Snow Angel (41 page)

“I always wanted to stay in Paso,” she said, “but after he… after he died, it became sort of an obsession. Everyone was so sad, all of us, and his family nearly came apart. Life seemed so fragile all of a sudden, in a way it never had before. The way it could change just that fast. I figured, since none of us know how much time we’ll really get, I’d better spend as much of it as possible with all the people I love the best.”

She smoothed her fingers over Jacob’s bare chest, then pressed a kiss to his shoulder.

“I’d raise my kids here,” she continued, “so they’d know the same sort of childhood we had, that security, knowing everyone, being close to family, all of it. Like staying here would be protection somehow, and if something bad happened, it would be the best place for them to be, so…”

She trailed off, running out of words to describe the way those ideas had nested in her heart and mind and become their own truths.

The way she’d let yet one more fear rule her decisions, just like her fear of heights, or giving love a chance with Jacob.

“I guess that all sounds sort of stupid,” she said when Jacob stayed silent.

“No,” he said, and there was a strange note in his voice. “It sounds sort of familiar, actually. Eddie’s a smart guy.”

“What do you mean?”

“When we got home yesterday, I dumped our whole relationship deal on my parents, and we talked it out for a long time. My mom gave me basically the same advice Eddie gave you.” He played idly with her hair as he spoke, but Jacob’s eyes stayed on hers. “When Seth died, you locked everything down. I wanted to run. Freshman year…”

Melinda stroked a hand down his arm for comfort, twined her fingers with his. “I know, Jake.”

“Yeah. Well… afterward, I realized that wasn’t the way to go, but I still had this need to escape. To just get out. Coming home, even for visits, hurt.”

How could they have been so close, yet never talked about this? She’d always taken comfort in going home, in the reminders of Seth all over Pasodoro. For her, those reminders kept him alive in some small way. She’d had no idea Jacob found them so painful.

“Do you still?” she asked. “Is it still that way for you?”

“Sometimes. I handle it better now. We’re always going to miss him, but that doesn’t stop just because we’re not at home. It’s the people, right? The thing is, we carry them all with us no matter where we go. So why not go where we’re actually happiest?”

Confused, Melinda tilted her head back to see him more clearly. “What do you mean?”

“You said you’d go anywhere with me,” he said. “Did you mean it?”

Now she frowned. “Yes. I hope we can still come back to visit often enough, but—”

“What if you didn’t have to leave?”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Suddenly edgy, Melinda sat up, and Jacob followed. Feeling vulnerable, she dragged the sheet over her nakedness. Jacob reached for her hands.

“Mel, when I was in the ER with Neta and her husband in Utah, we had a lot of time to talk, and then talking with my parents sort of drove it all home.” He took a breath, watching her closely. “The team doctor thing, that lifestyle, that was all about escaping. I love sports, and hanging out with pro athletes sounds cool, but the people I really want to help, the ones who
need
my help, aren’t those athletes.”

“They’re not?”

“They’re old people. Like your grandparents and mine, and all the ones I’ve hung out with through the years at the retirement home. People like Neta and Clyde, who the doctors don’t listen to half the time, just because they’re old. They need me. I can do some good for them, really help them.”

Excited now, Jacob continued speaking, but Melinda could hardly take in all that he was saying. In her mind’s eye, she watched a film strip of memories, all the times Jacob had gone out to the retirement home or the extended care facility, all the hours he’d spent doing chores for the old folks, playing board games with them, or simply talking.

He’d worked a lot with kids, too, like Rick and Eddie did, but it was always the older people he gravitated toward.

It made perfect sense to her, but what did it mean for them?

“So,” he said, drawing her attention back into focus, “it’s still medicine, but now I know I’ll be working where I really need to be.”

“Where is that, exactly?” Melinda asked, and held her breath.

“Here, Mel. I want to be home. With you. I want to have that house you’re always talking about, I want our kids to grow up in it and have our families and friends all around. I want a life with you, right here in Pasodoro.”

“You—you do?”

“The next few years will still be tricky. I still want to go to UCI, and the internships are an important part of that. There’ll be residency stuff and all the rest. You still have a lot to get through, too. I thought, for starters, maybe we could get an apartment together next fall, somewhere that’s a good halfway point between Fullerton and Irvine so the traffic isn’t so bad for either of us. And then, eventually, when we’re ready to set up shop for good, we come back here.”

Melinda stared at him, completely flabbergasted.

“Mel?”

“Do you mean it?” she whispered, her voice all but deserting her. “Really?”

Cupping her face in his hands, he leaned in and kissed her mouth, her nose, her forehead. “Yes. I mean it.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Oh, Jacob!”

With a cry of happiness that came from the deepest depths of her heart, Melinda tackled him flat out, raining kisses all over his laughing face.

Soon enough, the laughter turned to a different emotion. Naked skin heated, went molten. Lips sought and answered. Hands teased and torched.

They were awkward and fumbling, smooth and graceful, fast as lightning and slow moving as a lazy summer stream.

They laughed and played and whispered and loved, all through the evening and long into the night.

When the sun kissed the morning sky, Melinda’s delightfully exhausted mind stuttered and stammered and finally shut down completely. She was sensation only, emotion only, no thoughts, no rationalizations, not even any hopes or fears.

They were beyond the physical, beyond touch and sex. He was Jacob, and she was Melinda. Together, they were elemental, natural, essential.

She rested her weary head on his strong shoulder, and Jacob’s arm came around her automatically. He pressed his lips to her forehead and murmured her name, and she snuggled against him, thoroughly content.

She would have followed him anywhere for love. In love, in joy, she would follow him home.

~ THE END ~

Thank you for reading
Snow Angel
by Chantilly White! Now that you’ve finished, please take a moment to leave a review. Your time and comments are very appreciated.

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