Never Far Away

by Anie Michaels

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Porter

  Porter came in from his shop where he had been taking his frustrations out on his boat for the last two hours. He was sweaty and sticky and covered in sawdust. He walked into his bedroom and his eyes flashed to his phone sitting on his bedside table. He saw the little light acting as a beacon that signaled he had a message. He reached for the phone with antsy fingers, but before he could unlock it he put it back down. There was no use trying to hurry to see if it was Ella who had called or not. She wouldn’t let him see her regardless. If it was a message from her, it would more than likely make the aching hole in his chest that much more painful to hear her voice. He put the phone down and continued into the bathroom to take a shower.

  Of course, the shower was only a reminder of Ella, naked and waiting for him on that bench. He buried his head in the hot stream of water. It was no use. Again, she was everywhere. This is the same shit he’d gone through two months ago when he was being kept from her. He saw her all over his house and it drove him mad. He threw an entire plate in the garbage earlier when he’d found a piece of cheesecake hidden in the back of the fridge. He was sure she’d put it there with sexy intentions before all the shit hit the fan, and it was just taunting him, so he threw it in the garbage with more force than was necessary.

  He’d had it. This was ridiculous. They promised each other no nights apart, and he’d be damned if it was him who was going to break a promise to Ella. She could shut the door in his face and he’d sleep on the porch for all he cared, but he was going to her. He was out of the shower and dressed in minutes, bounding down the stairs to get to his truck as quickly as his legs could carry him.

  Before he put the truck in drive he pulled his phone out again and decided to listen to his message.

  “Porter,” he heard Ella’s voice, but it sounded strange. She whispered. “I don’t think I have much time. I think he’s here.” His blood stopped moving in his veins, every part of him turned to stone at her words. His heart stopped beating, his lungs like giant boulders in his chest, locked in place not letting air in or out.

  “Oh, Porter, I’m so sorry, for everything. I love you so much and I don’t want you to blame yourself for anything that’s about to happen to me. I’m so glad that you’re not here and that I could protect you this way.” He could hear her crying through the phone and he felt like he was turning blue for lack of oxygen. What was happening? Had he already lost her?

  “I love you, Porter,” was the last thing he heard her say before the muffled sound of the phone being placed on a hard surface. He continued to listen, hoping to hear something that would make him believe that she was ok. But instead he heard Kyle’s voice.

  “There you are, Ella.” Porter nearly vomited at hearing him say her name.

  “What do you want, Kyle?” Ella said, sounding far away and distant.

  “The same thing I’ve always wanted: for you not to be a problem for me anymore.” Porter heard a lot of shuffling and muffled cries, bringing tears to his eyes.

  “Stop making so much damned noise, Ella,” he heard Kyle shout. “We’re headed back to where this all should have ended months ago.”

  Porter froze, in so many ways, he was stuck. Where did he go from here? What came next? There was so much nothingness surrounding him, it was hard to find even the will to think about his next move. He closed his eyes and willed his lungs to give him air. His brain needed air. Finally he was able to take a breath. He took a few deep pulls of the ocean air that surrounded him and begged himself to get it together. He turned back to his phone and looked at the call log to see when she had called him.

  The log said she’d called two hours ago. Two whole hours had passed since she’d called him and since Kyle had shown up and done God knows what with her. He dialed the voicemail number again to listen to the message. It would probably haunt him forever, so listening to it one more time wouldn’t make much of a difference. Hearing her scared voice, listening to her telling him that she was glad she could protect him, it took everything else out of him. Then he heard the last sentence Kyle had muttered. Back to where it should have ended months ago? What did that mean? Poppy? Their old apartment? Then, it came to him. He picked the phone back up and dialed 9-1-1. He threw his truck into drive and tore out of his driveway, relaying all the information he knew to the dispatcher.

  The woman on the phone told him to stand down, that he should wait for the police to take care of it. He simply hung up on her. There was only a small sliver of a chance that Ella would even be there, and then he thought about the fact that if she were there, what were the chances that she was still alive? He didn’t have time to think about it. He pushed back all his fears of the unknown and focused solely on the overwhelming feeling of protectiveness that he was so used to. He would find Ella, he had to. And he would kill Kyle. He would take pleasure in it.

  He broke every traffic law driving to the rental, running every red light, passing cars on the 101, even driving on the shoulder when people wouldn’t get out of his way. When he finally arrived at the driveway all he saw was an unfamiliar car, which only made him angrier. His door nearly came off with the force he used to open it, the engine still running, the headlights still on. He started to run to the porch but it felt like he hit a brick wall and he fell to his knees on the gravel.

  Ella sat on the porch steps, her head resting on her lap. If he never saw anything, ever again, he wanted to remember the sight of her right in front of him. His hand found his chest and he gripped his shirt over his heart and he felt it pounding at an alarming pace. Tears sprang from his eyes and he breathed her name. “Ella.” It was quiet, but she must have heard it because she looked up at him.

  The fucking roller coaster he was on took another nosedive when he saw her drenched in blood.

  “Ella,” he yelled, suddenly on his feet and at her side, not sure how he made it to her when a moment ago nothing on his body worked properly.

