Page 94 of Unforgettable

There was nothing else in that moment besides the two of us.

It was a heartbreakingly painful contrast to what we had become. What I had turned us into. We were just two men, miles apart, whose hearts beat in the same rhythm.

Our hearts beat for love and happiness and a future, that I had stolen from both of us.

And for what?

“Knock. Knock.” Callie’s voice interrupts my thoughts. I hear her footsteps come closer, and I don’t bother hiding what I’m staring at. “Reeve,” she says, her voice pained. “That photo…”

She doesn’t need to finish the sentence, because the picture says a thousand words.

“You were right,” I blurt out, without taking my eyes off the screen. “Oz isn’t Micah.”

I feel two hands press on my shoulders. “What we have, the way I feel, how much I love him,” I say, my voice shaky, the emotion thick and unbearable in my throat. “A few months with him was so much more than anything Micah and I had.”

I flick through more photos, punishing and absolving myself at the same time.

I should’ve never let him go.

“I hurt him before he could hurt me,” I confess. “I was making him pay for mistakes he never made.”

Callie bends, and I feel her wrap her arms around my neck. “Apologize to him, Reeve.” She kisses my cheek. “Everybody makes mistakes, Reeve. Go to Vermont, and get Oz to forgive you for yours.”

I will make this right.

24

Reeve

“It’s a good thing you agreed to pay your half of the rent for the remainder of the lease while you weren’t here,” Murph says, opening our apartment door for me.

“Is that how you greet your best friend?” I ask, walking in and putting my suitcase down on the floor.

“It is when it’s taken this long for said friend to get his shit together.” He opens his arms for me. “Come to Mama.”

Smiling, I hug Murph, and I feel that blanket of heaviness, heartache, and guilt slowly start to rise. Even when I was too far in my own head, Murph stuck around. He’s the epitome of unconditional friendship, and even though I don’t deserve him, he’s the best friend I’ve ever had, and I have no intention of that ever changing.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he says as we step apart. “It’s been so quiet without you.”

I chuckle. “We were hardly ever home at the same time.”

“But your clothes kept me company. I knew you were always coming back when your clothes were here.”

Rolling my eyes, I grab my bag and head for my room. “Since you like my clothes so much, you should come and help me unpack.”

Murph proceeds to follow me into my room, but the unpacking never comes. We lie on my bed together and I tell him everything I’ve been doing for the last four weeks. And much to his disappointment, besides dealing with a broken heart, there hasn’t been much else.

“So, what exactly is your plan?” Murph asks, sitting up. “Are you going to tell him you’re here? That you’re staying?”

“I just want to see him,” I tell Murph. “And if he doesn’t look like he’s done with my shit, I’ll tell him what I should’ve told him before I left.”

“And what’s that?”

“I love him,” I say wholeheartedly. “I’m so in love with him.”

Murph falls back onto the bed with a dreamy sigh. “He’s going to carry you over his shoulder and you’re just going to sail off into the sunset, also known as his bed, and never leave.”

“Is that so?” I say with a laugh and lightness in my chest I haven’t felt in so long.

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