Some Loves (18 page)

“I promise,” I said in a shaky voice, “
that I will always be honest with you.”

“Then,” he said as he took my hand, “I promise that I will trust you. I don’t want to live without you Emory. I’ve tried twice now. It sucks. I miss you, can’t stop thinking about you. I guess it’s time I just took a leap of faith.”

“I can’t promise to never make another mistake, because I’m sure I will. But I can promise that I will not make the same mistakes I made last fall.”

He smiled at me and my heart fluttered. “That’s all I ask.”

“So now…?”

“Now, I don’t think we should necessarily start over. We’ve got too much of a history for that. But what if, starting today, we mentally wipe the slate clean?”

“That,” I said, “sounds perfect.”

“Do you happen to be free right now?”

I nodded. “I am.”

“How does a day floating down the Willow River sound to you?” He reached up and brushed a fluttering strand of hair off of my face. The feel of his finger brushing across my cheek made my heart soar.

A huge smile spread across my face. “I think that’s a perfect way to spend the day.”

“That’s wh
ere we started,” Noah said with a smile. “It just seemed kind of fitting that we spend today that same way. I will never forget when I saw you there.”

I laughed because I was sure that I’d been quite a sight. I had been on the verge of tears when I realized that my friends had gone down the river without me. I thought my day had been ruined. But then Noah had walked up to me and offered to tie his inner tube to mine. In an instant, my whole world had changed.

“I was ready to go home. Then you walked up to me and saved the day,” I said.

He stood from the swing and pulled me to my feet.

“Here’s to new starts,” he said. He moved in slowly and my eyes drifted closed. When his lips met mine, his kiss was so full of promise. I held onto him as if I would never let him go.

Because this time, I wouldn’t. This time, we were going to get it right.

Three years later…

Perhaps a college graduation was supposed to be held with a bit more aplomb than a high school graduation. That didn’t stop us from all tossing our hats into the air.

I laughed as we watched them fall to the ground. Noah picked me up, hugging me as my feet dangled off the floor of the auditorium. Somewhere in the crowd Mom, Ty, and even my dad watched.

Dad’s appearance wasn’t a surprise. Our relationship had slowly been progressing. It was nearing something that I’d almost call normal.

I caught sight of Riley. She grinned and waved as she pushed her way through the crowd. Caleb was waiting for her,
somewhere in this madhouse. Her parents were seated with mine.

“
I can’t believe this day is finally here,” Noah said as he placed me back on my feet.

All around us, the rest of the graduating class was chattering, laughing, and pushing their way through the crowd, trying to reach loved ones.

“I know. It’s kind of surreal. When we graduated from high school, I felt like all I had to look forward to was four more years of school. But now…?” I trailed off as I gave him a giddy smile.

“Now we have our whole lives to look forward to,” Noah finished for me.

He had interned at his Dad’s accounting firm. Mr. Callahan had retirement in his future but he planned on sticking around for a few more years. He wanted to be sure that Noah was comfortable with everything first.

Mom, on the other hand, was ready to hand her business over to me. The last few years had been an emotional rollercoaster. Fortunately, there’d been far more ups than downs. She had now been sober for three years. She and Aubrey had slowly but steadily repaired their relationship. Mom had gone to counseling once her sentence was up. It had been good for her. She’d needed to find healthy ways to deal with Evan’s death. She still had bad days, we all did, but they were far fewer than they’d been a few years ago.

Last summer, Aubrey had introduced Mom to a business partner of Uncle Ron’s. Conrad and Mom had hit it off. Mom now had a shiny rock on her left hand. More importantly, she was happier than I
ever
remembered her being.

Conrad was a little older, retired already, and
he completely doted on Mom. It had been at his urging that Mom decided she was ready to give up Tiny Tots Boutique. Conrad loved to travel and already had an interesting itinerary planned for them in the upcoming year.

Riley and Caleb had an on-again, off-again kind of relationship. The last year, it had been mostly off. Lately, I had a feeling things were changing. With college behind us, I was pretty sure that Riley was getting ready to settle down.
Caleb had been patient with her over the years but I think he was getting ready to commit as well. I was happy for the both of them.

I wasn’t sure that Noah and Caleb would ever be best of buddies, but they at least got along. I was pretty sure that was for my and Riley’s sake. Not to mention, time does wonders when it comes to healing old wounds.

