by Bella Emy
But I wasn’t expecting this. Her on the floor, broken and torn. My heart aches.
I suck in a breath and repeat myself. “Adelyn…”
As she tilts her head up toward me, our eyes meet and she finally takes notice of me. Her face is red and swollen; she’s obviously spent a good portion of the morning crying to herself. I hate I wasn’t here for her. I hate that instead of coming to see her earlier, I went to work. I knew I should have stopped by sooner. This is my fault. I wasn’t there for her. I wasn’t there for her when she needed me, and she broke down.
It’s your fault, Maddox. You should have been here for her. You should have known she’d need you today, on Rick’s birthday, right now. Why didn’t you come by sooner?
And if I had? Would I still have found her on the floor? Maybe. Or would I have caught her as she’d first open her eyes to the break of dawn and have spared her the tears? Possibly.
But who knows. She could’ve spent the whole night crying. The only way I could have prevented anything would have been if I’d have spent the night. Again.
But how can I keep spending the night here with her? I don’t want her to think I’m overstepping. She’s going to need her space, isn’t she? But maybe not now.
Fuck, I hate that I’m second guessing myself. I hate that I’m second guessing everything right now.
“Ma-Maddox…” the ghost of a smile graces her lips, which after a few moments starts quivering.
I take slow steps until I reach her and then kneel onto the ground next to her. “Ad, I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner. I’m here for you now.”
“Maddox, I couldn’t find you…” Tears stream down her face and it kills me. I shouldn’t have left her alone last night. When she told me to leave, I should have just stayed. Fuck.
I lean closer to her and take her into my arms, embracing her. “Come here, Adelyn.”
She doesn’t hesitate. She falls into me, allowing me to comfort her. When I take her in my arms, she feels like she belongs there, like this is where she was always meant to be.
I curse myself for thinking such things and run my hands along the length of her arms as goosebumps lace her skin. She’s shivering. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here, Ad… I’m so damn sorry.”
She doesn’t appear to be herself… she looks lost.
“I’m scared…” she breathes out and then wraps her arms around me. She lets herself go as she softly sobs into my chest.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart…” The word of endearment comes out of my mouth before I have a chance to control myself and hangs in the air. But I don’t even know if she’s hearing me right now. She’s in her own world. “I’ve got you.” My hands caress her back. I want her to know I’m here for her. I want her to know I’ll always be here for her. “Can I do anything else for you, Ad?”
She sucks in a deep breath and then looks up at me. Maybe she heard me after all. Maybe now I won’t know how to act. I’m a fool. A goddamn fool.
“Just stay with me. Lie with me on the floor… and don’t let me go. Please, don’t leave me,” she coos.
I search her eyes. That’s all she needs? That’s all she wants? I can do that. “I won’t leave, I promise,” I whisper, and as I bring her down with me so that we’re lying on the carpeted floor, I grip onto her tighter and comfort her until we find the strength to get up and grieve Rick together today.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Maddox, where are we going?”
I lead Adelyn down the path with both hands on her shoulders, one step at a time. I had the brilliant idea of blindfolding her and surprising her with tonight’s activities. The whole thing had only taken me a few days to plan. But I know we are all overdue. It’s been so long since I’ve last seen Adelyn smile, and Lord knows we all need a break from the reality that we’ve been dealing with for the past four months.
“Just trust me, Ad.” Reaching the spot I had picked out earlier, I will her to stop. “Okay, right here. Now kneel slowly.” I walk over to be in front of her and hold her hands in mine. There’s no need to mention the bolts of electricity that still to this day take over every time we touch.
She scoffs, then chuckles. “Kneel? Like on the ground?”
I can’t help but stifle my laughter. “Yes, just trust me. The ground’s soft, I promise.”
“Grass?” she asks, slowly kneeling. As her knees reach the ground, she gasps. “No, not grass. Sand?”
I chuckle again. “Okay, now sit on your ass.”
“What?” She laughs along with me.
