Page 69 of Return To You

My words are cut off as Rose slams her lips against mine, her body falling on me, and I groan, opening my mouth, allowing her entrance as her tongue slides inside, and I tangle mine with hers, deepening the kiss, holding her to me as she grips my hair.

Jesus, she’s perfect.

After making out for a few minutes, I slow the kiss as I put my hand in my pocket.

Giving her a few pecks, she leans back a little, her eyes wet, and I can’t help the smile that takes over my face. because I can see it….

Her eyes are giving me what I need. She’s going to give me a chance, and that’s all I need to win her back, because our kind of love never dies.

Do I still need to prove myself to her? Yeah, I do, and I need her to show me she’ll never leave, but I think we’ll get through this.

These past two years were only a blip in the lifetime together I’m aiming for.

Slowly, I lift my arms, place my hands behind her neck, and unclasp her necklace, making her furrow her brows until the weight of the silver ring with a 25-carat diamond drops next to the music pendant shaped into an N.

I re-clasp her necklace as she picks up the ring, then looks at me in shock.

Gently, I place my hand over hers on the ring.

I whisper, “I did have another ring, it was small, and it’s at home, if you still want it to put on your other hand. But this one I bought a week after my first paycheck, before buying the house.” Her tears fall again. I grip the back of her neck with my other hand, and I confess, “I never stopped loving you, Rose, this ring is proof of that…. All I’m asking is for one chance to show you how much I love and need you. I want a chance to make it right.”

“Noah,” she chokes, and I gently kiss her lips, needing to get this out.

“What I want, my Petal,” I rasp against her lips, “is for you to try and trust me again, to see if we can work out, and if you think we can, then when you’re ready, I want you to put this ring where it belongs, and I’ll marry you the next day in Vegas.” She sobs. “And if you can’t, then wear it and allow me to keep trying before you give up on us. You fought, Rose, for two years. You cared for our son as you grew him, then birthed him, and continued to fight for us—you may think you didn’t, but you did. You gave him my last name, you even got a tattoo with my name and the date we met on your wrist. You fought for us, so let me fight for us now; let me show you we’ll get through this….”

My gaze is pinned to hers, and I beg, “Please, Rose, just one chance….”

I hold my breath, hoping and praying as her eyes grow distant.

Please, baby, don’t give up now….

twenty-four

Rose – Two Weeks Later

Gently,I roll the engagement ring Noah gave me between my fingers, still on the chain, while the small silver diamond ring he bought back in high school sits on my finger on my right hand, opposite my ring finger. My emotions are all over the place, even two weeks after he made his confessions.

My eyes catch the ring on my finger, and my heart hurts a little, knowing we could have been married by now.

Cameron gave it to me yesterday without Noah knowing.

Cameron went back home to see his family, and I quietly asked him to grab the ring, and since he knew where it was, he took it.

I promised to give Noah a chance, which means I need to try as well. Knowing he hasn’t been with anyone else helped a lot with my decision.

Wearing the original ring on the opposite hand is me showing him I will try.

“I think I prefer the small one,” Natalie says as she comes up beside me, placing the tray of empty A1 bottles, and salt and pepper shakers on the counter.

I snort, push off the counter, and grab the container of salt to start refilling the empties.

The diner has just closed. While Natalie and I are on refill duty, Peter is scrubbing all the chairs, booths, and tables.

“Liar,” I say as I unscrew all the saltshaker lids.

“Hm, maybe, but you, on the other hand, do prefer it, don’t you?” she asks, and I smile a little, loving that she knows me so well.

I never had a real friend outside of the boys in high school, so it's nice having one now, and it’s something I never take for granted.

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