A hum low in his chest vibrated against my ear. “I was never in love with her. It’s not a romantic song.”
“I beg to differ. It gives me chills every time.”
“You heard what you wanted to hear, Breeze. The song isn’t about a lost love. It’s about someone who I loved and lost. There’s a difference.”
“Okay, then who is she?”
“Beth was my nanny, but I kind of thought of her like a mother. She was with me for a few years during my childhood.”
“Did she die?”
“No. My dad fired her. One day she was there, the next she was gone. This guitar, it was a gift from her. It once belonged to her soldier husband who died a few months before she came to live with us. She’s the one who gave me my love of music. You know how sometimes you meet a person who makes such an impact on your life that it changes who you are forever? Well, that was Beth. I was so young and impressionable when she left. It just decimated me – left me distrustful of women in general. That’s the reason I only had nickels.”
“Until me,” I whispered, my heart grinding to a halt.
“Yes, until you.”
Bodhi’s fingers sank into my hair and, with a gentle tug, he tilted my face to his. And then his mouth was on mine, tongue sweeping in. Teasing. Tasting. He deepened the kiss, and I cupped his cheeks, holding onto this moment. This perfection. But we weren’t perfect. And tomorrow it would all end. But tonight, if I held on, kept us locked together, maybe…
Breaking the connection, Bodhi’s lips moved down my fevered skin, past my jaw to my neck. And lower.
I guided his mouth back to mine for another searing kiss. Because in the end, that’s what I’d miss most, taking his breath as my own. And when I was all full up, and I couldn’t take any more, I found the strength to gently push him away.
“Stop.”
It was a plea from the depths of my soul.
Stop. Please stop.
Tipping back, he looked down at me with unfocused eyes and lips swollen from our kisses. Our goodbye.
“What’s wrong?”
Everything.
My fingers followed my gaze to his mouth—I’d miss this mouth—and then up to those beautiful blue orbs. An endless sky. And I could almost see tomorrow. Just not mine.
And then I smiled. Because that’s what I wanted him to remember.
Always remember.
“We have to talk.”
* * *
It felt like the walk of shame. But instead of Bodhi kicking me out, I’d done the deed myself. There was no point in staying any longer. I’d said what needed to be said and there was nothing more to do but leave.
I couldn’t remember all the words, the tiny truths that tore us apart, but each one felt like I’d buried a knife deep in Bodhi’s heart. Even the apology that followed seemed to bring him pain.
And then the anger. I saw it there too, along with the shock.
“It’s not your fault.”
But he didn’t believe me. And how could I blame him? Bodhi had spent his life being left behind. How could I explain that this was for the best? A clean break. Someday he’d thank me. But not now.
Tucked inside the taxi, tears raced down my cheeks, blurring my vision. Like the fire, we’d burned hot. But now a chill settled deep in my bones. And I wondered if I’d ever feel warm again.
“Up there on the left,” I instructed the driver, swiping the tears dripping from my chin.