“Sit down, and then I’ll be able to remove the blindfold.”
She sighs audibly, and I see the faintest of smiles grace her lips. “Okay, you win. I’m sitting.”
This. Right here is exactly what I was trying to accomplish. I have a feeling there will be a lot more smiling once she sees what else I’ve got tucked up my sleeve.
I move behind her once more and reach up to undo her silky black blindfold. As it becomes undone, I whisper into her ears, “Okay, keep your eyes closed until I say go.”
“Maddox Martinelli, you are some kind of special, do you know that?”
I chuckle to myself. Sure, I’ll take that. Whatever it takes to make this girl smile again works for me.
“I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve,” I admit.
As I indulge in the scenery before me, I make sure I’m ready for it, give two thumbs up to the surrounding crowd, and then take a deep breath. I take a few steps to move to the side of her, just enough so I can see her facial expression once she opens her eyes and then say, “Okay, Adelyn… you may now open your eyes.”
As she does so, Julia, Orion, David, Grant, and I all shout, “Surprise!”
She gasps, bringing her hands up to her mouth. “Oh my God, what is all this?” She looks to me for answers. Her eyes sparkle as the afternoon rays of the sun reflect off them.
A red and white tablecloth is spread out over the sand at Luna Crescent Beach; a place we used to come to all the time back in the day. Crackers and cheese arrangements take up one side of the tablecloth, while glasses and two bottles of wine—one white and one red—take up the other. It’s nice that unlike the beaches in Jersey, most in California still allow you to bring alcohol.
All around the tablecloth and snack arrangement, our friends sit on the white sand in jeans, hoodies, and shorts. It turned out to be a beautiful day with a calm breeze, just as I’d hoped.
I shrug. “I know your favorite place in the whole, entire world is the beach, and since we haven’t really spent time together with everyone because of everything that happened, I thought it would be nice to get all of us together.”
Her smile is radiant and her eyes well up with tears. Happy tears. These, I can take.
“Maddox was quite the planner,” Julia says, winking at me.
Orion steps forward. “Yeah, do you know how hard it was not to spill the beans and keep this a surprise from you?” She laughs. “I tell you everything.”
Adelyn looks back at me, mouthing the words, “Thank you.”
I smile at her and nod.
She wipes at the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand. “Oh my God, this is so nice, Maddox.” Facing the other two guys, she says, “Thank you both for coming out, too.”
David smiles while Grant nods and then says, “Hey, it’s no problem, Ad. We’re happy to be here and spend a little time with everyone like we used to.”
I pour the wine into glasses and pass them around. It’s nice you have friends you can depend on. I’m glad they could bring the supplies over while I got her to get ready and led her out of the house. She was planning on spending the rest of the day indoors and had asked me if I wanted to stop by and watch a movie tonight. It would have been a pretty low-key day, but somehow I knew she needed more. We can always watch a movie on any evening. Getting everyone together in front of the waves of Luna Crescent Beach is something else.
Adelyn catches up with Julia, Orion, and David f
or a bit. She usually sees them all the time, but she’d complained to me lately that she hadn’t seen either of them in about three weeks.
Grant leans into me as he sips on his wine. “You pulled it off, bro.”
I smirk. “I had some help, thank you for that by the way.”
He chuckles. “It was nothing, man. I’m glad we could do this for her. It means so much to her, you can see it in her face as she’s talking to them,” he turns his chin subtly across the way at Adelyn and the rest of the gang.
“I think so, too, but I’m not done yet.” I flash him a Kool-aid smile.
His eyes widen. “Oh, there’s more? You didn’t tell me about that.”
I chuckle. “There’s more, but I’m not saying shit. It’s a surprise for later when it’s just the two of us. That’s what I was mentioning to you on the phone.”
Grant furrows his brows. “Huh? I thought you weren’t saying shit?” He arches up an eyebrow.
I shake my head. “Smart ass. Remember this morning when I called you and said there was something I needed to discuss with you?”
