Page 55 of After All This Time

Getting in the car, I drop my purse by my feet.

Noah gets in, realizing how close he is to the steering wheel. “Are you really that short?”

“Don’t make fun of my height.”

“I’m not. I don’t know if it’s safe to be this close to the wheel.”

“Awe, you care about my safety.” I give him a cute puppy dog pout.

“I never said that.”

“Your eyes did.”

“Are you ready to go to the grocery store?” Noah asks, sticking his thumbs up like an idiot.

Sitting in the parking lot in front of Marina’s Diner, I watch the moonlight bouncing off the ocean from here.

I haven’t been to Marina’s in a long time because it reminds me too much of Dad, but I missed going there. Seeing Marina and feeling my dad’s presence was oddly comforting.

I never pictured myself being there with Noah. It was weird talking to him about Dad. My writer’s block. Yet, it was kind of nice talking to him how normal people talk to each other.

“Yo, Solomon!” he shouts, snapping me back from staring off into space.

“What?”

“Grocery store.”

I shrug my shoulders. “What about it?”

“We need to stock up the fridge,” he says. “What’s up with you? You’re acting weird.”

“It’s just…I wish I could snap my fingers and wake Lizzie up. I wish I could rewind time to somehow put a stop to the car that hit them. I know they’re your family, but I’ve always considered them my family too. I wish I could do more to help.” My voice is shaky and broken up.

“You have no idea how remarkable you are, Dani. It’s only been a little over a day. Why are you putting unnecessary pressure on yourself?”

I gulp down his kind words, absorbing them into my body.

Did he just say I’m remarkable?

My lips swerve to the side of my face and find their way back to where they were. A smile slowly grows on my face which is wet from my salty tears. “It’s weird hearing you compliment me.”

“You need to hear every compliment that exists. You put so much pressure on yourself. You always put others first. It’s time to start putting yourself first for once in your life.”

“I always assumed you got the impression I was full of myself.”

“I did,” he says, backing up out of the parking space.

“If we're both being honest, I was wrong about you, too,” I confess softly.

He licks his lips, looking at me for a split second until we’re on the road. Now he’s concentrating on driving. “How so?”

“I thought you were a little egotistical.” I lift my hand, pressing my index finger and thumb together like I’m pinching something. “I was convinced you only cared about yourself. I’ve discovered you’d do anything to protect the people you care about. I admire that about you.”

His ocean eyes pierce through my dark brown eyes, cutting through all the noise. He smiles so wide, blinding me with his pearly white teeth.

Gravity doesn’t exist on the planet I’m on right now.

“I’m sorry. Did you just say you admire me?”

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