Husbands But Not

32: Goodbye, Noah Grayson

Then when I reached the very last shelf, I found a box that I've never noticed around the house before. I've never even glimpsed it before. It was stashed between his shirts in what seemed to be a reckless manner.

So it must've been recently used.

I sat on the floor so I wouldn't leave any marks on the bed sheets.

With the box between my legs, I opened it to reveal a bunch of old photographs. It had a few of a younger looking dad. The pictures were tinted yellow with lots of frayed edges. Among them were recent pictures of him as a police officer. Another when he got promoted to deputy. I could already tell that he'll be placing a photograph from tonight's event here; of him replacing Major Alder as head of the police department.

Just as I was about to put the box away, it noticed something a little different, lurking between the stack of pictures.

A neatly folded piece of paper.

I take it in my fingers and gently open it.

I had always wondered if
You can't hold on to this
And it's always one letter
That tries but never reaches
And it always has been you
The one with the cold look
And I became attached for
You knew what you did to me
And you'd always meet me at
The spot where rose becomes vermilion

The poem was too beautiful and it wasn't even signed or tagged with a name, yet it felt too close to my heart to be a casual poem from a random passerby.

The slam of the front door made me jump off the floor. The box was closed and tucked back in its place faster than lightning.

I closed the cupboard door and turned to realise the paper was still on the floor. I snatched it and shoved it in my jacket pocket before ducking out of dad's room and back to mine.

"Kent?" dad yelled.

"Y- yes dad." I replied as calmly as possible, but my heart felt like it was gonna burst with panic. Where was Noah to make panic beautiful?

Dad soon is in my doorway, and I wasn't ready for what would happen. With him, I never knew. It could go from a scolding to yelling to a joke or a funny anecdote of something that happened at the station.

"You're all packed." He ponders. Shit. I forgot to hide my duffle bag. Shit. Shit. Shit. "How did you know?"

I didn't know, actually.

"What are you talking about?" It hurt me that he didn't even ask where I was or how have I been doing. Was I eating? Was I sleeping? Was I going to school? Was I feeling well?

"Did Karen call you?"

"Why would aunt Karen call me?"

"Then what are you all packed up for?"

The beating of my heart was very much audible at that point. "Oh I was just, I don't know. Cleaning up a bit. Sorting my clothes."

"Hmm," he didn't look like he believed any of my crap, which usually meant shit was about to go down.

But it didn't. For some weird reason, it didn't.

I knew he wasn't a changed person, and he definitely didn't find the guiding light.

I was such a fool for even thinking that he was being nice or accepting in any matter. It was all planned out.

Because the next thing I knew, he was driving us beyond Rivertown and across the state of Parkridge to my hometown. The hometown where Aunt Karen lived with her second husband. The place that didn't have Noah in it. The place dad called his home.

The place dad wanted me to finish school in and go to college in and have a life in.

Before I was in that car, I managed to scribble down a note.

A note that I tucked in the other pocket of Noah's jacket that wasn't going to be mine anymore.

I was no longer wearing it, for it was rolled in my lap.

And at the right time and the right speed, I threw the jacket with all the force I had, hoping it had landed where I wanted it to land.

The Grayson's front porche, where Noah will find the first thing he gave me, and the last thing I gave him.

A/N: Wow feels good to be back to writing.

The amount of reads has been through the roof. Thanks for everyone who never left the story and always came back for new chapters.

Like I said, I'll finsih this book no matter what, and it'll hopefully be good.

To my girlfriend, get better soonest and wellest ♡

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