, man?” I yell out again and get no response again.
I start to turn to go back inside when I notice some movement in one of the lounge chairs. I bet the asshole fell asleep out here; although, why he would have all these candles lit is beyond me, so I start to walk towards the chair.
What I see stops me dead in my tracks. Hair. Long red hair. That can’t be possible. I saw her drive away. I cautiously take a couple more steps, praying to God that my mind isn’t fooling me, when her legs come into view.
“Amelia?” I’m afraid to move. Afraid that if I move towards her, she’ll leave again.
She slowly turns to face me. I can already see the streaks down her cheeks from where she’s been crying.
“Myles.” She slowly stands and starts walking towards me. I still can’t get my feet to move. Dammit. She walks right up to me, stopping right in front of me, with tears still running down her face.
“I’m so sorry, Myles. I was just so scared. I never meant to hurt you. Can you ever forgive me? I love you, Myles. Do you still love me?” I can see the hurt in her eyes. The hurt she caused herself. The hurt she caused me.
The only thing I can do is wrap my arms around her, lifting her off ground, holding her as close to me as I can.
“God, Amelia. Yes, I love you. I could never stop loving you. You are my life.” I bury my face in her neck and start kissing her, lowering her back down until her feet are firmly planted on the ground. I place my thumb and forefinger on her chin, raising it so I can look her in the eyes.
“But, I don’t understand. You went back to Illinois. Would you please explain this to me? I’m a little confused right now.”
“Yes, I’ll explain. Let’s go inside and get a drink and I’ll tell you everything.” She says, grabbing my hand so we can go inside.
I go to the refrigerator and grab a bottle of wine while she gets two glasses down. I fill our glasses and we head back out to the deck so she can tell me what the hell is going on.
“I know I broke your heart the day I left and I know it broke your heart when I couldn’t tell you that I loved...”
“You didn’t have to say it, Amelia. I could see it in your eyes. I knew how you felt. You just needed to figure out how you felt.” God, it’s so nice to see that smile again.
“I know. It killed me to leave that day, but I had to figure some things out and come to terms with some things in order to move forward. I had to realize I didn’t need to be scared when it came to you. Anyway, after we got back to Illinois, I was depressed. I mean really depressed. I wasn’t doing anything but work and sleep. It just got worse over the last three months.” She squeezes my hand and smiles, then continues.
“Jamie came to my house one day and said she had had enough and that she had a plan, but wouldn’t tell me what it was. Come to find out, she has been talking to Caleb since we left, but for the last month they have been working together to find a house for us to move in to.”
“Caleb, what?” I couldn’t believe what she was telling me. For the last month, all those houses we looked at were for Jamie and Amelia. Why the hell didn’t he just tell me what was going on?
“I see the question on your face. Caleb didn’t tell you because he and Jamie wanted it to be a surprise. To the both of us I guess. Hell, Jamie even convinced work to take her word that I was giving my two weeks’ notice.
Evidently, they were so happy with the work we did, although they were sad to see us go, that they got a hold of a sister company down here so we would both have jobs. So, here we are. That is, if you still want me down here with you.”
She is staying. She’s here and she’s mine. “Amelia, of course I still want you here with me. I just can’t get over that Caleb and Jamie did that. I have been going crazy these last three months without you. I was to the point where I was ready to drive up there and get you myself.”
“Well, we’re here. I’m here and I don’t plan on moving again, unless it’s in with you. This is where you will find me.
This is my home now.” She is smiling that beautiful smile that I love to see.
I stand up and take her wine glass, set it down on the table, and then reach for her hands, pulling her up to me. I turn and start walking towards the sliding doors.
“Where are we going, Myles?” She’s laughing now, asking me this.
“We have some packing to do.” Now, she has stopped laughing and has a shocked looked on her face while I start laughing.
“Packing. We just got everything unpacked. Why the hell am I packing?”
“Because, you just sat out there and told me that the only way you were moving again was if you move in with me. Guess what? You’re moving. All you need to do is tell me what to pack and consider it done.”
“Myles, it’s late. I would like to talk about this before I just up and move again. Please, let’s just wait until tomorrow.”
Turning to look at her, I lower my head and start to kiss her, backing her up until she firmly placed between me and the wall.
“Amelia, if I had it my way, you would not only move in with me tonight, but come Monday morning we would be at the courthouse getting married. That is how serious I am about you. I don’t want to live another day without you. You are the air I breathe in. I don’t want to go to bed at night without you there right beside me. I don’t want to wake up in the morning without being able to look at your gorgeous body. I want to be able to take care of you, to make love to you. I want all of you, forever.”
How the hell I came up with all that shit is beyond me, but it’s the truth. I would marry her tomorrow if I could, but seeing the look in her eyes, I probably just scared the shit out of her.
