Chapter Fifty-Four
“Love - an intense emotion of affection, warmth, fondness, and regard towards a person or thing.”
Piper
When I opened my eyes, they went to the chair pulled up close beside the bed. It was empty. Dex was gone. I wasn’t sure how long he stayed, but I know he had for quite a while because the chair cushions still bore the imprint from his body.
As much as I wanted to see him, I was sort of relieved he wasn’t here. I needed to sort out everything that happened and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do that with him so close.
I’d always known there was something about him I recognized—something I was missing.
It wasn’t just the vision. The night Dex walked into the diner, I knew he was there for me.
I hadn’t understood it at the time; I probably would’ve brushed those feelings off right then if he hadn’t touched me.
If I hadn’t seen the man that saved me in that vision.
And I was right. All along. He was connected to the man who was hit by the bus and he’d also been there for me.
But he wasn’t there with good intentions.
The cold truth was that he tried to kill me. More than once.
But he also saved me. More than once.
What was a girl supposed to do with that?
A smart girl—me—would run far away. Would hit the call button beside me and tell the nurse when Dex came back to keep him away, to ban him from the room.
I heard his confession. I felt his hand holding mine and I heard the acceptance and finality in his tone that he would walk away and I would never see him again.
A smart girl would have let him go.
But I loved him.
Did that make me stupid?
Maybe so, but I wasn’t going to change my mind. For so long I was torn between a man that I hadn’t known, a man who was dead but still felt alive, and a man who was right in front of me, a man I had feelings for but tried not to.
Turns out they were one in the same.
I wasn’t entirely sure how that was possible and what it meant for us, but I was sure whatever it was we could figure it out.
I saw the way he looked at me when he thought I was still asleep.
I felt the gentleness in his touch and heard the longing in his voice.
He loved me too, and for now, I was going to hold on to that.
I guess time would tell if it was enough.