Finding You

Noah grabbed my hands and pulled on them to get me to look at him. “Yes. Your dad drove by and saw her sitting outside the gate trying to dial to see if anyone was home. He let her in after she told him who she was. Jeff said he left me a message on my cell phone.”

“Why would my dad let some stranger in, Noah? Regardless if she told him she dated you, that doesn’t make sense.”

Noah’s eyes flashed back over to the blonde and then back to me. “She told him she was looking for her old fiancé, tracked him down and found out he lived here. Then she told him my name.”

My mouth dropped open as I pulled my hands from Noah’s. “You bastard. You were engaged to her?”

“Wait, Grace, you don’t understand and you need to let me explain all of this, after I find out what she wants.”

Turning back to her, my heart raced. Holy shit. Please don’t let the past be showing up on my doorstep.

Pushing the door to the truck open, I jumped out and headed to toward the blonde.

I could hear Noah trying to get out of the truck. He probably remembered his pants were undone and that’s why he was further behind than I was.

Walking up to the steps, I plastered on a fake smile. “Howdy. May I ask who you are and what you’re doing on my front porch?”

The blonde’s smile faded some, as she quickly looked at Noah who was now coming up behind me.

“Jade. What in the world are you doing here?”

Jade. Ugh what a trampy name.

Jade quickly looked to me and then back to Noah. “Noah, I’ve been trying to locate you ever since I got your letter about your mother.”

Letter? Holy hell. Noah had talked to her recently? Why didn’t he tell me? What reason would he have keeping it a secret?

Balling my fists up, I tried not to read into this too much. This is what happened last time. I read the entire situation wrong.

“Um . . . Jade, what’s going on? Why in the world would you need to track me down?”

A million things went through my head. She’d had Noah’s baby. Or maybe she had some sexually transmitted disease and she had to tell him about it. Maybe she wanted him back and him sending her a letter gave her hope?

Jade took a step closer to Noah and asked, “Is there somewhere we can talk . . . alone?”

Oh, she didn’t. She. Did. Not. That . . . that . . . bitch!

Keeping my cool, I slowly let out a breath and said, “I’ll just step inside and take care of some things that needed taken care of a few minutes ago.”

Noah looked at me and went to talk, but shut his mouth quickly. As I made my way to the front door, I pulled out the house key. As I slid it in, Jade began talking. “Wow, you’re still looking hot as ever.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I pushed the door open and turned to face Noah. He was staring directly at me, trying to get a read on what I was thinking. His face was blank, like he was just as taken off guard by this woman showing up on our doorstep as I was.

Shutting the door, I leaned my forehead against it and let out the breath I’d been holding in.

Turning, I propped myself against the door and slowly slid to the floor as I looked at the engagement ring on my finger.

Dropping my head back, I whispered, “Please don’t let this all be too good to be true. Please.”

Noah

Standing there, I stared at the door. I could see it written all over Grace’s face. Panic. Fear. Uncertainty as to why the one and only other girl I’d ever been with was standing on our front porch. Jeff’s words filled my head.

“I swear to God, if you hurt my daughter, I’m going to hurt you.”

Jade had written me a few letters over the years, but after I met Grace, I threw them out. I never even read one after Grace came into my life. Jade was my past and as far as I was concerned, Grace was my future. Even when she pushed me away, my heart belonged to Grace.

Clearing my throat, I glanced over to Jade and said, “So are you going to tell me why you’re here, Jade?”

Frowning, Jade shook her head and said, “Is that any way to treat your ex-fiancé? Does she know about us?”

Pushing both hands threw my hair; I scrubbed them down my face and let out a frustrated moan. “Jade, there is no us, there hasn’t been for years and we were never engaged.”

“That’s a lie, Noah. You asked me that one night we were at the beach.”

Letting out a laugh, I couldn’t believe she was holding on to something like this. “Jade, I was drunk for Christ’s sake and it was on a dare. I told you that the next morning. That’s when we decided to go our separate ways.”