“Let’s get out of here,” Noah murmured near my ear. He took my hand and guided me through the crowd.

We stopped to talk to his parents first because they were closest. Noah hadn’t wanted a party but his Mom had insisted that he at least allow her to buy a cake. We were to meet them much later in the afternoon at their house.

Next, we found my family in the crowd.

“Congratulations, to the both of you,” Dad said.

I smiled. “Thanks for coming.”

“Sweetheart,” Mom said as she pushed her way toward me. “I am so proud of you. I know that I didn’t make things easy for you, especially your first few years. But just look at you now.”

“Look at her now!” Conrad agreed good-naturedly.

“Yeah, look at her,” Tyler snickered. “And look at Noah.” He giggled again as he took in the sight of Noah in his robe.

“You think that’s funny, huh?” Noah asked as he reached out to pat Tyler on the back.

“Why do they make everyone wear dresses?” Tyler laughed.

Noah looked down at himself, his expression pained. “No idea, dude. No idea.”

Tyler had really sprouted up this past year. He was nearly as tall as me. He was looking more like Evan every day. That fact both warmed and twisted at my heart. He was excelling at sports, his leg fully healed. He’d taken to Conrad and from what I could tell; Conrad treated him like he was his own son. Mom wasn’t the only one who was happy these days. Tyler was thriving in a loving environment.

“Do you mind if I borrow Emory for an hour or so?” Noah asked my mom.

“Not at all,” Mom said with a knowing smile.

I had a hunch that his request had not come as a surprise. I raised my eyebrows at her in question. We had invited people over for a barbeque but it wasn’t scheduled to start for a few more hours.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “Don’t you need help setting up?”

“That’s what she has me for,” Conrad said.

“Among other things, yes,” Mom agreed with a laugh. “But don’t you worry about a thing. It’s your party. You shouldn’t have to lift a finger.”

Still, I hesitated because it felt wrong to leave all the work to them.

“We’ll help with clean-up,” Noah confirmed. “And we’ll still have time to get to my house for cake. But if we’re going to do that, we better get going.”

“Where did you say we’re going?” I asked.

He grinned at me and grabbed my hand. “Nice try. I didn’t.”

I looked to my Mom for answer
s.

Her grin simply grew. “You two have a nice time. We’ll see you at the house.”

“What about Riley?” I asked. I looked around again. I’d already lost her in the crowd. Aunt Aubrey and Uncle Ron must’ve wandered off to meet her. They were all going out for brunch. Maybe they were trying to beat what was likely to be a post-graduation rush.

“Don’t worry, you’ll see her later. She’ll be at your house for your party. Now are you coming with me or not?” Noah demanded. The way he’d grabbed hold of my hand, made me feel as if he wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer.

“Let’s go,” I agreed.

***

“Where are we going?” I suspiciously asked when Noah turned onto a familiar dirt road.

He turned to me with a smug smile. “You’ll see.”

What I
saw
was the Willow River snaking through the distance. He couldn’t possibly be planning on floating down? Not today? It would take us hours and we had places to be. Any other day, I’d gladly take him up on the offer but today I wasn’t so sure Mom would have the patience for it.

I turned around, scouring the backseat. I realized that couldn’t be in his plan. I didn’t see a bag a
nd I was pretty sure he hadn’t managed to confiscate my bikini. I righted myself again and looked out the window. There wasn’t a lot to see. Trees lined the road on both sides. Every now and again the river could be spotted through them.

When we passed the battered, steel sided building that rented out the inner tubes, I wiggled around in my seat.
I stared him down with a smile on my face.

“Come on, just a hint?” I pleaded.

“It’s a surprise,” he said firmly. His gaze kept flicking from the road to me and back again.

“I don’t like surprises,” I pouted.

“Hopefully you’ll like this one.” He tapped the brakes. “And I guess we’ll find out soon because we’re here.”

“Where is ‘here’?” I wondered. He turned his blinker on and slowed as we approached a driveway.

Noah answered me by laughing at me. “You do not have any patience do you?”

“No,” I agreed as we turned into the long, w
inding driveway. At the end of the drive was a cottage.

“Are we visiting someone?” I asked, feeling perplexed. “Who lives here?”

