Page 67 of The Fate of Us

I nod. We haven’t been together that long but I cannot deny the fact I want to spend my life with her.

“I’m glad you found her, Noah. I mean it.”

I meet Mason’s stare and nod. “I never thought I would find someone like her. I just hope I can get her back.”

“You will,” he says matter-of-factly. He takes another sip of his beer. “Tell me about Claire. And don’t give me some bullshit answer. Carson wouldn’t be so locked down on the situation if it was nothing.”

I pull the ice off my eye and squint. It’s gonna hurt even worse in the morning. “I don’t know, man. It’s nothing.”

“Bullshit. If it was nothing, you wouldn’t have me picking you up in an alleyway.”

Mason’s right but I can’t tell him what Carson did. I might be drunk but I have enough clarity to know that.

“I’m not letting you leave this room until you tell me. I won’t tell Hunter or Asher. Obviously I won’t tell Mom and Dad. But you pulled me into this situation.”

I rub my hand over my face trying to avoid my eye. “It’s complicated.”

“No shit.” Mason studies me while I sip on my beer. I put the ice back on my face and wince at the pain. “She looked weird, man.”

I look at him quizzically. Claire looked the same to me maybe more put together. She was well dressed and fashionable. It’s nothing new, she always looked presentable but she does have an air about her she didn’t have before. “What do you mean?”

“Dude, she was driving a Range Rover. Unless she won a bunch of money, she never could afford that with her job.”

Claire was a marketing assistant when we were married. “Maybe she got a good promotion.”

Mason rests his chin in his palm. “Maybe. But it also looked like she had a designer bag. She was dressed like she had a shit ton of money. When she left you, she didn’t take anything from your joint accounts.”

“How do you know that?”

“Carson told me.”

I close my eyes and rest my head on the back of the couch. “I don’t know. It’s weird. Everything. When Carson finally found her after a year, she was living in New Jersey.”

“Maybe she moved up to the east side. Found herself another man.”

I let out a deep breath. “I don’t know. Maybe. We can’t find shit on her right now.”

“Maybe Carson should have his P.I. look into marriage certificates for her.”

“This all sounds crazy. Claire was never crazy.”

Mason snorts. “Dude, she left you with a fucking note. If you don’t think that’s crazy, I don’t know what it is.”

I sip my beer. “I just want this to be over. I just want to be back in bed with Anna the day after her birthday. Everything was right that morning. Everything felt perfect.”

Mason stands and sits next to me on the arm of the couch. “You’ll get there again. I know you will.”

21

Anna

I gripthe necklace around my neck. We are about to do our first showcase of the workshop and I am nervous as hell. There are record executives, musicians, Grammy nominated artists all sitting in the audience at the Bluebird Café. Yes, we have a showcase at the Bluebird. I honestly might shit myself.

I wish I could talk to Noah right now. He has a way of calming me, helping me re-center.

My fingers fumble with the raw stone. When I got to my hotel room and unpacked my suitcase I found the necklace inside. Noah must have put it in when he took my suitcase to the car. It was wrapped inside a piece of paper with a note.

I love you. Knock ‘em dead. I’ll be waiting for you.

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