Page 64 of Come Home to Me

Isn’t it strange how such a stupid thing could lead to something so wonderful?

And then, in the blink of an eye, that wonderful thing is gone.

Everything in life is so damned nebulous. The good. The bad. Each moment is a puff of smoke. There and then gone in an instant. If only there was a way to know when you were in the best of all the moments. To pause and experience the infinity between each second. To close our eyes and inhale the vastness of the world.

My smile slips from its place as I step onto the sidewalk. And now, while I’m surrounded by people, the tears finally decide to make an appearance. I swipe at my cheeks and duck into Derby’s as I come to the conclusion that I’m running out of options.

I have nowhere to go.

Frank doesn’t want to talk to me.

It doesn’t matter if he didn’t sleep with Bree if he doesn’t want to be found.

I wander through the mostly empty restaurant, step up to the bar, have a seat, and put my head in my hands.

I could stick around in Denver, burn through the little bit of savings I’ve built back up in the hopes that somehow, I’ll manage to find Frank and figure out what’s going on.

Or…

I could go back to Brookside and put my life back together there.

Neither option sounds particularly appealing.

“Sarah?”

I look up and find myself face to face with Frank. Not the mean, dirty Frank I met at his apartment, but the Frank I know and love. The one with the perfectly messy hair. The light behind his eyes. His glasses slipping down his nose. A pair of jeans and a T-shirt hugging a body that belongs on billboards.

“Frank?”

I start to stand, intent on rushing into his arms and wrapping myself up in the safety of his strength, but catch myself. I don’t know if he wants me anymore.

“What are you doing here?” he asks.

For one second, I consider playing it off like I don’t care. Hiding from the truth. Giving him some nonchalant answer that lets me keep my dignity and then turning around and walking right back out of this place.

But I don’t do that.

I can’t do that.

What Frank and I had is worth way more than my old bullshit.

“I was looking for you.” I swallow and cross my arms. “I waited at your apartment, but your neighbor told me he’d call the cops if I didn’t leave, so I ended up back here. The first place I ever saw you.” I shrug, not sure what else to say now that I’m finally staring Frank in the face. “You?”

Relief softens the space between his eyes. “I’ve been looking for you, too.”

I hold myself tight, unsure of what to do or say next. The past few days have been so confusing, so filled with doubt and a million different reasons for different sides of the story to be true. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to try better than that. I’ve been calling you all morning…”

Frank steps closer as his eyes beg me for something I don’t understand. “I broke my phone, being a douchebag. Or I would have called you the minute I got myself under control. I tried to come see you at work,” Frank says. “I wanted to meet you out front first thing this morning, but I didn’t know they were repaving my garage and my car got towed. By the time I got to McDougan & Kent, you were gone. Jason told me you went to my place, and there’s an Uber on the way to take me there, but I came in here to wait. Because it’s the first place we met.”

I widen my eyes and stifle a laugh. I’m supposed to be mad at him. I think. Or maybe I’m supposed to be understanding, because lord knows we all make mistakes, me most of all. But really, all I feel is thankful that he’s standing here in front of me. “Your car got towed?”

“Yeah. Talk about a shitty day, you know? No phone. No car. No way to find the woman I love.”

His words launch fireworks in my heart.

The woman I love.

Be still.

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