I didn’t see any cars in the driveway. In fact, the house seemed dark and quiet.

“Well,” Noah said, “possibly us.”

“Us?” I asked. I wasn’t following.

“You asked who lives here,” he reminded me. My eyebrows shot up. “I said
possibly
us.” He smiled at me. It was a ridiculously happy kind of smile. Before I could press the matter, he opened his door and hopped out. “Come on!” he said.

I scrambled out of the truck after him.

“Do you want to rent this place?” I asked. We’d been living together the last few school years. We had a small apartment in town. We’d talked about moving out soon, now that we both had our degrees.

I took a long around. It was a more thorough inspection than I’d given it when we’d first driven up. Now that I knew we weren’t simply visiting, my curiosity had kicked into overdrive.

Flowers were blooming in the flower beds. The yard looked neatly maintained. I strained my hearing for just a second.

“Is that the river I hear?” I asked.
I knew it had to be nearby but from the sound of it, it was right out back.

“Yes,” Noah said.

I realized he was fumbling with a key.

My hand reached out to still his. My eyes were huge. “Noah! Did you buy this house?”

“Not yet,” he said smugly. “I wanted you to see it first. Drew’s mom knows the realtor and she showed it to me the other day. She agreed to let me borrow the key for today.” He pulled his hand from mine, stuck the key in the lock and opened the door.

He held the door open for me and I stepped inside.

“Oh my…it’s…” I turned around, taking in everything. “It’s beautiful!”

“
Really? Do you like it?” he asked.

The hardwood floors gleamed. The beams running across the ceiling gave the cottage a rustic look, yet everything looked new. Straight ahead was the living area. I was drawn to it, like a magnet. A wall of windows looked out onto the backyard.

The view was breathtaking.

“Look at that amazing view of the river!” I exclaimed.  An expanse of green grass led to the river’s edge. From here, it was the perfect view of the water lazily rolling along. “Do you know what this reminds me of? It reminds of the cabin we stayed in at The Timber Bay Lodge.”

I turned around to face Noah, to see if he agreed with me.

Apparently, he had other things on his mind. My hands flew to my mouth when I realized that not only was he down on one knee, but he held a small box in his hands.

“Noah?” I whispered through my fingers.

“I’m going to keep this simple,” he said as he flipped the top of the box open. “
I could go on and on about the hard times we’ve had and how we’ve made it through. I could tell you how much I love you and how badly I want a future with you. But instead, I’m simply going to ask: Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” I cried. My hands fell from my mouth and I pulled him to his feet.
I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. I felt him laugh against my lips as he squeezed my body to his. I cut the kiss short because I realized I hadn’t even really looked at the ring.

“It’s so pretty,” I murmured as I took a step back.

“It was my grandma’s,” Noah said as he pulled it from the box.

The diamond was small but the
antique setting was exquisite.

“
It was Adelaide’s? I love it,” I said as he pulled it from the box. I would’ve loved it anyway but that knowledge made the ring priceless to me. He lifted my hand and carefully placed the ring on my finger.

“She knew this day would come,” he said. “She never doubted it, even when we were apart. She wanted you to have it.”

A feeling of nostalgia swept over me. I wished she were here today and Evan too. The ache of losing them both had receded but it was never gone completely.

“I wish she was here,” I admitted. “I would love to thank her.”

“Me too,” he said sadly. Then he reached for my hand. “Let me show you the rest of the house.”

We
walked through, room by empty room. I was getting ahead of myself, as I had a tendency of doing, but I could already picture these rooms filled. The master bedroom wasn’t as huge as the one in Mom’s house, but it was plenty big for us. There was a smaller room across the hallway. My stomach fluttered at the thought of turning that room into a nursery someday.

“The floor plan is really nice,” Noah said, “because if we ever want to add on, say another bedroom or two, it would be easy to do that.”

“Another bedroom or two? Just what do you have planned?” I teased as I wrapped my arms around his waist again.

“I plan,” he said in between nibbles along my collarbone, “on filling up those rooms. Or at least practicing. A lot.” His mouth came down on mine as his hands slid down my backside.
I sighed as I melted into him, accepting his kiss.

It would be so easy to get carried away. But we’d have to save that for another day. A day when this house was ours. I gently pushed him away as my eyes swept over the house once again.