Page 27 of Husband Material
My beautiful surfing man just does not yet know the depths of what he could give if only he would allow the love to break through the hurt that lived in his heart.
Never forget.
I will never forget you, Gage.
My love.
10
Four days later.
“You holding up okay?"
I frowned as I lolled back onto my bed, closing my eyes. Although Gray's call was our first talk since our meal at Jazz Street a little over a month ago, I could guess that Reid had filled him in on all the Giselle details he'd pried out of me since her departure.
Couldn't have even one week to myself to process things before my friends came crowding in. Nope. Reid had shown up unannounced the very next day after Giselle left, and seeing my dejected state, had point-blank guessed the whole thing.
Clearing my dry throat, I lied, "I'm okay, Gray."
"Good. At least it was only a month."
"Yeah," I echoed hollowly.
A month,I reminded myself.Only a month.Not long enough to truly know anyone…or to fall in love with them. Whatever I'd felt for Giselle was just lust in its purest form.
You keep telling yourself that, asshole.
It was common knowledge that those spur-of-the- moment, love-at-first-sight Vegas weddings never worked out. Not for rich and famous celebrities, and definitely not for us regular people. No matter how strongly I believed I cared for Giselle, all it could be was simple head-over-heels lust.
Liar. Just keep on lying to yourself, motherfucker.
"How are things with you?" I asked. My attempt at being a decent friend, before I indulged in bad manners crying about my life without asking about his.
"Really great, actually." His sorry tone set my teeth on edge. "Reese is getting impatient for the baby to be born. She's cranky and uncomfortable and in need of constant reassurance that she'll be a good mom, and that I'll still love her if she weighs a few pounds more than she did before. Shit like that. And it's just…great…"
I tuned Gray out as I pretend-listened to him tell me how "great" it was to be with the one you love and living through the milestones of life I'd probably never experience. I started rifling through the contents of my bedside drawer as a distraction. It was a catchall for pencils, receipts and random notes, so when my hand made contact with something unfamiliar, I pulled it out.
A piece of drawing paper from Elysium.
"Gage?" Gray asked.
I turned the paper over and saw words written in a familiar hand.
"Yeah?" I answered on autopilot.
"Reid's dating this new girl. She's Brazilian and so tall she has to—"
I stopped listening to whatever the fuck he was saying because…I was reading the poem in my hand.
love
is not just a word with you
love
is your sweet kiss at the small of my back
love