He nods. “Yeah?”
“Well, when you guys are ready to leave, make an excuse to see if she’ll walk you to the parking lot. I’ll stay behind and tell her I’ll meet her there in a few minutes. That will give me time to set up again here and then meet her in the parking lot so she doesn’t have to walk back alone while it’s dark.”
“Set up what?”
I grin. “The next surprise I’ve got planned for her, of course.”
Grant takes a bite of his cheese and crackers and then swirls his wine around in his cup. “Officer Martinelli, are you finally going to do the right thing?”
“What are you talking about?” I swallow a mouthful of wine.
He rolls his eyes, laughing. “Are you ever going to let this woman know how you feel about her?”
I stare back at Adelyn, who’s throwing her head back in laughter. I’m so glad I set this evening up for her. I dart my gaze back to Grant and shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t think this is the right time. Rick’s been gone only—”
“Rick will have been gone for years, and I still don’t feel like you’re ever going to tell her.” Grant takes another sip.
I shrug once more. “It feels wrong.”
“What feels wrong? Your feelings for her or because she was engaged to your best friend?”
I consider his words. “Both. My feelings for her because she was engaged to Rick.”
“You loved her first, Maddox. Everyone knows that. Just look at her… she was always yours.”
I take his words and stare back at Adelyn. She’s gorgeous and the only woman I’ve ever truly cared about, ever truly loved. How can I deny that fact?
Still, it changes nothing. I promised him I’d be there for her, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m not going to cross that line.
“Maddox, what do you say?” Julia’s voice grips me out of my thoughts. Everyone’s eyes are on me. Including Adelyn’s.
I totally missed what she’s asking me. “I’m sorry, what was that?”
She chuckles. “Nothing.” She turns away and brings her focus back to Orion.
“And that’s exactly what I’ve been referring to, Maddox,” Grant says to me. “You didn’t hear anything that Julia was saying because you were too focused on Adelyn. I think that stands for something.”
“Maybe.”
“It’s been so much fun, but now I’ve got to head back,” Grant says almost two hours later. He agreed to the plan I had, and I’m so happy for it. All I want is to show Adelyn just how much she means to me. Maybe I will never have the balls to tell her how I feel about her or make a move on her, but showing her I care seems more important to me than that.
Julia stretches her arms out and fakes a yawn. “Yeah, same. I’ve got to be at work early in the morning.” Thankfully, Grant had let everyone in on my little plan.
“Aww, you guys are calling it a night already?” Adelyn asks, looking around our group of friends.
“Sorry, Ad… I think I’m going to head off, too,” Orion joins in. They can’t make this any easier on me.
Adelyn frowns. “Aww, you guys! Okay…”
David and Grant rise first, followed by Julia, Orion, and then Adelyn. As they gather themselves, I kneel and begin packing up the little picnic we’d had.
“You guys go on ahead… I’ll meet you all in the parking lot,” I say as I place everything back in the basket.
Adelyn kneels down beside me. “Here, let me help you.”
Fuck, no. She needs to get going so I can take out the second surprise I have in my backpack.
She smiles at me and begins tucking some items away.
I gently grab her hand. “Hey, no, it’s fine. I’ve got this. Why don’t you—”
“Ad, can you walk us to our cars?” Julia bends down, placing a hand on Adelyn’s arm. Adelyn turns her head to meet her gaze, and Julia continues. “I bought something at Pink Flavs earlier that I want you to check out. It’s a really cute top for my date with Steve this Friday.”
Thank you, Julia…
“Can’t you just show me tomorrow night when I stop by your house for dinner? I feel bad leaving Maddox all alone to—”
“Hey, no, it’s fine,” I say, and then Adelyn turns her gaze back to me. “I’ll finish up and meet you in the parking lot in just a few moments. This won’t take me long. Go on, Ad.”
Orion comes up next to them.
