The Wright Brother (33 page)

“Chastity, he stayed with a girl once because she refused to let him go. As much it kills me to think he’ll tell me no—”

“You want him to be sure of his decision. I get it. I think it’s dumb as hell, but I get it.”

“For the record, I think it’s dumb as hell, too.”

~*~

Dropping her transfer request to her boss had been the hardest part of leaving Ireland behind. Saying goodbye to Callum had been one of the hardest and easiest things to do.

Easy, because she finally knew herself. Hardest, because had circumstances been different, she knew she could have been happy with him. Maybe not a forever romance, or maybe it could have been. He’d been a fork in the road of her life, one that could have possibly brought her a lot of happiness.

But she could not undo Julian, and the fact was that she had no desire to pretend he wasn’t a giant part of her soul.

Callum had nodded, and his look had been intense—maybe even a little sad—as he’d said, “I understand. Be well, Elisa.”

With those words, he was gone, and for just a second she felt a breathless twinge of what might have been. But it was easy to walk away when she knew the potential of what was hopefully waiting for her.

The only person she’d really truly miss would be Meredith, but they’d promised to keep in touch whenever possible. There’d been many tears, hugs, and kisses when they’d said their goodbyes.

Thank God Julian lived in New York; it made the job transfer infinitely easier. For better or for worse Elisa had left Dublin behind forever. Whether Julian wanted her in his life now or not, she had a job and a new life to build in New York City.

Exiting the JFK terminal she hugged Chastity’s and Luke’s neck and then slid into the back seat of their black SUV.

Chastity was little rounder, a little softer in the face than Elisa remembered her. But motherhood looked good on her. She’d cut her dreds short, and now they hung to her shoulders, and no longer was she wearing bright dyes, but warm earth tones. Her beautiful friend had turned into an even more beautiful mother.

Luke looked the same. With his gorgeous green eyes and his café au lait skin, he turned heads wherever he went, but his eyes were still just for Chas.

“Where’s the baby?” she asked, staring at the empty car seat.

Luke was the one to answer as he slowly maneuvered them onto freeway traffic. “With her grandma.”

“She’s super colicky, we figured it might make it a little less stressful of a ride if you didn’t have to hear her squawking.” Chas turned in her seat, giving Elisa a soft smile. “It’s good to see you back, Lisa.”

She grabbed her friend’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, not talking much on their drive into Chelsea.

The old redbrick buildings reminded her so much of their apartment in college, that Elisa experienced a pang. Chelsea was a hip, young person’s scene, and perfect for Julian’s artistic lifestyle.

If there were any place in the world Elisa could envision him living, this would have definitely made the top ten.

Luke snorted. “Julian’s making his way into the world. Mama must be a serious moneybags.” He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.

Chastity thinned her lips and swatted his shoulder. “You know his art is selling like hotcakes. Julian’s deaf and colorblind.” She swiveled around to Elisa. “He can also paint his ass off; it’s pretty much a recipe for instant fame.”

They pulled up to a curb and Elisa stared at the brownstones in front of her. They were all uniform in size and color and shape, but the stoops had a definite flair of distinction, attesting to each individual’s personal style. Some bore potted flowers, others brightly painted doors.

Julian’s stood out from everyone’s.

His door was white, and hanging on it was a dynamic piece of metal art. It was a large circle with a tree of life carved out from inside of it. She smiled.

“His?” Elisa pointed to it.

Glancing over, Chas nodded. “Yup. He works in all kinds of mediums now. He’s really pretty amazing.” Digging into her purse, Chastity pulled out a key and handed it to her. “He still hasn’t gotten that light system set up yet, so he gave us a key to just come in when we needed to for now.”

Elisa palmed the key in her hot hand. Her stomach twisting and diving on itself so violently, she shook her head. “What if he’s got company over? I should have texted him, huh? I should have—”

“No.” Chastity gave her a lopsided grin. “He doesn’t leave his house the day of a show. Sorta goes into one of his funky trances. He won’t be leaving here for another two hours.”

