Chapter 19 #2
I wish I could go back in time and smack Old Elizabeth for being so clueless and timid.
She never fully opened her eyes to what was truly around her.
How much living did she miss out on because she was afraid and let others make choices for her?
Fallon was never the scary, crazy guy she built him up to be in her mind.
If she would have taken the time to look closer, she would have seen a completely different person underneath all his attitude.
“Eduardo intimidated me as well when we first met. But I remember the exact moment when my eyes locked with his across the room. It both thrilled and scared me at how fast I fell in love with him. They say, ‘love at first sight’ for a reason.”
Tatiana upturns her face and Eduardo presses a kiss to her lips. “Our age difference must be confusing to you,” he adds, giving me a small smile.
I go with honesty. “Fallon filled me in when we got here, and I did have some questions when he told me about the age difference. But what I see is how much in love the two of you are. How Tatiana glows standing next to you, and how you look at her like she’s the most precious thing in the world.
When it comes down to it, that’s all that really matters. ”
“Elizabeth has a harem, so stuff like age differences doesn’t faze her,” Fallon states, causing me to choke on a piece of chicken.
“Pardon?” Eduardo asks, looking perplexed.
My eyes are watering from my fits of coughing. Fallon hands me a glass of water and then pats my back.
Tatiana leans over to Eduardo’s ear and hushes, “It means she has several men, sweetheart.” Eduardo’s face flushes and he focuses on his food.
I punch Fallon in the arm. “You are such a little sh—”
“Now, now, kitten. We’re at the table. Remember your manners.” Fallon offers me a troublemaking grin and I reach under the table and pinch his thigh, hard.
Our lunch conversation dies for a few seconds before Eduardo breaks the silence. “Tell us more about you, Elizabeth,” he invites as Tatiana offers him a roasted grape tomato with her fork.
He bites a piece from it, and she eats the rest. The easy way they act with one another reminds me of Julien and Elijah, and I feel an instant pang of remorse.
They are two more relationships that I’ll need to salvage when I get home.
It’s just another reminder at how much I have messed everything up, and how much work it will take to make things right again.
“There’s not much to tell,” I reply. I’m trying to evade the question because the past several months have been a soap opera up to this point.
“Everyone has a story, Elizabeth. What’s yours?”
“Why are you being so nosy?” Fallon suddenly snaps at Tatiana.
Eduardo stiffens in his chair, so in order to avoid an argument I blurt out, “I had amnesia.”
Both Tatiana and Eduardo’s mouths fall open then shut.
“Earlier this year, I lost my memory after a bad car accident.” I leave out what happened to my parents.
I don’t think they would appreciate that bit of morbid revelation at the lunch table.
“My memories returned a couple of weeks ago, and I feel like my life isn’t mine anymore.
In the months after the accident, I had carved out a new life for myself.
A life that I loved. Getting my memories back kind of mucked everything up for me.
Fallon is helping me work through some things.
He’s been really great. Exactly what I’ve needed. ”
“I’m sorry that I pried. I meant no offense, Elizabeth.”
“It’s okay. It’s just hard for me to talk about.”
Thankfully, Tatiana changes the subject to something I’m more than happy to talk about. “Elizabeth is a very talented pianist,” she tells Eduardo, who has relaxed his posture. “Perhaps you wouldn’t mind playing for us again after we eat?” she asks me.
“It would be my pleasure. I composed a new song last night. I love your Steinway, by the way,” I tell Eduardo.
“Before I forget,” Tatiana says looking to Fallon, “Eduardo and I will be leaving tonight to go back to Madrid. We would still like to show you around Barcelona before we leave. And you are both more than welcome to stay and enjoy the house for as long as you would like.”
I’m a little disappointed to hear this because I was hoping to spend more time with her. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything couldn’t be more wonderful,” she beams, grabbing hold of Eduardo’s hand on the table. “I didn’t want to say anything until I was able to tell Eduardo first, but…I’m pregnant.”
Fallon is up and rounding the table to hug his sister before I can give her my congratulations. “Have you told Mom and Dad yet?” he asks her.
“We’re going to video chat with them tomorrow,” she replies with a huge smile on her face.
I stand up to give Tatiana and Eduardo a hug. “Congratulations! How far along are you?”
“Twelve weeks.”
“I’m so happy for the both of you,” I tell the happy parents-to-be.
“Thank you, Elizabeth. Now, let’s finish lunch so we can listen to you play the piano one last time, and then enjoy the remaining hours we have together.”
Things go much more smoothly for the remainder of lunch as we eat and talk under the gazebo for about two hours before Tatiana asks if I’m ready to play something on the piano.
After hearing me play the song I wrote for Fallon and a few other classical pieces, Eduardo writes a name and contact number on the back of one of his business cards and hands it to me.
He tells me if I ever decide to pursue a career as a concert pianist, I should give the number a call.
It’s for someone who works with the Spanish Symphonic Orchestra in Madrid.
I’m a bit dumbstruck by his offer, so I say thank you and tuck the card away knowing it’s a path in life I will never want to follow professionally.
Truthfully, I have no clue what I want to do with my life other than go to college, but Eduardo’s compliment is still flattering.
Afterwards, we’re driven into Barcelona and spend the rest of the day walking around the city.
It’s a phenomenal city with incredible architecture.
