Celeste by Dale Mayer

Author:Dale Mayer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781928122883
Publisher: Valley Publishing
Published: 2016-06-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

She loved that about Matt. He’d always been that way. Easy with compliments, easy with words in general. He was a man who loved to hug, to just hold her. She missed that. She hadn’t thought she was the type to want to be touched all the time, but as her relationship with him had progressed, she’d craved it more and more. It had been the one thing that had brought tears to her eyes all those long nights of sleeping alone in bed. She’d wished for his arms to hold her. That easy confidence of his to say life was going to be okay.

And it hadn’t been okay for a long time. She’d cried buckets for weeks until the need to make a living had reared its ugly head and her pride had set in. Somehow, after a few weeks, she hadn’t been away quite long enough, but at the same time, she had been away too long to easily return at that point. She hadn’t wanted to come home as a failure? A child returning away from a reckless act? She hadn’t been able to reconcile the new independence with the act of contrition.

Showing that the small step of independence didn’t prove anything, as if she’d truly grown up, she’d have come home to make peace and apologize. Of all the things she’d done wrong, leaving Genesis to clean up behind her was the biggest mistake. And walking away from Matt the one that hurt the most.

“I hurt Genesis badly when I left,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t thinking of her, and what she’d be going through when I walked. I knew things were tough for Tori, and when she left it seemed like a perfect solution. But when Tori disappeared, she did so believing that Genesis and I would have each other. I don’t have that excuse. I ran to get away, and left my beautiful sister behind.”

“Which is also what Connor did to her.”

Celeste winced. “Yeah, we all have baggage from a year ago, don’t we?”

“We do. Whether it’s baggage we understand or not.”

“Connor and Genesis appear to be fine now?” she said in a hesitant voice.

“Yes, they are.” Matt smiled and reached up to stroke her head. “It took a bit. Same for Tori and Devon.”

“Yeah, that was different, too.”

Matt’s laughter rumbled through his chest, making her smile at the noise under her ear. “It doesn’t matter how, or what it’s all about. It’s getting to the bottom of why. Then working to heal that issue.”

“How come you’re so smart?” she said with a flippant tone, expecting a joking response in return.

When he didn’t answer she lifted her head to study the grim lines around his mouth. “What’s wrong?”

“Well, I’m not very smart, am I?” he said, his voice distant. “I always thought I was. I always thought I had the answers. Life wasn’t terribly easy, but I’d set a goal, and worked until I got it. I was determined, and used intelligent actions.”

“You are,” she cried.

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