His eyes were locked on mine, as if he could see what I was thinking. We were both so completely lost in one another, we didn’t notice anyone approaching until we heard a woman’s voice.
“Noah?”
Noah looked back over his shoulder, still shielding my body with his. When his body stiffened, I rose up on my toes to look over his shoulder.
A very attractive blonde stood five feet away, staring up at Noah. I couldn’t tell whether she looked scared or just shocked, but Noah didn’t look happy.
“It is you,” she responded, then looked over toward me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Sure you didn’t, because you aren’t conniving or manipulative.” Noah’s voice was instantly cold and distant. “No, not you, Stacy. You’re sweet and kind. You never have an ulterior motive.”
Stacy, as in his ex-fiancée. My throat tightened as I watched them in silence.
Stacy shifted nervously on her feet, and I saw movement toward her left.
“Momma? I thought we were getting ice cream.”
A small boy, maybe around three years old, walked up to her side and tugged on the hem of her shirt. Then he looked up at Noah, and in that moment everything shifted.
Things seemed to be moving in slow motion, as though I could see every little flicker of someone’s eyelashes, every little rise and fall of their chest. When I looked to my left, I instantly sensed that Noah was experiencing the same thing. His nostrils flared, and his cheeks reddened in anger.
“Is there something you need to tell me, Stacy?” he asked in a disgusted tone I had never heard from him and didn’t even realize he was capable of.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as her eyes filled with tears, and in that moment I knew. I slowly felt Noah fading away from me as he walked toward the little boy staring back at him with curiosity.
My heart ached, not just for Noah, but for myself. It may have been selfish, but I could feel what Noah and I had been building together over the last few weeks slowly slipping away.