“Isn’t it sad that the highlight of my night is going home and finding her waiting there for me, all excited and energetic?” Drew sighed. “I miss the nights I used to avoid going home. Those were some good times.”
They both knew, though, that Drew didn’t miss them at all. Since Anna, he’d been out on a few dates—but he’d left behind his days of random hookups and one night stands.
“Come on, we can just walk. It’s not that far.” Jeff told him, nudging him with his arm. Drew nodded, pulling his jacket tighter around him. Winter was quickly approaching, and the chill was evident in the air. “So, real estate?”
“I don’t know. I was thinking something with a yard.” Drew shrugged. He liked the thought of Bella being able to run around outside. Sometimes, he liked to imagine little kids chasing her around—little towheaded girls, with green eyes.
“So you’re committing to Columbus?”
“What, you trying to convince me to move a little closer your way?” Drew asked and Jeff laughed a little.
“You have to admit, Chicago has a lot more to offer than Columbus.”
“Eh, maybe so.” Drew looked around him, taking in the sites. Wouldn’t it be nice to just turn around and leave it all behind him? He could start fresh—wipe the slate clean, and leave it all in the past.
But at the same time, the thought of leaving those memories behind was almost as painful as losing Anna.
“It’s home, though.” Drew finally said. They stopped at a corner, waiting for traffic to let up. “I don’t have much, but what I do have…it’s there.” He thought to his childhood, too. He liked being able to drive by the apartment he’d grown up in with his mom, or the townhouse he’d often shared with Jeff their last couple years of school.
He raised his eyes to the street before him. It was lined with fancy restaurants and art galleries and bridal shops.
It just wasn’t the same.
~*~
Chandler handed her a new wine glass, placing her empty one on the tray of a passing waiter. She smiled her thanks at him, letting him continue on about his property in France and his own exhibition in New York.
She knew he was trying to impress her, and so she went along with the conversation, but her attention was elsewhere. She wasn’t an artist—not really. She was the Director of Affairs for the Innman Community Center—and she had a pile of paperwork waiting in her hotel room to prove it. The closest she would come to being an artist was the time she spent in the freshly built studio they’d just added on to the center, encouraging the kids to find something they loved doing and to pursue it.
Much like she’d done.
She loved the arts—but she loved those kids more.
Besides, she was pretty sure the only reason she’d been able to produce anything worthwhile was because of a certain someone. She hadn’t seen beauty in her art until she’d experienced everything Drew had offered her—the friendship, the sensuality, the passion…
In an attempt to distract herself, Anna shifted her gaze. She found Alice, who had progressed to touching the tattooed guy. Nana was surrounded by several younger faces, and Anna could only imagine the stories she was telling them.
Anna took a sip from her glass and shifted her gaze back to Chandler’s for a moment. A breeze of cool air swept through the room, but she barely paid any attention. People had been coming and going all night.
It was the familiar tugging within her chest that caught her attention.
Slowly, she turned her head, sweeping the crowd.
The moment her green eyes met his blue, she felt a sob catch in her throat. Her chest suddenly ached at the sight of him—a dull anguish mixed with a sense of disbelief.
Of all the places…
Her eyes filled with tears and she looked away, dabbing at her eyes before she looked back.
It was really him. He was here, standing not even fifteen feet away.
From across the room, Drew grinned at her. She felt a smile on her lips even as the tears rolled freely down her cheeks.
Behind him, Jeff waved.
And before she could stop herself, she was walking toward Drew, weeping softly as he met her halfway.
She wasn’t sure who kissed who—she only knew that they were together, and it felt right.
Nana’s words came flying at her.
“Love isn’t about who is best for you, sweet Anna Marie. It isn’t about what makes the most sense. Love is about passion. It’s about hunger and desire. It is all-consuming, but it isn’t destructive. And when it’s right, it’s the most beautiful thing in the world. Because you just know.”
Finally, she pulled away from him and he held her face in his hands, his thumbs brushing the tears from her cheeks. “That was quite a greeting,” he whispered.
“I warned you what happens when you grin at me, Drew Whitman.”
“Well, I don’t know if I’ve warned you about what happens when you kiss me, but…” He leaned in and touched his lips very gently to her cheek. “You bring me to life, Annabelle.”