Julia smiles. “See, he’s all good. Now come on. I think Orion wants to show you what she purchased, too,” Julia adds, helping Adelyn rise to her feet.
Adelyn’s expression tells me she’s not sold. She frowns and places a hand on her hip. “Are you sure, Mad?”
I nod with a big smile that I hope convinces her. “Yes, yes. I’m totally sure.”
“Okay,” she answers.
“I’ll meet you there in a few,” I say just before she turns around and lets Orion and Julia lead her away.
Once they’re on their way, disappearing from sight, I get right to work. I know that since they’re going to keep her distracted, I’ll have more than a couple of minutes to get everything situated, but still. I want to make sure all this is perfect. I don’t want to ruin what up to this point was a great day. I want this day to be as memorable for her as possible.
After I place everything where I want it to be, I rise to my feet, dusting the sand off of myself and take one last glance.
Perfect. It’s perfect.
I take a deep breath and smile. I hope this will make her smile, too.
Walking toward the parking lot, I can’t help but think about everything we’ve been through this past year. Damn, how could things change so drastically? Once things got going, it felt like a whirlwind or a tornado, destroying everything we had known before.
The sound of laughter explodes as I finally reach the line of parked cars. Besides ours, there’s only one more car, but the owner of it makes his way out of the lot.
My heart feels so full as Adelyn’s laughter fills my ears. As she catches a glimpse of me, her whole face lights up as she makes her way toward me.
“Maddox!”
“Hey, Ad.” I smile at her. I’m so glad to see her happy again, like she used to be before everything happened.
Grant and David walk up to us, followed by Julia and Orion behind them.
Adelyn pushes back a strand of hair from her face. “You should have seen the joke Orion played on David.” She chuckles once more. “Maybe they can do it again before they leave so you can see,” she adds and looks behind her.
I clear my throat. “Oh, shoot. I forgot my phone back on the beach.” I pretend to pat down my pockets. I need this to look believable. “I’d better go back and grab it before someone else finds it.”
Because there were so many people on the beach.
She spins back around and meets my gaze. “Oh, no. Let me go with you, Mad.”
Mi
ssion accomplished.
I don’t say a word, pretending to check in my other pockets. “I’ll just be a moment, are you sure you want to come with me?”
She smirks. “Of course.”
“Okay,” I say, nonchalantly.
Julia steps forward. “Okay, we’re going to get going for real this time. I’ll catch you guys later.”
This opens the door for everyone around to bid us adieu and allows me to get the rest of tonight’s show on the road.
We walk side-by-side back down to the beach, but before the area I set up comes into view, she grabs my arm, willing me to stop. “Mad, I just want to say thank you for today. It was really sweet and nice of you to do this for me. It’s been so hard finding my way back to normalcy, but this helps so much, so thank you.”
I search her eyes. More than anything, I want to kiss her right now. I want to grab her into my arms and kiss her until she can’t think straight anymore. But all I do is reply. “There’s no need to thank me, Adelyn. It’s what anyone would do.”
The glow of fireflies in the distance causes a beautiful summery feel to the atmosphere. It’s funny because I didn’t recall there being any fireflies near the beach before. I always thought they wanted to stay near still water.
But something about the way she’s looking at me and our surroundings is causing my stomach to flip and somersault.
She shakes her head. “No, it’s not what anyone would do. It’s what only you did. No one else. I’m so thankful to have you in my life. I don’t know what I would have done had you not been around lately.”
I want to say more, to let her know I would do anything for her always. But instead of speaking and getting lost in this beautiful moment with her, I break the spell and whisper the words, “Come on.”
Cautiously, I grab her by the hand and lead her down the path. Moments later, she wills me to stop as the scenery before us unfolds what I had set up for her.
She gasps and lets go of my hand to bring hers up to cover her mouth, stifling the sound. She walks two feet ahead of me, taking in everything before her. “Maddox… what did you do?”
I take slow steps until I’m standing right beside her again, but when I look at her face, tears are streaming down the side of it.