Drew

It was her.

Bree.

At first, I wasn’t certain. I’d heard the cups smashing and simply looked around at the sound.

That was all. In fact, I was even going to offer to help, but I knew Vera, the waitress would never allow me to.

That was when I caught sight of Bree with her long golden hair, and bright blue eyes that reminded me of the sky.

It was the graceful manner in which she moved that first caught my attention. Her willowy, petite figure had always reminded me of one of those elegant birds. Like a swallow or a flamingo.

Although she’d never danced when I knew her, I’d always thought she had the body and grace for it. Something like ballet would have suited her perfectly. Anything delicate and feminine like that reminded me of her.

Even when I tried to forget.

Forget her.

I should be doing that now, forgetting her, but I couldn’t.

I was here with Emma who was beautiful with her supermodel good looks and her perfect body, but damn it to hell my stupid body left her side and went after Bree.

I ran out to the street looking for her but there was no sign of her.

That didn’t stop me though. I didn’t allow it to. If that really was her, and I knew it had to be then there was only one place she could have gone to.

Back to her home, the old farm house.

I drove like a mad man running two red lights, and nearly crashed into a truck because I wasn’t thinking straight.

Right now, I could have at least done with some common sense.

Why the hell was I zooming across town, chasing a girl – woman – who didn’t want me?

Why the hell would I do that?

Maybe it was closure that I needed. Maybe it was that because nothing I was doing right now made any sense to me.

I didn’t think I would ever forget having her ripped away from me.

Quite literally ripped away.

It was worse than receiving the bullet in my thigh that rendered me useless to the Navy. The damned bullet, just one, ruined my career, but I still couldn’t compare it to the feeling I got when I realized that Bree didn’t love me.

I’d made a fool of myself for years thinking about her, trying to find her, being love’s idiot.

And, fuck, here I was again making the same mistake.

But, I couldn’t stop myself.

I hadn’t been to the farm house in years. When I was home I’d visit occasionally to see Lily, and get any possible intel on Bree but that was a while back. Maybe a good four years ago now.

I would have come by just to see Lilly when I got home six months ago but I didn’t get the chance.

I pulled up on the driveway and practically jumped out of my range rover.

One of the Labradors ran up to me and barked but I didn’t take any notice. As soon as the door opened and Lily stood before me the dog rushed into the house leaving us alone.

“Drew, hey it’s great to see you.” Lilly smiled brightly at me like she usually did.

This woman had always been nice to me even when Ben, her brother and Bree’s father, was completely against me and my family.

“And you Lily.” I pulled in a breath. “I don’t mean to be abrupt, and I’m sorry it’s taken me awhile to visit but I think I just saw Bree in town, at the coffeehouse. Is she here?”

The tentative expression that washed over her face in that moment told me all I needed to know.

“Look Drew, maybe now isn’t really a good time.”

“Oh, when will be a good time, another decade?” I couldn’t help the sarcasm because it was ridiculous.

A decade had passed, they were ten years older and still someone was standing in the way of me seeing her.

“Drew, maybe if you come ba –”

Like hell, I didn’t allow her to finish. I stepped straight past her and went inside the house.

“Bree.” I called out.

I knew this was crazy. It bordered on the verge of madness, and if Lilly called the cops on me now I wouldn’t really have a defense.

But, I didn’t care. I had to see Bree.

When I marched up the stairs to her old bedroom and got to the top I was glad Lilly didn’t follow me or make any further attempts to stop me.

Bree’s door was closed so I knocked even though I didn’t expect there to be an answer.

She was inside. I could feel it. I knew she was. I could sense her presence.

Only she could make me feel like this.

“Bree.” I whispered her name and placed my hand on the light wooden surface of the door. The thought occurred to me that I should leave but I couldn’t. That thing that had driven me to her in the first place years ago drove me to her now.

It drove me to her and I could just about kick the door in if I wasn’t suddenly seized by the fear of rejection.

I’d been with many women in the past. Each with the hope that I would find someone who would make me feel the way I had about her, but it never happened. I was perhaps to blame for sabotaging myself by trying to compare but I’d never been able to deny the fact that no one had come close to her.

I couldn’t refute facts.

And since I was no coward there was only one thing to do.

I took hold of the handle and opened the door. It flung open and there she was, standing over by the long French windows, uncertainty written all over her face.

All I could do was stare.

She had the same bewildered look on her face she’d had when Ben took her from me.