  “Ella, look at me,” he said as he grabbed her face, making her look at him. “Where are you hurt? Baby, tell me. Where are you hurt?”

  “Porter?” She looked at him with confusion. “You can’t be here, you have to leave.”

  “Is he in there?” He stood up to go inside, but she grabbed his shirt.

  “You can’t go in there!” She yelled at him.

  “Did he do this to you? Ella, tell me what’s wrong?” Porter pulled out his phone to call 9-1-1 again, but then heard sirens coming and put it away figuring they would be here before he got through anyway. She pulled his shirt down with so much force he had no choice but to sit down next to her on the step. He wrapped his arms around her and wished she would just tell him she was ok.

  The police cars pulled up and the same officers who had came to his house both nights were there.

  “Are you two alone?” The officer asked. Porter looked at Ella for an answer.

  “No, Kyle is in there,” she answered quietly. Porter immediately moved to stand up. “No! Porter, please, don’t leave me.” The officer placed his hand on the gun in his holster and started to make his way into the house.

  “You won’t need your gun,” Ella said with a distant and faraway look in her eyes. “I already killed him.”

  Epilogue

  Porter

  It had been three months since the incident with Kyle. The effects that night had on Ella were far reaching and still not quite resolved, and they might not ever be. Porter might not ever be fully himself again, either. But they were together and that seemed to be the overriding factor to their happiness. They both had issues to work through, but nothing was standing in their way of being together anymore. Their lives had become boring and uneventful in the most fantastic of ways.

  He knew that night of their first date he wanted to marry her and he would have, in an instant, had he thought the timing was ever right for them. They fought so many battles together that he knew she would always wonder if their relationship was born out o
f some need to fix them or to bind them together in times of trial. So he waited. So many times in the last seven months he’d wanted to simply take her to Vegas and just get it over with, but he knew he had to wait for her to realize that all their obstacles were behind them.

  Tonight he was going to surprise her at Poppy 2.0, as they jokingly referred to the new store in Salem. The store was almost therapeutic for her in that she had something to focus all of her nervous energy on and it was something brand new that hadn’t been tainted by the events revolving around Kyle. It was a fresh start for her and for them together.

  He opened the door to see Ella standing on a step stool, reaching far above her head, trying to reach the very top of the wall near the ceiling with a paint roller. Her tee-shirt was riding up and reveled the slightest sliver of skin above the waist of her running shorts. She was on her tiptoes stretching her long and lean legs even farther than should be legally allowed. He stood in the doorway for a moment and simply took her in. She belonged to him, in every way possible, and he was hers as well. He could look at her all night, but he wanted to feel her in his arms.

  “Hey, Babe,” he said as he walked towards her. She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. He was secretly proud of her for not startling and jumping at his sudden appearance. It took her weeks to not jump at the sound of people’s voices who snuck up on her. She was incredibly strong and he loved watching her grow stronger every day.

  “Hey to you too. I thought we were going to meet at home.”

  “I wanted to surprise you,” he said as he raised his head up for a kiss, smiling a little at the fact that for once, she was taller than him. She leaned down and gave him the kiss he was looking for. He took advantage of his height issue and wrapped his arms around her waist, placing his hand on her ass. “These shorts are nice,” he said against her lips as he squeezed her through the fabric of them.

  “You’re a pervert,” she said laughing at him. He gave a shrug, not willing to deny it. “You’re not trying to take me anywhere are you? I am not dressed to go out in public.”

  “Nope,” he said. He turned from her and started unloading the backpack he had with him. He pulled out a blanket and spread it out on the floor in the middle of the empty store. Then he pulled out a bottle of champagne and two plastic flutes. He looked at her and was rewarded with a smile so big his heart missed a few beats. He held up a finger to indicate ‘one more’ and he took out a paper bag that had dinner in it. “I got us some hot dogs from the food trucks down the street, since I didn’t think the fire marshal would appreciate a campfire in your store here.”

  She stepped down from the stool and walked over to where he was kneeling on the floor and she knelt down next to him. “I love Porter picnics.” She kissed him sweetly on the lips and he couldn’t help but smile about it.

  He patted the blanket next to him, indicating that he wanted her to sit next to him. She followed his instructions and took the spot next to him on the floor.

  “Before we get to the gourmet meal I have brought you, I wanted to give you something else first.”

  She gave him a questioning look and narrowed her eyes at him. “Ok…” she said slowly, drawing out the word in a way that made her sound unsure of what he was going to do. He reached into the small pocket of his backpack and pulled out an envelope. Her name was scrawled across the front of the envelope and she looked up from it and back to him a few times, trying to figure out what was going on.

  “Open it.”

  Dear Ella,

  There are so many ways I could tell you that I love you, but it seemed like it was my turn to write you a letter. You’ll have to cut me a break though because, although I seem to do fine with words in general when I’m talking, there’s more at stake when writing a letter like this – more on the line.

  Every time you’ve written a letter to me, you’ve either been leaving me, or anticipating the fact that you were leaving me and preemptively trying to talk me into going after you. Well, although I will always love the letters you have written to me, both of them were entirely pointless and a waste of time and trees.

