“Note?”
“It was in my mailbox this afternoon.” A beat of silence passes. “I’m guessing you didn’t write it.”
When she hands me the folded piece of paper, I recognize the bold, sloping handwriting immediately. I’ve seen it on countless shopping lists and notes stuck to the refrigerator. It belongs to my girlfriend. My girlfriend who professed her love to me this morning and got nothing from me in return. Nothing.
Dear Naomi,
I still love you. I know we can get past what happened. Please come see me.
Elijah
Agony fills me like cement, wrapping and hardening around my lungs. No, this isn’t possible. It isn’t possible the situation is this bad. Addison can’t really believe I’m still in love with Naomi when I would exchange ten years of my life to hold her right now, can she?
Of course she can. Until a few minutes ago, I didn’t even realize my feelings for Naomi were nothing more than…respectful fondness. Comparing how I feel about Addison to Naomi is like measuring Kilimanjaro up against flat, lifeless earth. I avoided the topic of my ex-fiancée and the cancelled wedding like the plague. Didn’t even acknowledge the fact that Naomi was back in town. And on top of everything, I missed my chance to tell Addison I love her this morning. If the shoe was on the other foot, I would assume she still loved her ex, too. The searing pain of even that hypothetical possibility almost doubles me over. Oh Christ, that’s how she’s feeling right now. She’s suffering—she’s been suffering—and it’s all because of me.
A roll of thunder goes off behind Naomi and my southern manners prod me to invite her in, but I can’t do it. Not when I die a little more every second I don’t know where Addison is. “Naomi…”
She holds up a hand. “You don’t have to explain.” Her gaze snags on the note. “Engaged to be married and I didn’t even know your handwriting. If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.” Her laugh is quiet, a little sad. “Even so, I’m sorry about what happened, Elijah. How I handled it, especially. Driving like a bat out of hell to Florida until I couldn’t go any farther. Honestly, I barely recognized myself—” She cuts herself off, face fusing with color. “Gosh, I’ve been going around apologizing to just about everyone. My mother, the wedding planner. Something about us just never felt right.” She shakes her head. “Maybe I don’t know what right is even supposed to feel like with another person. Maybe…that’s what I learned in Florida. I’m not sure. I’m just sorry about the trouble I caused you.”
“I’m sorry, too,” I say, my instincts telling me I’m not the only one who’s had a life-changing couple of months. “Someday, when all of this is long behind us, Addison and I would love to have you over for dinner. We’ll laugh about it.”
A blonde eyebrow goes up. “I wondered if it was true. You and my cousin.” She looks past me into the house, a small sigh leaving her. “Everyone thinks I’m crazy, and seeing you in this house where we were meant to live…I think they must be right. Hopefully Addison is smarter than me.”
“I’m hoping for the opposite. The smarter she is, the harder it’s going to be to convince her to forgive me.” I want to share in her laughter, but I can’t. All I can think about is finding Addison and apologizing until I run out of breath. “Naomi, I really have to go.”
“I understand. But there’s just one more quick thing.” She seems to be gathering strength. “I overheard my parents arguing. A very long time ago. Addison…she’s not just my cousin, she’s my half-sister. She deserves to know that. Will you tell her, please?”
Christ. Addison has been denied by damn near everyone, hasn’t she? Never again. As soon as I find her, she won’t spend another second of her life wondering about her place in this world. “Yes, I’ll tell her,” I say. “Goodbye, Naomi.”
No sooner have I closed the door behind her do I resume my race up the stairs, but this time it’s a million times more urgent. Somewhere on this planet, the girl I love beyond measure believes I’m in love with someone else. Until I find her and fix the misconception, my world is on fucking fire. “Addison!”
It’s useless to check upstairs. If she sent Naomi a request to come see me, there is no way she’d stick around for that. But I slam into the ornament room, anyway, maybe just to reassure myself that she was here—
It’s empty.
Not a speck of glitter decorates the ground. It’s barren.
“No…” I whisper under my breath, turning and jogging back down the hallway to our bedroom. “No…no…”
She’s not there. Her clothes are gone. Every little trace of her is gone. I tug the cell phone out of my dress pants and hit the speed dial for her number, like I did numerous times on the way home. Straight to voicemail. Not even her voice, just a generic operator greeting. God, is it too much to ask for one solid reminder of her?