Page 28 of Connected By Souls

“That’s all I ever want you to feel around me. Is that what your dream was about last night? About losing me?”

Nodding, her eyes fill with tears. “I used to have these awful nightmares about walking up to my parents’ wrecked car and seeing their lifeless eyes staring back at me. Last night instead of my parents, it was yours. I’ve never been so scared in my life,” she whispers.

“Oh, Em. No one knows what the future holds, but you have to take all you can get while you have the chance. I plan on living a very long life anyway because I just met this amazing, beautiful girl, and I feel like my life is finally getting started.” I wink at her and make her smile.

She wipes her eyes and gives me a small laugh. “Skye’s been telling me the same thing. Not to be afraid of losing people I love and be thankful for every moment we have.”

“Sounds like a wise friend. So, you’re saying you love me?” I grin like an idiot now.

“That’s not what I meant—I mean..” She gets all red in the face and flustered.

“I’m just messing with you. I know what you meant. Although you will find out, I’m quite easy to love.” I smile and take a bite of steak.

Shaking her head at me, she tries to hide her smile. “Well, now that you know my whole life story, you have to give me something back. What’s your family like? How many siblings do you have?”

Ignoring the question, my thoughts go straight to one thing. “What happened with Tyler?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s a real fun story, too.” She takes a sip of wine and rolls her eyes. “Well, like I said earlier, he started working more to avoid me at home. I really did want to get better, not only for myself but for our relationship. I wanted to show him I was the same person he fell in love with. So, one day, I went to the salon for the first time in months to put myself back together. I got the works done. Hair, nails, you name it, and I was feeling more and more like the old me. I planned to cook him a nice dinner and wear a sexy dress since I had been living in sweatpants for nearly a year.

“I skipped yoga that day and got home early. I walked in on Tyler and his new secretary. I saw her surprised look first because Tyler had his head between her legs. Apparently, with all those late nights at work, they had fallen in love, and I was just too much of a mess for him. What was the word he used?” She taps her lip with her finger pretending to think. “Ah, yes, broken. I was too broken for him.”

“Son of a bitch,” I mutter under my breath. I never wanted to punch someone more than I did right now. Is that why she thought she was broken? Because this fucker said she was? Trying to control my anger, I take a deep breath. “You are not broken. You went through something unimaginable, a pain most people never experience in their lifetime, but you survived. You picked yourself back up, and you survived. The only thing broken around here will be his nose if I ever see that fucker’s face around you again.”

She giggles, “Well, I almost did that. When he lifted his head, the first thing I could grab was the Beck Hunter book I was reading off the counter. I threw it at him, hitting him right in the nose. Blood started pouring all over the girl, and then she started screaming, flailing her arms, and she hit him again in the same spot on accident.”

Both of us laugh at the mental image in our heads. “That’s the best answer you could have said,” secretly loving that my book did this to him. Talk about the irony.

“He called me on Sunday asking me back.” She takes a bite of her potato.

I look up at her, narrowing my eyes, “He did? What the hell did he say?”

“He wants me back, says he still loves me.” She shrugs her shoulders and looks innocent like she doesn’t know that this bothers me.

“And?”

“And I thanked him.” She takes another bite of food.

“You thanked him? Why in the hell would you thank him?” I start to get irritated.

“I told him I’m glad he did what he did because if he hadn’t cheated on me, I probably would never have moved. But he did, and now I’m here sitting with you.”

Feeling some of the irritation leave, a small smile escapes my lips. “I guess that makes sense. Just don’t think for one second if I ever see him that I will thank him to his face. He’ll be lucky to walk away with his nose intact.” I stab a piece of steak with my fork.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she giggles.

Finishing off the last of our dinner, we clear the table and walk into the kitchen. Nala runs straight for her bowl, knowing she’ll get any leftover steak. Topping her bowl off, I put the dishes in the sink. I don’t want this night to end. Thinking of an idea, I open the kitchen drawer and grab two flashlights. “Come with me.” I hold out my hand to her.

Looking at my hand, unsure what to do, she takes it. “Ok, where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” Leading her to the back deck and into the yard, we make our way to the steps leading down to the beach. Making sure the gate is shut so Nala doesn’t escape, I turn my flashlight on so we can see as I lead her down the stairs.

Once we arrive at the bottom, she takes her shoes off while I go under the stairs, where I keep some beach items. Finding two small nets, I return and hand her one, along with a flashlight. “Did you ever do this when you were younger with your parents?”

“Are we crab hunting?” She asks excitedly.

“So you have done this before.”

“My parents used to do this with me whenever we stayed on the beach here. I loved doing this after dinner and being able to stay up late.”

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