Page 100 of Heartless

Nodding, he says, “That’s what I tried telling her, but she wouldn’t listen. She thought it was her mission to be there for others, and if she couldn’t accomplish that, then what was her purpose. Mom went into a dark depression. No one could reach her, not even me. She’d be holed up in her cottage for days on end without stepping out.”

“I thought she said that she hadn’t missed a sunrise in twenty-two years?”

He nods. “She hasn’t. She would get up and go into the living room and watch it from the window, but she’d turn around and go back to bed again. She said that the sun rising gave her hope. If she could see it rise, then that meant she’d lived to see another day. But nothing was inspiring for her beyond that.”

“Wow. She’s such a bright spark it’s hard to see Claire that way.”

“I know. At one point, things got so dark that she became suicidal. Walked right out into that ocean and tried to end it all.”

Understanding dawns on me now. It’s why she came to me that day when I was in the ocean and why she assumed that’s what I was going to do.

“Who stopped her?”

Shaking his head, he says, “No one person as much as a revelation. She said that when the water knocked her feet from underneath her, she had a vision of a young woman doing the same thing. And that if she wasn’t here, then she wouldn’t be able to stop that woman and anyone after that.”

“When did she tell you this?”

Shrugging, he says, “About a year ago.”

Deep emotions rise within me, but I press my hand against my eyes to stop the tears that want to come.

“So, the cancer,” I prompt him to continue his story.

“She beat it again, but after struggling with depression for so long, she didn’t think she was the best person to counsel anyone.”

“That’s even more reason why she’s perfect to do that job. Someone who has gone through things that other people have would have more sound logic and would be more relatable than someone who hasn’t gone through anything.”

“I’ve tried telling her that, but she wouldn’t listen. I don’t know what it was you said or didn’t say, but in the couple of months that you’ve been here, you’ve done her a world of good.”

“I don’t think that I’ve done anything.”

“You’ve done more than you know. She looks forward to your encounters. She told me the other day that she’s going to start taking clients again.”

“That’s wonderful news!”

“Yeah, so I just wanted to thank you for everything,” Matt says, leaning in and wrapping his arm around me in a one-shoulder hug.

“You’re welcome,” I say, turning and giving him a full-body embrace.

My heart slams against my rib cage as I meet the darkest gaze that I’ve ever seen.

Where in the hell did he come from, and is that jealousy I see in his gaze?

God, he’s never looked more beautiful yet exhausted at the same time. Are those dark shadows underneath his eyes?

I want to run to him and kiss him. I want to hold him, but I won’t. I can’t. But God, how I miss and love that man. He’s so beautiful.

“Onyx?”

Matt pulls back and turns to stare behind him. He smiles up at Onyx and stands. He reaches down to help me stand.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m asking myself that same question now,” he says in a growl.

Interesting.

“Matt, this is Onyx. Onyx, this is Matt,” I say, not bothering to further the introductions.

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