Page 102 of The Last Dance

‘Because if I lost you, I’d have to face my own past. Which I probably should have done a long time ago anyway.’

I nod, completely in shock over his secret. I laugh to myself, because that’s what I do when I don’t know how to react to things.

‘What?’ he asks.

‘I just…’ I laugh, making Noah smile. ‘I never saw any of this coming. I always pictured you as this innocent guy who’d never done anything wrong and now I learn that you ran out on a wedding and you hit my best friend. You’re a madman, Noah.’

He laughs with me. ‘Not even a little bit. You have no idea how glad I was that he didn’t hit me back.’

I finally stand from the stool I’m sitting on and walk towards him. ‘What are your plans now?’

He shrugs. ‘Well… I need to finish paying for the wedding. Her dad decided, since I was the one who ran, that I would be the one to pay for everything. Besides that, I don’t know yet. I should probably finally apologize to her.’

I nod. ‘That’s rough.’

‘You have no idea.’ He laughs, standing from the table and heading towards my front door. ‘I should probably go.’ He opens the door, stopping and turning towards me. ‘I’m sorry I never told you any of this. You deserve to be happy, Ambri. If Henry does that for you, I’m glad.’

‘I think he does.’ The grin on my face grows. ‘Iknowhe does, actually.’

‘Good. Well, if you ever need me to save you from baking a cake or whatever, you know my number.’

‘911?’ I laugh but a piece of me is the tiniest bit sad for Noah. I was so focused on my own issues I never even noticed that he had his own.

‘See ya later, Ambri.’

I wave, watching him close the door and feeling… relieved? That did not go how I thought it was going to go. Whether Henry had come back or not, Noah and I would have never made it based on what I just heard.

*

Claire knocks on my front door as she opens it. I called her after Noah left. I need to talk through some things before I end up talking to Henry again. He was right the other day at The Bite of Oregon when he said I was his person. There is no denying it at this point.

‘You guys broke up?’

‘Yeah.’ I nod, a slight smile on my face. ‘Turns out Noah had his own shit going on under the surface.’ I’m still shocked even thinking about everything he said. ‘And he confronted Henry earlier.’

‘I know…’ Claire sits next to me, her eyes wide. ‘Ben told me all about it.’

‘I’m in love with him, Claire. Totally and completely in a way that doesn’t feel anything like before.’

‘I know that too.’ Claire laughs.

‘What if he runs away again? What if things get bad and he gets depressed again?’ That’s my fear now. That somehow, I won’t be enough at some point and he’ll run from me when things get tough.

‘He’s faced a lot of his demons recently. I know he’ll probably never completely be rid of them, but I think he’s really grown through all this.’

I don’t want to ask this next question but I’m afraid if I don’t, it’ll always be there, haunting me when I least expect it.

‘Do you think Rory would hate me?’ It’s a question I’ve been asking myself since I slept with him. I never intended to fall in love with my best friend, the guy she dated all those years ago, and if she were still here I’m sure it never would have happened.

*

I walk into her hospital room the day after she asked Henry to get married as her last thing to do before she passed. I struggled at home last night. Henry slept over, sleeping on my couch. Neither of us wanted to be alone but I couldn’t sleep so I wrote her a letter. All the things I wanted to say to her, but I couldn’t seem to say out loud.

‘Hey,’ I say as I walk in.

‘Hi.’ She smiles, a smile I know I’ll forever miss.

‘I wrote this to you. I… I can’t find the words to say it out loud.’ I hand her the folded paper and crawl up on her bed, sitting next to her. She unfolds it and reaches out for my hand as she reads silently.

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