It bothered Elisa how much Chastity knew about Julian now that she didn’t. Chas must have noticed, because she briefly touched her cheek. “You were gone, hun, and he’s our friend. We kept tabs on him, that’s all.”

“Yeah,” she snorted, “I was gone. This is probably so stupid. After this long.”

“Elisa.” Luke glanced at her in the rearview. “I know you and me aren’t as close as everyone else, but just from a guy’s perspective, there’s a lot I would have done for Chastity. When it’s the real thing, you can’t just move on and pretend like it wasn’t.”

“Aw, honey.” Chastity grinned and pecked his cheek. “Just for that you’ll be getting desert tonight.”

His eyes gleamed and Elisa couldn’t help but chuckle, which did help release some of her tension.

Tipping the key toward them, she nodded. “Well, I guess I should go face the firing squad now, right?”

“Hey.” Chas winked. “Cheer up. It’s gonna be fine. Do you want us to keep the luggage in our car?”

“Yeah, for now.” She opened the door slowly. “I’d feel like a real ass if I took that stuff in and he asked me to go.”

“He’s not gonna ask you to go.”

She stared at his door with her heart in her throat. “I wish you could really read the future, Chas, ‘cause then I’d feel so much better.”

Giving her friends a finger wave as they drove off, Elisa turned on her heel and made her way up the steps. By the time she grabbed hold of the door her palms were sweating and her hands were shaking so bad that she had to squeeze her eyes shut, lean her forehead against it, and take three deep breaths to steady herself.

She was terrified of what she might see. Terrified of finding him in there with someone else. And even if he wasn’t with someone else now, that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone else already in his heart.

Elisa had always loved Julian, but she was ashamed to say there were times in their relationship that she’d definitely dropped the ball, failing to show him just how important he actually was to her.

Behind this door lived the only man she knew, with every fiber of her being, had been made just for her. If he said no, she would move on, and maybe someday be lucky in love again. Elisa had never bought into the soul mates thing—there wasn’t just one person in all the world capable of making you happy—but she also knew that there was no one else in all the world who understood her on a molecular level.

Destiny
…

She stared at her wrist. She had to know.

Steeling her nerves, she shoved the key in and opened the door.

Her heart beat so hard she could almost taste it on her tongue as she took first one step, then another, then another into his home. The walls were white, the wooden floors painted a deep-hued brown. There was a pale colored coach in the living room, a small dining chair and tables that could only seat four, but there was life pulsing through his apartment.

Canvases stretched from his high ceilings down to the floor and they were all done in amazing splashes of color.

She recognized scenes from her life, their life, on all of them.

A glistening red apple on a black background. So lifelike and realistic that she felt if she could only reach into it she’d be able to grab it and take a bite. In another there was water.

Nothing was around the water, but the way the waves almost seemed in motion, and the ripples that surrounded it, her skin tingled with a sudden rush of desire to dive in.

There was McCreary’s Woods with the Queen of Hearts hidden behind a skeletal tree.

Awed by the beauty of his artwork, her mouth hung wide open as she walked around the place that seemed like a museum of her life. She walked up the stairs, knowing she shouldn’t, that she’d likely be intruding on his privacy, but she’d caught sight of an image she could hardly believe was real.

There, in the stairwell, was a painting of her. She was nude and covered in paint. Blue dripped from the corners of her eyes, a red heart had been painted over her breast, her arms and thighs were banded in yellow, and gold, brown, black, and red.

Encircling her entire image was a thick stripe of black words.

“Every time she laughs she hopes he’s watching… not so that he sees she’s happy, but that maybe…just maybe, he’ll fall for her smile just as hard as she fell for his…”

A floorboard squeaked.

Screaming with both fear and shock, she clutched at her chest, and then stood stock still as a halo of light surrounded Julian Wright’s very nude body. His skin sparkled with drops of water as though he’d just stepped out of a shower.

She was like a woman drowning. Her gaze roamed his body, her heart thundered as she saw him again, almost as if for the first time.

