Wait For Me

Chapter 12.

"I will, thanks." Lachlan smiled and Phil nodded his head in response before striding out of the room.

I picked up my bag and by instinct curled my fingers around my phone and lifted it from its pocket. No notifications. My heart ached in my chest and I sucked in a deep breath of disappointment. Zach had not attempted to contact me with excuses nor any form of explanation. After his engagement was so sweetly announced by his old crone of a mother he had been completely silent and no where to be found. Noah too.

Four years of waiting for him. It all seemed so pointless to find out someone else had entered his life and he had gotten engaged. To have him turn up for my birthday was such a bitter sweet sensation and although I was overjoyed to see him, all of the pain I had bottled up when I moved away was released too, free to sink its teeth into the life I had built without him.

It was a joke. He was the one who asked me to wait for him. I held up my end and it was crushing to know he had not. I wondered if that was that - he had been found out and fled with his tail between his legs, never to be seen by me again. I hoped it was not true, that he loved and cared for me. That he had always loved me. That this was all an elaborate miscommunication somehow, that it was just the old crone and her lies but I saw it. In her beady little eyes, her smug expression and Zach's horrified reaction of being found out. It was all true.

"Lou?"

Thwap.

Abruptly torn from my inner thoughts, I whipped my head up to see curious green eyes staring at me and it took me a moment to fully register Lachlan had gently flicked my forehead with his thumb and index finger.

His kind smile stretched up to reveal his dimples. "You were in a world of your own there, lass."

"Sorry," I sighed, "I'm really tired."

"I know, Lockie," he said, " Can you imagine how tired you'd be now if you hadn't let me help you today?"

"You're right, thank you. I really appreciated your help."

Lachlan "Don't mention it. Now come on, get your coat. I'll walk you home."

The walk home was quiet and relaxed. Lachlan and I were mostly in comfortable silence, an unspoken agreement between us that conversation was not what either of us needed in that moment. I watched him as he sauntered along beside me, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket and his brows lowered over his eyes. He seemed...different. More mature, almost. I could not put my finger on it. We reached my flat and I gave him a small smile.

A cloud of smoke floated from his mouth toward me and I braced myself for the smell to reach my nostrils. I was surprised when I inhaled the scent of sweet strawberries. I moved my gaze to the source and Lachlan rolled his eyes.

"Have you quit cigarettes?" I asked in disbelief, "Is that a vape?"

"Aye, Lockie," he said with a laugh, "Well, I'm trying to quit. This isn't so bad. Makes a whole lot more bloody smoke, sorry - vapour - than a cig does though."

"Your grandmother is going to be jumping for joy!"

"If she could manage it without injuring herself I'm sure she would," he said as he had a few more puffs before returning it to his pocket and we were approaching my flat.

"So do you think Brave will want to see you again after what happened today?" I asked as I retrieved my keys from my bag.

"Who, Naomi?" He shook his head, then rubbed his jaw as if reliving her palm swiping across his face. "I think that ship has well and truly sailed, don't you think?"

"Wow, Lachlan. I think you have finally met your match. A woman who does not fall head over heels as soon as you switch on your charms. She's a keeper."

"Maybe I have met my match, Lockie." His eyes locked on to mine accompanied with a smile. "So anyway, are you going to tell me what happened with him? Zach, I mean."

The way he said his name was full of distaste and he involuntarily frowned as he did so. I sighed. I suppose he would end up finding out eventually but the thought of speaking about it made a knot creep up the back of my throat.

"He's engaged."

"What?" 

"He got engaged," I croaked, the fat tears rolling down my cheeks. It had finally sunk in. Really sunk in. "To another woman. I haven't seen or heard from him since I found out. He just left. He left me again. He didn't wait."

 "Oh, Lockie, c'mere lass. Don't cry." Lachlan cooed as he drew me into a warm embrace. A soft kiss pressed against my temple and he let me collapse against his chest as I sobbed into the night.