“Hey, you two—get a room!” Alice called and Anna looked away, finding her sister in the crowd. They’d drawn quite a bit of attention. Alice laughed happily, and Anna turned to find Nana clapping softly to herself.
There was a smile on Anna’s face she wasn’t sure she’d ever experienced, her eyes still shimmering with tears.
Nana’s words made perfect sense.
“Mr. Whitman, would you like to walk me back to my hotel room? Assuming your date doesn’t mind, I mean.” Anna glanced over Drew’s shoulder, where Jeff stood smiling warmly in their direction.
“He doesn’t mind.” She felt a wave of relief wash through her—the weight of everything lifting from her shoulders. A stupid grin made it’s way onto her lips and she dabbed at her cheeks, certain her mascara had run. She linked her arm through his, stopping to grab her coat, before the two of them stepped out into the cool night air.
“What are you doing here, Drew? Did you know I would be here?”
“It was fate, Annabelle. We were walking by, heading to dinner. And I looked through the window…and there you were. I spent all of this time trying to convince myself that I was over it—”
“But the heart wants what the heart wants, doesn’t it?” She stared up at him, her palm on his cheek. Drew nodded, his eyes smiling down at her as he took her hand from his cheek and touched his lips to it.
They continued walking down the street, still hand in hand. “I have to admit, when I walked in there and saw that older gentlemanly fellow trying to chat you up, I flashed to Chandler Duvet and I figured it was game over for me.”
“That was Chandler Duvet.” Drew stopped her, pulling her close to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, still smiling. She wanted to be as close to him as she could.
“The Chandler Duvet?” Anna nodded, her eyes sparkling with joy and amusement. “Is it weird that I want to go back and punch him?”
She laughed then, throwing her head back.
“I would rather you just take me back to my hotel room, take my dress off, and take the most incredible bath either one of us can imagine.”
“That sounds a lot better.”
She reached up, as if to kiss him—but he stopped her, his expression suddenly serious. “Before we take this any further, Annabelle Maloy, I have something I need to tell you.”
“Oh?” She raised an eyebrow, the corners of her lips still upturned.
“There’s another woman in my life.”
“Really, now?” Anna pulled back further, waiting for him to finish.
“Her name is Bella, and she’s really quite adorable—” Drew continued on.
“Uh-huh—and does Bella happen to have four legs and pretty golden fur?”
“How’d you guess?” Anna laughed again, shrugging a shoulder. So, maybe she’d listened to a few podcasts of his show while she was gone. She couldn’t exactly help it.
“Oh, I have my sources.” She dropped he
r head to the side, looking up at him. “Drew, did you name your dog after me?”
“First—Bella was her given name. Who am I to change her identity? And second,” Drew leaned in closer. “Your name is Anna.”
“But you call me Annabelle. Which you’ve never actually explained, by the way.”
“Isn’t it obvious, Anna?” He grazed her cheek with the back of his hand. “Since the moment I saw you, I knew. You were so beautiful, it hurt to look away. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but I knew then that you were it for me—my belle.”
“Oh, stop it.” She rolled her eyes, but deep down, she knew he meant it. She remembered his words, from the morning he’d bared his soul on live air, replaying them in her mind as she’d done thousands of times since then. Suddenly, she felt her chest tighten and she looked up at him, holding his eyes.
“I think I knew, too,” she whispered.
“Knew what?” Drew asked.
“I knew that it was you. The moment you kissed me—everything about you felt right. But I was too afraid to listen. I didn’t want to get hurt.” Anna bit her lip. “But I knew.”
And as Drew touched his lips to hers, she was taken back to that night. The same rush of excitement washed over her—mixed with the anticipation of what was to come and the tenderness of an affection that had grown between them since that first moment.
She felt the passion there.
But she knew that this was something more. This was a flame that would burn on—it might brighten, and it might ebb, but it would never go out.
Anna didn’t know how—but she just knew.
And that was all she needed.
About the Author…
Michelle Brewer has been an avid reader for as long as she can remember (literally—she began “borrowing” her sister’s romance novels around age ten), and it was her love of reading that led her to want to become a writer. The ability to create a world of fiction that feels so real to the reader—that feeling has inspired her since she first put pen to paper.
She lives in Michigan with her husband of four years and their nearly-two-year old son, with whom she loves spending her free time.
Other books by Michelle Brewer:
Playing at Forever
Can’t Let Go
Single, Available, and Completely Attached Page 25