A Place Without You by Ann Jewel E

Author:Ann, Jewel E
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary
ISBN: 9781732089761
Publisher: Jewel E Ann
Published: 2018-12-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Bodhi

“Never seen you work so many hours. Not sure I’ve seen you sweat so much either,” Dad says as I bring my bone-tired body through the door just before seven at night.

I’ve channeled all my energy into fixing fences, replacing boards in the barn, and re-siding the house. Summer is my time to get this stuff done. It keeps my mind from going to places like Henna kissing some guy named Noah half a world away.

Ignoring him, I toe off my boots and wipe my brow while taking the steps up to my bathroom—the same damn steps that hold memories of Henna naked on them.

“Is this about the girl? Henna? She still finding herself?”

I shake my head. “It’s just work that needs to be done before school starts this fall.”

“You were showing me pictures of her every day, but two weeks ago you stopped showing me pictures and you’ve been grumpy as hell since then. I’m old, not stupid. It’s about the girl.”

Yeah, it’s about the girl—the way the sun feels on my skin, the whisper of the breeze when I’m on Snare, the reflection of the full moon, the air in my lungs, the rhythm of my heart … it’s all about the girl.

After I shower and eat dinner in silence and under the relentless scrutiny of my dad’s curious glances, I clean up and put him to bed before making my nightly trip outside to lie on the mattress in the back of Alice. I leave the doors open to welcome the breeze, a breeze I want to think kissed Henna’s skin and whispered through her long auburn hair. Basically, I do anything to connect us.

It’s been two weeks since Henna messaged me. Two weeks since she kissed Noah. Two weeks since she told me not to respond right away. I don’t know what the time frame is on responding to that, especially when I don’t know what to say. The world is filled with men who can offer her a life I can’t even begin to give her.

She’ll come back. This I know. Her home will always be Colorado, but I don’t believe she will truly come back to me. Don’t sweat it, everything is temporary. I’m temporary, but Henna could never be temporary.

As if she knows I’m thinking about her, my phone chimes with the first text since the Noah text.

Henna: Hi. Remember me?

I take a deep breath. Maybe I need to let her go. Maybe she’s looking for permission to let go. If only it were that easy.

Bodhi: Hi. I’m pretty sure you’re still my greatest memory.

Henna: How’s your dad?

Bodhi: Nosey.

Henna: I landed in Madagascar. I’m going in search of lemurs tomorrow.

Bodhi: I landed on a pile of hay when I fell off the roof of the barn today. I’m going in search of my lost watch tomorrow.

Henna: Seriously? OMG did you get hurt?

My heart hurts too fucking bad to feel anything but the pain of missing Henna.

Bodhi: I’m fine.

Henna: Listening to The Fray

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