Gone (37 page)

We climbed off the train at Paddington and looked at each other before Bex started laughing.

“What?” I asked.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here?” she said doubling up as giggles racked her frame.

“What do you mean, you don’t know what you are doing here? I followed you?”

“I just want to go home.” Her laughter quickly turned to tears.

“Where is home Bex.”

“It’s not where. It’s who.”

And that was it. The moment I finally knew.

Home.

We got on the next train home, turning up tired, and travel worn but happy at six this morning.

Bex’s mum burst into tears the moment she saw us enter the kitchen. Walking into Bridge Cottage it felt like I was coming home too.

Home with her.

Finally settled back into the place where we belong we wander down to the beach, our hands entwined tightly like neither of us ever plan to let go.

I’ve helped her dig a huge hole in the sand, right down by the tide. Slowly together we have dropped her bangles deep in the ground, Bex counting them off with her eyes shut as she always has, but with each one landing on the sand we know she will never wear them again.  As we cover them Bex looks up at me, her ambers bright with tears but a smile across her lips.

“The past is gone Josh.”

After we have sealed the past in its sandy grave I pick up a splinter of driftwood and doodle my last picture in the sand.

Butterflies with one word etched into the ground next to them.

“Gone.”

The girl who was meant to be gone is staying by my side. The only place I ever want her to be.

~The End
~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anna Bloom is a contemporary romance writer who likes to write about life and how it actually happens. Whilst working on The Uni Files and other projects, she is a wife and mother, and also spends time working in a local school where she reads books to the children whether they like it or not.

Contact the Author
@; [email protected]

On twitter @annabloombooks

Or visit the website
www.annabloomwrites.com
for updates on the series and other projects.

Also from Anna Bloom:

The Uni Files: Book I

THE ART OF LETTING GO

For Lilah McCannon, life has taken a bit of a wrong turn. Engaged to a guy she is not in love with and stuck in a job with her tyrannical father as her boss, life has definitely not turned out the way she expected.

At twenty-five years old, Lilah knows that she has a simple choice: live the life she has created or change it.

Enrolling on a course at the local University, Lilah sets out with some clear rules to ensure her success at being a grown-up. No alcohol, no cigarettes, no boys, and no going home. But the last thing she anticipates is meeting Ben Chambers, the lead singer of a local band. With Ben, it’s instant, it’s hot, and it’s deep, but when Ben is offered the opportunity of a lifetime and it looks like his future lies on a different path to hers, Lilah has some heart-rending decisions to make.

With the academic year slipping by too quickly, Lilah faces a barrage of new challenges. Will she ever make it up the library stairs without having a heart attack? Can she handle a day on campus without drinking vodka? Will she ever manage to read a history book without falling asleep? Most of all, will she be able to make the ultimate sacrifice and learn The Art of Letting Go? 

Available now at online booksellers.

The Uni Files: Book Two

THE ART OF KEEPING FAITH

Lilah and Ben. They are meant to be a thing.

Well, they were. The best thing ever. That was until Lilah decided to teach herself a lesson and let go of Ben since she’s learned The Art of Letting Go.

Now it’s a new academic year, and Lilah has it all to play for and it all to lose as she battles scary lecturers, evil PR girls, and her own inability to make the right decision at the right time.

Life has moved on for Lilah and her friends, and life off campus is more complicated than any of them would have guessed. As the reality of being second-year students sets in and the study starts to build up, cracks begin to appear in the very fabric of their friendships. There is a chance that none of them are going to complete Year Two in one piece.

Facing down her worst enemy, herself, Lilah has to try and change her own past mistakes when she realizes that the only way she is going to get the future she wants is if she manages to learn The Art of Keeping Faith in herself.

The Art of Keeping Faith is the second year in The Uni File Series and continues Lilah McCannon’s diary as she searches for love, tries to find and earn trust, and ultimately discovers who she is really meant to be.

Sometimes the only way to meet your future is to face your past.

Available now on at online booksellers.