Her hands cupped his cheeks and she pulled his face upright. And right there, in front of her very eyes, were tears. Glistening in the eyes of the man who had broken her heart. Kallie found herself speechless yet again. She didn’t know what to say. She’d never seen this blatant show of emotion from James ever. Unless it was anger or utter elation. He wasn’t an emotional man. It took so much for him to show the simplest things.
And the tear rushing down his cheek carried the weight of the world with it.
She brushed it away with her thumb and James turned his lips into her palm to kiss it. The heat alone slammed her heart against her chest and made her blood rush heatedly through her ears. James was crying. Distraught over what he’d done.
That counted for something.
Right?
“Just think about it,” James said into her hand.
He wrapped his grip around her wrist and placed Kallie’s hand on top of his heart. She felt it beating wildly. Threatening to crack his sternum and fall out to the floor. Her jaw unhinged as her eyes panned up to him and she saw yet another tear slip from his cheek. All the anger and resentment and hesitancy she felt when he first arrived drained from her body. In front of her stood a truly vulnerable man, begging for another chance and promising not to screw it up.
But could she trust him?
Did she dare?
“Just promise me you’ll think about it. That’s all I ask,” James said.
And finally, Kallie found her voice.
“Okay. I promise.”
James brought her hand away from his heart and kissed her palm one last time. Then he reached down and placed another kiss against her cheek. Kallie leaned into it, hating herself for wanting his heat against her. He pulled back and cupped her cheek one last time, then tucked a strand of wild hair behind her ear.
“My Kal-Bear,” he said. “I hope to hear from you soon.”
Then Kallie watched from her kitchen as James walked across her apartment and left.
Kallie was a breathless mess. Her mind swirled and her hands shook whenever she thought about what had happened. She sat silently on her couch for hours, gazing out over Manhattan from her sliding glass door. She chewed on her nail beds and jiggled her leg, torn between calling Eris and forcing herself to go to bed. She still didn’t want to talk to anyone. Didn’t want to step out of her apartment.
But a knock at the door ripped her once again from her trance.
Furrowing her brow, she got up from her spot. The place she’d been sitting at for almost three hours. She opened the door and saw a massive bouquet of roses, then a head peeked out from behind them.
“Kallie Semple?” the man asked.
“That’s me,” she said.
“These are for you.”
She held her hands out as the man practically shoved the bouquet of roses at her.
“Should I sign anything?” she asked.
“Nope. Enjoy.”
Then the man practically ran away from her door and shoved himself into the elevator.
Kallie struggled to close her door, but she managed to do it. She walked the roses over to her kitchen table and searched for the card. She recognized the handwriting immediately and sighed.
Of course James would send her flowers.
She plucked the card from the bouquet and opened it up. Her fingers were trembling and she had a tough time sliding the rectangular piece of paper out from its confines. Her eyes scanned the words and she read it again and again. Trying to convince herself that the card was actually from James.
Eternal love doesn’t seek out its partner. Rather, eternal love collides with its perfect match, fighting for dominance until they both fall to their knees. Only then can the two be equal and work to help each other up again.
Kallie pulled out her phone and searched the phrase but couldn’t come up with anything. She knew James. He couldn’t have possibly come up with that on his own. But the internet didn’t come back with any sort of quote, book, or inspirational picture that matched what was written on the card. She set her phone down and read the note again, taking in the romantic words he’d never bothered with while they were together.
He was capable of something like this?
And it took ruining their wedding for him to bring it out?