Page 97 of Spell Ya Later

I put everything away and exit my room. I take a deep breath, and with it—electricity.

I practically fall down the stairs in my haste, my eyes searching. Standing in the foyer with his hands in the front pockets of his jeans is Noah.

Noah.

He’s beautiful. Handsome. Lovely. Comforting. And all I want is to run into his arms and forget everything that’shappened. But I can’t. The uncertainty of our situation keeps my feet rooted to the floor.

For a moment, we just stare at each other. My eyes rake his body, taking in all the small details that I remembered but know my memory didn’t do justice. All the pieces and parts of him that make him exactly who he is.

His lips turn up in a small smile, chin dimple deepening. “Hey, Hazel.”

A sob wrenches itself from deep in my chest at the sound of his voice. “Hey.”

“I have something I need to ask you.” His footfalls are solid, sure, as he walks toward me. Until we’re so close I can count his eyelashes if I wanted to.

“Yes?” I whisper into the inch of space between us.

He lifts the mini of him. “Do you think I’d look better with a red shirt or blue?”

I laugh. It’s a sobbing, relief-filled exhalation that takes so much weight off my shoulders I practically collapse into Noah’s sweater.

He’s here.

He wraps his long arms around my trembling body, pressing his nose into my hair.

I repress the urge to just word-vomit all over him. He’ll speak when he’s ready and for now, I’m just happy to be near him again. I ache with the way I missed him, with how I still miss him.

“Would you like to take a walk with me?” he asks, pulling back just a hair to make eye contact.

I nod. I glance down at the hand I’ve wished I could hold so many times since I last saw him and slide my palm into his. Our electric pulse skitters against my skin in a reassuring hum.

Autumn leavescrunch underfoot as we walk through the residential area of Chagrin Falls. The air is nippy, and snow is coming, I can feel it. Maybe not today, not tomorrow, but in the next few weeks. Each old Victorian home has pumpkins outside, leftovers from Halloween. I was so wrapped up in everything going on that I completely forgot the holiday existed. I guess that happens when your mother sacrifices her life for the man you love.

“I need to apologize to you, Hazel,” he says, brown curls so tangled with his bushy eyebrows that I can’t tell where one begins and the other ends.

I do a double take, unsure if I heard him correctly. “You need to apologize tome? Noah, I can’t think of anything you’d need to apologize to me for.”

“Hazel, baby, your mother died protecting me.” He shakes his head. “And I had no fucking idea. I was so wrapped up in my own feelings about the whole situation that I didn’t even let you tell me. Laura had to tell me.”

“Laura?”

“She told me she took my number from your phone while you were showering and called me this morning. Told me I’m an absolute moron and explained what happened that night in full. She read me the fucking riot act, if I’m honest, and I deserved every single second of it.”

I’m shaking my head before he even finishes talking. “No, I lied to you. I lied about everything, and you didn’t deserve that.”

“Laura kind of explained that, too. Told me how you had been taught to repress your magic for so long and went against your mom to finally discover that part of yourself. I can’timagine how tough that must have been for you.” His fingers slide against mine at our sides. “I do wish you would’ve told me, but I believe that you would have.”

“Noah.” I stop walking, forcing him to turn and face me. “Why are you letting me off the hook? You were so upset, and I know what I did triggered something deep for you.”

His hand comes up to cradle my cheek. “Hazel, I love you. I’ve loved you since the first fucking second I saw you and I’ve loved you every day since. The lies hurt me, on top of the fucked up situation of being kidnapped, and I needed to retreat. Lick my wounds. But I never stopped loving you. If I had known your mother died, I would have been here sooner. I would have never left. I love you, and I’m here for you during the easy shit and the hard shit.”

“I thought...” I don’t want to tell him what I thought. That I so easily believed that when he walked out that door he was gone forever. That I believed I deserved it.

“I am so sorry. I know what you thought, and I never should have made you think that. I should have communicated better.”

My eyes burn, my vision swimming until all I can make out are the black-brown eyes that have haunted me for months. Years. “I shouldn’t have lied. I won’t lie to you anymore. I won’t hide any pieces of myself from you.”

“You didn’t know who you were, Hazel. I finally understand that you were still discovering. How could you be honest when you didn’t know what the truth was?” He pulls me into his chest, and I bury myself in the warmth of him. “I’m sorry. I promise to communicate. I won’t ever leave like that again.”