“Tomorrow, Myles. Let’s talk tomorrow. It’s late and I’m tired from moving. Are you coming to bed with me?” I stand back, letting her step away from the wall and see her walk away. Towards the stairs this time. Yep, I’m definitely going to bed with her.
I turn to follow her up the stairs and into her room. I walk up behind her and start to undress her.
“I love you, Amelia. Please don’t ever walk away again.”
“I love you too, Myles. I’m not going to walk away again. I’m here. I’m yours. Always.”
“Damn straight. Now, let me show you what else I learned while doing some research on the internet. I think you’re going to like it.”
Thank God she’s back. I’m not going to let her walk away again. That’s not an option. There isn’t any other option. I’m glad she finally has come to realize that we belong together and that she shouldn’t be scared. I’m here and nothing is going to come between us again. I need to remember to do something nice for Ja
mie and Caleb. Thanks to them, there are no more distant miles between us. She’s here where she belongs. With me.
I want to thank everyone for their support while I started this journey.
And now……a preview of…
A New Face To Love……coming soon!
Prologue
It’s one thing to start out the first day of school thinking you get to pick your lab partner for science class. It’s something completely different when you learn the teacher assigns you one. Then to top it off, I got stuck with the new guy, Gerrit Andrews.
Normally, this wouldn’t be such a big deal, but this guy is cute. Even though I’m normally a loud and outgoing girl, I get nervous around guys…cute guys, to be exact.
The first week flies by without incident. Gerrit and I talk during lab. It turns out he’s really nice and he’s easy to talk to, so I’m finally able to relax around him. We become friends in no time at all.
As the weeks pass, we settle into a routine during our class. We talk about everything — what’s going on in school, at home, things we like to do, music we listen to, et cetera. The more I talk to Gerrit, the more I like him.
Would I ever tell him this? No.
Gerrit doesn’t live that far from me so we walk home together every day. His momma raised him right because he’ll walk me right up to my door and before he goes home, will say, “See you tomorrow, Jamie.”
I hardly ever see him talk to other students. I don’t think he has a lot of friends. Gerrit seems to be more on the quiet side. He keeps to himself, almost like he doesn’t want to get noticed.
Weeks turn into months and before I know it, my feelings for Gerrit are starting to change. While I tried not to act any different around him, I think he can tell.
The day I knew he figured it out was when he held my hand walking home. He never held my hand before. I wasn’t sure how to react, so I just let him. It was nice. As usual, Gerrit walked me to my door and said “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jamie,” …but then he leaned in and kissed me!
I just stood there looking at him. He had a huge smile on his face. I wasn’t sure what I should do, so I just smiled back and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Gerrit,” and he walked off.
Now, I’m back to being nervous. I get butterflies in my stomach whenever he’s around.
Since then, we started hanging out on the weekends, just talking and having fun. Now when he walks me home, I always get a kiss before he leaves.
Gerrit is all that I can think about. I think I’m in love. Of course, I finally figure that out now that the school year is almost over. Wow… If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that I would fall in love with my lab partner, I would have said you were nuts.
What am I going to do? We only have a week left until we graduate. Should I tell him that I’m in love with him? I have so many questions, but I don’t have a clue what to do.
Graduation day arrives. Today is the day I have decided to tell Gerrit that I love him. I just hope he doesn’t freak out on me when I do. I’ll wait until after the ceremony so there won’t be any weirdness between us if he doesn’t feel the same way. At least if I get rejected then, I can take off.
After we’ve received our diplomas, families gather around in little groups. Friends and families are hugging. Students are crying because they will be leaving for college. I look around to see if I can find Gerrit.
When I finally find him, he’s just standing there staring at me with a sad look on his face. We both start walking towards each other, taking our time, not wanting to rush. He pulls me into his arms and buries his head in my neck. He pulls back and looks at me. He looks as if he wants to say something, but just doesn’t know how. I wait, letting him take the time he needs to say what is on his mind.
“I love you, Jamie. Don’t ever forget that, okay.” What? Why is he telling me this? Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing that come from his mouth, but something is definitely wrong. I just don’t know what it is.
“I love you too, Gerrit. What’s wrong? There’s something going on that you’re not telling me.” He brings his hand up to cup my cheek and leans in to give me a kiss like never before. There is passion, hunger, want and need, all in this one kiss. My mind tells me something is terribly wrong, but my body is screaming ‘hell yeah!’ He breaks the kiss and leans his forehead on mine.
“Just always remember that I love you.” Then he turns and walks away. Hello, what the hell just happened?
That was the last time I saw Gerrit. It’s as if he just vanished off the face of the earth. That was the day my heart broke into a million pieces….
Distant Myles
A New Face to Love
Finding My Own
