Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 52592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
My eyes widen, and my heart skips a beat when I hear him say those words.
“You love me?” I ask. “Are you sure?”
Nico smiles and smooths his fingers down the side of my cheek. “I've never been so sure of anything in my life. I love you, Elle Monroe. You have my heart and what’s left of my soul. I want to be with you, protect you, and even argue with you from time to time, for the rest of my life.”
I giggle at that last part and feel as if all of those dreams I’ve had since that night in the alley weren’t the warning I once thought them to be, but were glimpses of the future that I might one day have with Nico.
“So, what do you say?” he asks.
“I say that I love you too, and I think the Mojave Desert sounds like a great idea.”
Before either of us can start talking about any actual plans, my phone rings. I don’t look to see who’s calling because I’m not expecting anyone, and at this moment I couldn’t care less who it is. The only person who I really care about now is standing right here with me. But Nico catches a glimpse of the caller ID lighting up and reaches for my phone.
“Here,” he says. “I think you should take this call.”
He smiles, and I look down at the phone to see that it’s Valentina calling. That seems straight out of nowhere. I’m almost too surprised to pick up. But after it rings a couple more times, I quickly hit the answer button before the call is lost.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Elle,” Valentina‘s voice sounds the same as it did the last time I talked to her, and the feelings that wash over me make it seem as though we haven’t lost a day of friendship between us.
Nico turns and walks out of the living room and down the hall, giving me time to talk with my friend in privacy.
“I hope you don’t mind me calling,” Valentina says.
“No, of course not! I’m just surprised. I didn’t think that you wanted to talk to me ever again. I was at your wedding, and I got the feeling that you didn’t really want me to be there.”
“I’m sorry,” she says. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want you there, I’m glad you were there. It’s just that I didn’t want to feel all the things I was feeling when I saw you.”
“What kinds of things were those?” I ask.
Silence hangs on the line for a few seconds before she answers.
“Mostly regret, sadness, the desire to go back and do things differently. Look, Elle, I really didn’t want things to go the way they did, and I didn’t want our friendship to end. It’s just that when—"
“It’s okay,” I interrupt. “I understand. Sometimes we think we need things to be a certain way, only to find out that what we really want is the complete opposite.”
“Does this have anything to do with the Ghost?” Valentina’s tone turns immediately playful, and it brings me right back to our days in the private academy when we used to sit in the dark and share our deepest secrets. “I’ve heard through the grapevine that you and he might be involved romantically. Is it true?”
“Well, before I tell you all of my intimate inner workings, does this mean that we’re friends again?” I tease.
“Yes,” Valentina says. I can hear her smile through the phone. “If you’ll have me, that is.”
With that, the two of us start talking as if no time has been lost at all between us, and all the hard feelings are now water under the bridge.
“Oh, and there’s one more thing,” I say after I tell her about everything that’s happened recently. “I think you might need to get by without the Ghost for a while now.”
“Really?” she asks. “How come?”
“Because for now, I think he’s going to focus on just being Nico.”
Valentina and I fall back into conversation, catching up on everything that we have missed in each other’s lives over recent years.
In the background, I can hear Nico moving around the apartment, taking a shower, pouring himself a drink, and giving me time to talk with my long-lost friend.
Valentina and I have reconciled, and now we can both heal from our emotional scars and lean on each other’s shoulders just like we did before. I’m not sure what prompted her to call me tonight, but whatever it was, I’m grateful for it.
After all that I’ve lost—my mother, years of my life chasing after ghosts, maybe even my sanity—tonight, I have Nico, my friendship with Valentina back, closure to a plight that has plagued me, and hope for moving on toward a better future. I think that is all I’ve ever wanted—love, friendship, peace of mind, and hope.