Page 8 of July
6
Charity
Iblink up at the man who devastated my heart so many years ago, not quite daring to believe his explanation. “You only married Jillian because she got pregnant on your first date? You don’t love her?”
“I care about Jillian––a great deal, and I always will. She’s the mother of my child. But there’s only room in my heart to love one woman, and that’s you, Charity. I’ve loved you since we were kids. I was so stupid to ever let you get away, but I’ve learned my lesson. I won’t let that happen again.”
His words are too good to be true. I must be dreaming. My eyelashes flutter as I try to figure out if this is real. “But you looked so happy on your wedding day.”
Garrett shakes his head. “I don’t know what look you think you saw, but it certainly wasn’t happiness. I was marrying a woman I didn’t know and didn’t love. I made a dumb mistake by sleeping with her on our first date, but it brought me Silas, so I don’t regret it. I was just so heartbroken over the thought of you marrying someone else that I was willing to try anything to forget it––even for a moment.”
Understanding that sentiment, I scoff before saying, “I get that, but you actuallydidmarry someone else.”
“I’m so sorry.” Garrett looks deeply into my eyes and clasps both of my hands within his. “I’d give anything not to have hurt you like that.”
“Twice,” I remind him, allowing traces of my bitterness to escape.
“The first time around, I realized my mistake in breaking up with you and came to apologize and beg you to take me back,” he tells me.
Stunned by this news, I ask, “Seriously?”
He nods before continuing. “It was homecoming night for both of our schools. I came to your campus to surprise you after I quarterbacked our team to a win. When I arrived, you and your date had just been crowned homecoming king and queen, and you tipped up to plant a kiss on his lips. I had never kissed anyone but you, and I didn’t have any desire to. Seeing you kiss someone else crushed me. I dropped the flowers I’d brought for you and ran out of that gymnasium as fast as I could.”
“I never had any idea,” I tell him. My voice is filled with wonder as I try to picture this new version of events from that fateful night so many years ago.
Deciding I owe him the truth, too, I say, “I did kiss my date that night, but as soon as our lips touched, I knew it was all wrong. He wasn’t you. I recoiled from him and broke up with him immediately. I drove to your school that night. I didn’t know what I was going to say, since you had broken things off with me, but I knew I needed to see you. When I found your car, the windows were steamed up. You were in the backseat with a cheerleader, and she was touching parts of you that I thought were mine.”
My voice is a high-pitched squeak by the time I reach the end of my version of the story as I try to hold back my tears.
“Charity,” Garrett breathes out, looking devastated over the combined mistakes of our past. His expression softens as he gazes down into my eyes and says, “I’ve messed things up royally, but you’re the one for me. You’ve always been the only one for me.”
“And you’re the only one for me,” I answer sincerely as I brush my fingers through the short hair at the side of his head.
When he tips down and presses his soft lips to mine, it’s as if the years that have passed since we’ve been a couple fly away. His kiss is the only thing that matters. He is my home.