His body was lean and sculpted and its own work of art. There were tattoos scrawling down Julian’s thighs now. He stood before her unashamed and she clutched at her breast, feeling like it might gallop straight out of her chest.

Finally it dawned on her that he wasn’t saying anything. Swallowing hard, the fear returned with a vengeance, and she didn’t want to go through with it, she didn’t want to know that he didn’t feel the same anymore.

“What are you doing here, Smile Girl?” he asked tentatively.

Smile Girl. That meant something right? He hadn’t called her that for a long time. That was his pet name for her, and he wouldn’t have used it if he didn’t still feel for her.

Right?

But no matter how hard she worked at convincing herself that this wasn’t one-sided, she couldn’t quite get over her queasiness.

“Elisa?” he asked harder.

Jerking to attention, she stared down at her sandaled feet. Maybe she should have worn a dress, put on makeup.

Blinking and biting onto her bottom lip hard she couldn’t look at him as she asked him, “Am I still the one?”

It took her several tense seconds before she could look back at him. When she did, it was to find him still not moving. If he’d answered her, she’d missed it.

Terrified that it was over, that any minute now he’d kick her to the curb, she rushed to get it all out, knowing she might never get this chance again.

“Destiny. That’s what I wrote down on my wrist when I left. Because that’s exactly what it felt like. But I was dumb to think that destiny was enough. I got over there, Jules, and I forgot myself. I forgot so much.” She frowned and then sniffed.

God, she was so sick of crying.

“You came and I saw you and it brought it all back, but I still didn’t get it. Life got in the way, and I got busy, and I forgot the things that really mattered.”

“What mattered?” He finally got involved in the conversation.

Feeling a minute spark of relief, she took a brave step up.

“You. Us. This.” She gestured between them. “You told me once that you would love me forever. I couldn’t understand how you could believe that when you were still so young. But for the past two weeks I’ve been examining my heart and…” She took another step up, now only three steps separated them. It felt like a bridge to eternity.

“You’re imprinted all over me. I see my life and you’re always there. When you were born, when you moved away, and my world became nothing but shades of gray. Then you came back, and I didn’t understand then like I do now why I suddenly came back to life. The first night we kissed, the first night we made love.” She took another step, excited to note the rapid rise and fall of his chest, two more steps. “Living with you, loving you. Jules.” She shook her head and dropped her hands, unable to say it any other way than with her voice. “It’s always been you.
Will
always
be you.”

The air grew thick with tension and she wanted so desperately to drop her gaze, too scared to see what he’d say to that.

He took one step down.

Only one step separated them. Just one. So close. They were so close she could feel the wash of his heat brush against her. Her nipples puckered in response, her skin tingled with a fiery wash of desire.

How could she ever have believed things had cooled? How could she ever have imagined that something this meteoric could just wither and die?

“My life is here in New York, I’ve got no prospects in Ireland, Smile Girl. Could you really leave?”

Smiling broadly now as the tears blurred her vision, she grabbed his hands and clutched them desperately to her chest. Those words had definitely not been a no.

Placing one of his palms over her throat she looked him straight in the face as she said, “I choose you.”

His eyes widened and his fingers twitched.

She nodded, daring to slip her arm around his waist. His skin pebbled underneath her touch. Speaking to him in the language only they understood, she tapped out her words on his body.

“I’ve moved to New York.”

With a desperate-sounding moan, he crushed her to his chest and claimed her lips. He kissed her like a man drowning, like a man thirsting for oxygen, for hope, for strength.

And when she kissed him, it was like the first time all over again. The passion, the spark, the knowledge and rightness of Julian, it all came back to her with a vengeance. Tears spilled, and she didn’t know whether they were hers or his, but for the first time in a long, long time she knew exactly who she was and who she wasn’t.

She was strong. She was independent. She could survive without Julian. But she didn’t want to. She loved him. And probably always would.

His large, callused hands framed her face and they stared at each other with the intense look of lovers who didn’t need to speak to understand what the heart said.

Julian needed her as badly as she needed him.