Tatiana and I exchange contact information, and she invites me to come back to visit her in the future.
“With or without Fallon,” she says which earns her a playful headlock from Fallon.
We do a little window shopping and a little real shopping.
Using money from a rechargeable credit card Fallon gave to me in New York City, I add to my collection of souvenirs from every place that Fallon and I have visited.
I think it’ll take a suitcase of its own to carry back all the things I have purchased for Ryder, Jayson, Julien, Elijah, Meredith, and Trevor, and the rest of the gang.
I also manage to sneak in a few surprise purchases that I will give to Fallon later, and pick up a few baby items that I can give to Tatiana and Eduardo as a thank you for hosting me in their home.
Tatiana and Eduardo make their departure around seven in the evening, leaving me and Fallon to while away the rest of the night together in the city.
He takes me to the Gothic Quarter, where we party until two in the morning.
Once we return to the estate, it’s almost three a.m. and I’m utterly exhausted from my long day.
I flop down on the slate-blue and pale-yellow striped sofa that sits in the family room. Fallon makes himself comfortable next to me and moves my legs to drape them across his thighs. I’m about to ask him what he’s doing when he starts massaging my feet, and I emit a very unladylike groan.
“You sound like a porn star,” he muses with a chuckle and I slap his leg.
“Shhh. Don’t ruin my Zen,” I grumble, falling back on the sofa cushion and closing my eyes in pure pleasure at what his hands are doing to my feet. I purr like a cat getting its ears stroked. “What do you think about becoming an uncle?”
The rhythm of his hands slows. “I really hadn’t thought about it. Christ, that kid is so screwed.”
I peek over at him. “Don’t sell yourself short. You’ll spoil your niece or nephew rotten.”
My eyelids start to droop, and Fallon smacks the bottom of my foot to wake me up. “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”
“Spending it with Daniel, I guess. Why?” He tickles the pad of my heel and I kick him in the ribs with my left foot, making him grunt.
“Why don’t you spend it with me and my family?”
“You want me to spend the holiday with you?”
“Did I stutter?”
“Why?” I slide back to sit up and tuck my legs underneath me, my dress spreading out and draping down the front of the sofa.
“Why not? You and your uncle can come to our place for Thanksgiving. Is there a problem with that?” He turns over onto his stomach and fixes his beautiful blue eyes on mine.
“No, but—”
“Then it’s settled.”
“Are you sure, Fallon? Don’t you need to check with your parents first?”
Without hesitation, he answers, “Absolutely sure. And they would love to have you both. Trust me.”
I roll my eyes. “You know I do.”
I do trust him. Fallon has proven to me over and over that I can.
What guy, with his parents’ help, would whisk an almost-stranger away on a trek across the globe and pay for everything with no strings attached?
I make a promise to myself that I will pay Fallon and his parents back every penny for their generosity if it’s the last thing I do.
No matter how long it takes. I hope I get a good job after college because I have a feeling that if I saw the total bill for our little vacation, I would probably die from sticker shock.
Fallon’s phone dings and he holds it to the side to look at whatever text message just came in. He reads the message, his expression inscrutable, then he frowns
“Why so glum, Nutter Butter?”
I’m half-expecting him to aim one of his cocksure grins my way or give me one of his smart-aleck retorts.
What I never would have predicted was for him to flip back around, get up in my face, and plant a whopping big kiss to my lips.
It’s a kiss where he smashes his mouth against mine in a way that feels like desperation.
Why the heck is Fallon kissing me again?
I’m too stunned to react at first because it came out of the blue.
I’m about to push him off of me when he pulls back and places something small and metal in my hand.
As I look down to see what it is, he gets up from the sofa. “Hope you remember your password,” he says and leaves the room.
I stare at my phone now perched in my hand and my breath hitches. “Fallon, what?” I look up but he’s already gone. He gave me my phone back. What does this mean
I turn it on and unlock the screen. Holy crap.
Am I ready for this? Deep breath in, exhale out.
I ignore the hundreds of awaiting texts and voice mails and dial Ryder’s number.
My heart is beating so fast, I feel like it might blow a hole right through my chest. Ryder’s phone rings once, then twice.
On the third ring, I hear his baritone voice answer and I about pass out from how much it affects me.
“Elizabeth?” I hear shuffling noises and something like the low hum of a car engine in the background.
I swallow a few times, not knowing what to say
“Elizabeth, are you there?
I answer with a breathy, “Yeah.”
Just like the last time, Ryder goes silent and my stomach clenches with nausea. Every self-doubt I’ve been carrying with me comes flooding back like a tsunami, breaking my resolve and decimating my hopes that everything will be okay.
“Open the door, baby.”
“What?” My ears pick up a faint noise coming from the front of the house
“Open the door, Elizabeth.”
I hear the noise again. I jump off the sofa and run as fast as I can to the front door. I fling it open like the house is on fire. And standing before me, looking handsome as sin, is Ryder Cutton. The boy I love more than anything. The boy who stole my heart and I hope he never gives it back.
My body starts shaking uncontrollably and I drop my phone
“How?” I can’t seem to speak anything other than monosyllabic words
Ryder gives me that heart-stopping grin, his copper eyes a kaleidoscope of browns, yellows, and greens. “There’s my girl.”
I burst into tears.