Page 30 of Never To Forever

The sheets are cold.

My heart sinks. I push myself up on one elbow, scanning the room. His clothes are gone, his boots missing from where they’d been kicked off near the door. He’s not here.

I lay back down, staring at the ceiling, trying to push away the ache building in my chest. He left without a word.

I shouldn’t feel this way—I knew what we were doing last night. It wasn’t like either of us made promises or talked about what it meant. Still, there’s this hollow feeling I can’t ignore, a creeping fear that maybe I overestimated how much last night mattered to him. Maybe I let myself hope a little too much that we were finally turning a corner together.

I grab my phone from the nightstand and type out a quick text.

Marie: Hey. Just wanted to check in. Did you get home okay?

I hesitate before hitting send, wondering if it sounds too needy. What else am I supposed to say? After a few seconds of agonizing indecision, I send it.

The message delivers. I wait a few minutes, but no reply comes.

I sigh, tossing my phone onto the bed and forcing myself to get up. There’s no use sitting here overthinking. I have to go to work, and if nothing else, maybe the routine of my day will distract me.

The morning drags as I shower, throw on a dress, and try to make myself look halfway put together. My reflection in the mirror doesn’t help. My hair feels impossible to tame, and there’s a tired look in my eyes I can’t seem to blink away.

“Pull yourself together, Marie,” I mutter to myself.

At the library, I go through the motions—unlocking the doors, turning on the lights, straightening shelves, and logging into the system. It’s usually my favorite part of the day, the quiet time before anyone comes in, when the world feels calm. Today, it just feels empty. Part of me hopes Garrett will show up. That he’ll come in and give me a logical reason for leaving so early and not responding to my text. Then, he’ll kiss me and ask me out to dinner.

But the hours tick by, and there’s no sign of him.

By lunchtime, I’m restless. My mind stuck replaying last night and the way he looked at me, the way he touched me like I mattered, like he couldn’t get close enough. The pleasure we shared and the feel of his arms around me as I cuddled against his chest and fell asleep listening to his heartbeat. Was it all just in my head?

I pull out my phone again and check for a reply to my text. Nothing. The disappointment hits me harder than I want to admit.

“Marie? Are you okay, dear?”

Startled, I find Kathy watching me, her brow furrowed in concern.

Swallowing, I quickly reply, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

She frowns and shakes her head. “You’ve been preoccupied all day. Something’s on your mind.”

I force a reassuring smile and insist, “Really, I’m all good. You don’t have to worry.”

Kathy still doesn’t appear convinced. She gazes around, as if looking for something, or someone, and then focuses back on me.

“It’s been so long since Garrett has been by,” she says at length. “Where’s he been hiding?”

Sucking in a breath, I tense, feeling as if she’s able to see straight through me. Clearing my throat, I reply, “I think he’s just been busy, that’s all.”

Kathy regards me for several moments, and I’m afraid she’s going to press me for a better answer. I don’t know what to tell her. Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on with Garrett. How do I explain that every time we have a physical encounter, he disappears on me? First our kiss, then last night. He’s just… gone. As if he thinks he can run from the intimacy we’ve shared.

Instead of digging further, Kathy says, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my years, Marie, it’s that you can’t give up on anything or anyone you truly care about. Life is far too short not to grab onto what you want with both hands and hang on to it with all your strength. It can take some time, but you just have to keep fighting. You don’t want to live with any regrets.”

I blink, taken aback by her sudden advice.

“O…okay,” I stammer, unsure what else I should say.

She gives me a soft smile and turns back to her work, checking returned books back into the system. I just sit and watch her for several seconds before focusing back on my own work. Her words continue to play inside my mind, though, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s right. If Garrett is the man I really want, how long am I willing to keep fighting for him?

* * *

Kathy’s advice stays at the forefront of my mind until the end of the day. When I leave the library to head home, I still have no idea what I’m going to do about Garrett, but I can’t deny that my feelings for him are as strong as ever.

---