  Not once did you leave me. It’s impossible to be without someone who is so entirely engrained in your heart that you carry them with you wherever you go. So even though for weeks at a time you were across the state, you were never far away. Never. As I suspect I was never far from you either. The point being, there will be no more letters about going away or chasing after you, because as far as I’m concerned, you’re mine, forever. The only thing left for us to do to cement the fact that I want you tied to me forever is for you to marry me. I should be down on one knee. I should be holding up a little velvet box with a ring in it for you, but that’s not my style, Baby. I want to give you picnics on the beach (and anywhere else I can lay a blanket down), fireworks in the sand, waterfalls, kisses and many, many nights of us together.

  I want to give you a house, fill it with babies, and I want to start now. Our life together starts now, Ella. Say you’ll marry me. Give yourself to me and let me spend every day with the one person who makes me feel like I have every good thing I never thought I’d find.

  Marry Me.

  I love you even more than you love me, obviously,

  Porter

  When Ella looked back up at him it was with tears in her eyes. She had her delicate fingers placed over her mouth, but he could see she was biting her lip, probably to keep herself from crying. He moved closer to her and brought his hand up to cup the side of her face. She leaned into his hand and brought her eyes up to meet his. He held out a velvet box to her.

  “I thought you said you didn’t have a velvet box,” she asked confused.

  “Oh, this box?” He said motioning towards the very box in his hands. She rolled her eyes at him.

  “Yes, that’s the one I’m referring to.”

  “Oh, this isn’t for you. It’s for me,” he said, as if it should be obvious.

  “You bought yourself an engagement ring?”

  “Months ago,” he said as she opened the box. Inside the box was a silver ring, and when Ella saw it he watched as her nervousness and apprehension melted away. The ring was the same one they had seen at the jewelry vendor at the Saturday Market when they had gone together before she got her memory back. This ring was the male version of hers, which sat nicely on her ring finger at the moment.

  “This ring was made as a companion to yours,” he said as he took the ring out and slipped it on his finger. “The artist uses the woman’s ring as a mold for the man’s and so you’ll see, all around my ring is the indention of where your ring would wrap around it.” He said holding his ring up to show her. “Your ring, as you so eloquently stated when you saw it, represents you finding your direction, making your own way. Well, to me, my ring represents that whichever way you’re pointed, which ever direction you’re going, you will always be headed towards me.” He watched as she took in what he was saying, and how her eyes kept darting back and forth between the rings and his eyes.

  “Well?” He said with a smile. He was rewarded with her laughter.

  “You want to marry me?” She asked with a squeaky voice, trying not to cry.

  “Did you even read the letter?” He joked. She laughed again. “Well?” He asked again.

  “I’ll marry you on two conditions,” she said, smiling and crying at the same time.

  “I wasn’t expecting to barter.” He said with a straight face. “But I’m willing to hear your offer.”

  “At our wedding, I want your mom to make her cheesecake for our wedding cake,” she said, also trying to keep a straight face.

  “Hmm… interesting. What else?” Trying not to let on that he thought it was the best idea he’d heard all night.

  “I would need for us to start making babies, like, immediately.” She said, this time bringing her thumb nail to her mouth, worrying the nail in her mouth.

  “Done,” he said immediately. “You’re not a very good negotiator.” He
said as he kissed her, laying her down on the blanket, covering her body with his, loving the feeling of her underneath him.

  “Hmm… says the man who gave me everything I asked for without even one counteroffer.”

  He pulled back from her neck where he was placing small kisses.

  “I don’t need a counteroffer. If you agree to marry me, I’ll give you anything you ask for.” His face became very serious and he brushed her hair back from her eyes.

  “Marry me, Ella.” He said quietly, looking directly into her eyes.

  “Forever?” She smiled.

  “And ever. Never a day apart again.”

  “You’re mine?” She smiled some more, obviously enjoying making him squirm.

  “I’m yours if you’re mine,” he said.

  “Then yes, I’ll marry you,” she said, placing a smiling kiss against his lips.

  The End

  Acknowledgments

  There are so many people who have helped me through the process of writing this second book. It is the least I can do to offer up my thanks in the form of words on the page, which is why we are all reading this to begin with.

  To my husband, Demian, I love you. So much. Thank you for everything you've given in sacrifice to help me see this whole crazy writing thing through. And thank you in advance for everything you will continue to sacrifice for me. You are the most selfless and caring man I've ever met and I'm so lucky that I'm the one who was smart enough to hold on to you. And thanks for your input on the word “boobs”. Your knowledge on the subject matter was impressive and vast.

  To Brook, you are the best “bestie reader” around. Your constant support and enthusiasm surrounding the books only serve to motivate me. Your feedback and love of Ella and Porter (mainly Porter) helps me in more ways than you can probably imagine. To Matt, thanks for always offering the important male perspective and for your eternal hatred for Kyle. I was so happy that you and your lovely wife made it into the book. If anyone deserves a cameo, it's you guys. And thanks for always making me laugh. This is stressful stuff, but you are always able to help me put aside the stress and just relax. I appreciate that.