“Your daughter broke my son’s heart. I’m sensing a trend.”
I slanted my eyebrows at Paul in an effort to make him a feel a little guilty. He smiled instead, ever the smooth and confident guy.
“That’s because she’s not the one Liam should end up with,” he reasoned. “Look at us. Look at where we are now because we didn’t end up together.”
I couldn’t help smiling back at him. “I think Desmond’s journal may have pressured him a bit.”
“Journal?” Paul asked.
“Yeah. He made our life together into some kind of a handwritten fairytale.”
“It wasn’t?”
“Not really,” I told him.
“But you were happy, weren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“You know, I think that the most beautiful kind of love is that of tragedy.”
I smiled again. Real smooth… “I think not.”
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Like I’m at the end of my rope,” I sighed. “I really want to hang in there for Liam but it’s a little hard. I feel so lousy. Sometimes, I think I see Desmond in the room. He even told me I looked awful. It’s crazy.”
Paul reached for my hand and grasped it. “Just so you know, I thought that I could love you more as a friend than as a lover.”
I crinkled my eyebrows at him. “Why are you being so random?”
“You need all the love in this world to send you there, to that place to where the Lord is, to where Desmond is. I’m giving you mine now.”
Now, I felt more than just lousy. “Did anyone ever tell you you’re pretty good with words?”
He gave my hand a squeeze. “I meant every word, Emma.”
“I know,” I said to him as I tried my best to squeeze back. “Thank you for staying as my friend. It’s the next best thing.”
“Do you remember our high school reunion?” he asked.
“Ah, the reunion,” I whispered with a smile as the memories surged in. “That was something, huh?”
“Yeah,” Paul chuckled. “Your husband really blew me away.”