Page 67 of The Girl I Once Loved

My forehead wrinkles at how Curt needs Noah to help him back on his feet.

“Are you okay?” I ask worriedly.

“I’m fine.” Curt smiles. “Just an old back injury that comes up every so often. It’s the price of getting older. Your mind might still be as quick as a whip, but your sore bones and limbs aren’t as forgiving.”

“Maybe we should rest?” my mother says, concerned.

“None of that. I need to make sure I give Daisy the best father/daughter dance she could possibly wish for.”

I see it in his eyes that he means it.

It’s an honor that he wants to do justice to. He knows that Daisy could have easily asked Grant to walk her down the aisle and have this dance. But then again, Grant has never been my sister’s favorite person, so I wasn’t surprised she didn’t even invite him to attend, much less hold the honors the father of the bride should have.

When I asked Daisy if she wanted me to at least call him up and ask him to come, her answer was a strong clipped no.

“He wasn’t there for me in my worst times. Why should he get to celebrate my best ones?”

And that was the end of that discussion.

I can’t say the same though.

Grant stepped up when I needed him to. It was only that one time, but I’ll be forever in his debt regardless.

My mother then chooses a slow song from their playlist, and they begin to sway along to it. Taking a cue from our parents, and before I’m able to stop him, Noah places my arms around his neck and snakes his arms around my waist. I tongue my cheek as we sway left to right, glancing over to Curt and Mom every so often, seeing that they are now deep in their loving bubble, completely oblivious to anyone around them.

Even after fifteen years of marriage, they are still as in love as they were in the beginning.

Love always finds a way.

My mother’s words come back to me now, and as I take them in, I realize how easy it is for my mother to believe in such a thing. After all they had to endure, after a failed first marriage and the death of a first love, fate would still be kind to them and give them one more shot at true love.

But what if my shot already happened?

What if the love my mother was talking about already happened to me and it slipped through my fingers?

In a blink of an eye, I not only lost the one person I loved most in this world, but myself too.

“What are you thinking about?” Noah asks hoarsely, searching my eyes.

You.

“Nothing,” I mumble instead of telling him the truth.

“Liar,” he accuses, his hold tightening around me.

I lift my chin up and hold his gaze with mine.

“Takes one to know one, doesn’t it?”

His ocean blue eyes dim with sadness, coaxing my own to come forth in thunderous waves. I swallow dryly and turn my head to the side, only for Noah to gently push it to nestle against his chest. I’m about to push myself off him, but then catch my mother glancing over at us, a tender smile stretched on her lips, unknowingly forcing me to stay exactly where I am.

“I deserved that,” Noah whispers pained in my ear. “Fuck, I more than deserve that.”

All I can do is nod, feeling as if my heart might leap out of my throat if he forces me to say even one word. I let him run his fingers through my hair, my breathing starting to come out in spurts with how gentle he’s being with me.

But still, I don’t push away.

Instead, I continue to dance with him. I try to focus on the sweet melody of the song, but all I can hear is the drumming of our synced heartbeats—Noah’s and mine.

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