A Broken Forever(109)

"You are breathtaking, Greyson Rose." 

The amazement in his eyes swirled with the sorrow I feared would arise. His lips trembled gently and that was all it took to bring a few silent tears down the front of my face. His fingers formed around the top of my neck. His thumbs lightly rubbed away the streaming tears. Despite the subtle blurring of my vision, I never stopped watching Stefan. I couldn't tear my eyes away and quite honestly, I didn't want to.

"It's going to be so hard to let you go." He whispered.

I wanted to know all that he meant but my soul couldn't handle the answer. The melancholy over the last few days was becoming clear in my mind. We were friends, but it was a lie to say that was all this was. Stefan was spending his days with me, but now it all made sense.

He wasn't building our friendship. He was trying to recreate a better ending than our last.

Stefan was preparing for the moment he would say goodbye.





Stefan dropped me off after I had the dress, rehung, and paid for. We didn't say much. I tried keeping our conversations simple, but they were almost nonexistent. I waved goodbye but stood at the foot of the steps watching his car for a couple minutes before he stepped back out.

"What are you doing, silly girl?" He called out over the roof of his car.

"I was going to wait until you drove away."

A contented smile tugged against his downturned lips. "Well, I was waiting until you were inside safe and sound."

"Oh." I looked down to my feet. They were planted firmly and hesitant to move, all because there were things left unsaid. We had a history of never saying all we wanted and I was tired of always wondering what was left out.

"Will you still eat lunch with me this week?" My vulnerable childlike-self meekly asked.

The frown was back upon his face, as I feared it would be. "As much as I can."

Nothing about his answer settled the worry fluttering around my stomach. "Will you still talk to me?"

His head tilted to the side, his eyes filled with something I couldn't quite recognize. "Of course I will."

"Always?"

"Until there comes a day when you no longer need me."

"And what if I always need you?"

A strained chuckle met my ears. "I'd say that things change every day, and always is a very long time."

"It is."

He nodded, backing away from the top of the car. He was trying to find a way to leave and avoid the rest of my questions. It was rare that he tried to walk away leaving something unfinished-unless he had to.

"I'm always here, Greyson Rose. Now go get that dress inside. It's too beautiful to risk anything happening to it."

"Yeah, you're right. Thank you for bringing me today, Stefan."

"Of course." With a quick wave of his hand he slipped into his car, but waited once again. I walked into the front door and glanced back out the window to see him drive away. A few minutes ticked by. I just couldn't get myself to walk away when I was no longer certain of where exactly I was headed.



The next few days seemed to clump together into one uneventful blob. I filled my mother in on the dress details, and hid it away back in the closet. I told Richard it was there, but made him promise not to look. However, when I was all alone I removed it from the closet. Lying the bag onto the bed, I unzipped it just a bit, and let my fingers trace the lacy designs. I was unsure why I did it, and when I had asked my mother if she had done the same thing; the only response I got was her telling me I had better not ruin it before my big day.

Monday and Tuesday Stefan never came by. He messaged me a few times to let me know he wouldn't make it and asked how I was doing. Not seeing him left my mood in a perpetual funk. Wednesday he didn't come by for lunch, but I mentioned I was working the closing shift, in case that worked better for him. After I locked up the salon, he was waiting in the parking lot. The way my heart soared when I saw him made every disheartened thought fade away. There didn't seem to be anything wrong, and his attitude felt infinitely more cheerful than it had on Saturday. The only problem was after twenty minutes he said he had to get back to work, and after pulling me in for a quick hug he drove away.



       
         
       
        

Thursday I had received a text from him that morning, but as I anticipated before opening it, he wasn't coming by. His absence was sincerely crushing my spirits and making the other aspects of my day suffer. Richard noticed my change and asked if I was alright. After telling him I was fine he proceeded to give me all the space I may have needed. My salon family seemed to put the pieces together, or at the very least, realized that Stefan was a contributing factor to my woeful disposition.