Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
We just stare at each other for several very long seconds.
Then she says, “He would never come.”
And this is when I realize she does still love him. She does still want him. She will take him back. If I can get him here and let them get it all out in the open.
“If he does, would you talk to him?”
She wants to say no. But it’s a lie. Maybe she’s thinking about us. Me, and her, and Mercer. Maybe she’s imagining some kind of arrangement. I’m not even sure what that arrangement might look like, but she might have an idea. She might’ve been dreaming about a full reconciliation these past several years.
Or maybe she’s thinking that this is something I need. That I need to see her and Mercer together again, see how bad it is, so I will get over it and try something new.
Either way, it doesn’t matter.
Either way, this ends with Mercer, me, and her all in the same room again.
Finally, Nova sighs. “Ya know what, Locke? If you get him here, I’ll talk to him. For you. Not for him, for you.”
“I’ll be back.”
I grab my stuff, throw it in my rental Jeep, and head for the airstrip where my private jet is waiting.
I arrive home in the middle of the night. I love this island. I love this house. I love the man who lives here. But when you’re in a hurry to get home and have to take a boat on that final leg of the journey—yeah. It sucks.
And I don’t even think he’s here because the entire house is dark.
I drop my shit in the foyer and flip on a light.
He’s not here. I can feel the emptiness. But I go upstairs to check anyway.
I take the steps three at a time, don’t bother being quiet on my way down the hallway that opens to the sunken living room, and just flip on the light in his bedroom.
There is half a flight of stairs that leads down to where the bed is. And it’s empty. “Fuck.”
Back out in the hallway, I go up another half-flight of stairs to my space. I flip on the light and then stop. “Mercer?”
He’s sitting in a chair facing the window, his back to me. “I didn’t expect you home for another week.”
“Yeah.” I run my fingers through my hair, a little bit unsettled to find him in here. Did he see me coming? Was he watching for me? Why is he in here?
“Didn’t go well this time?”
“What are you doing in here?”
“Or did it?”
I shrug, even though he’s not looking at me. “It went OK.”
He stands up and turns to me. “Then why are you home?”
I came up with a million ways to explain what’s happening to Mercer on the flight back but in this moment, under his penetrating gaze, I can’t remember a single lucid argument for why he should fly three thousand miles to have a conversation with someone he no longer cares about.
So I go for the truth. “Did you know that Olsen is living there?”
His eyebrows go up. Unless he’s acting, or lying, he didn’t know. Mercer isn’t a liar. People think he is because he’s very good at withholding information. But he’s really not a liar. So I don’t think he knew.
I almost wish he had, though. Because if he knew, then it would’ve meant he was keeping tabs on Nova. So he’s not. He really has moved on.
“He’s living with her?”
“Not quite, but he might as well be. I guess he has a place like two hours away. But he stays over enough. Enough that Veda—”
Mercer puts up a hand. “I don’t care, Locke.”
“Right.” I sigh. Then rub my hands down my face.
“So you came home? Because of Olsen?”
“No. Not exactly.”
“You came home…” He smiles. It’s a crooked smile, so it’s more of a dangerous smile than a flirty smile. “Because of me?”
“Well. Yes. Actually. I came home because of you.”
He lifts a single finger up in the air. “There’s a ‘but’ at the end of that sentence, isn’t there.”
“There is. But… whatever. It’s late.” And I’m a coward. Actually, that’s not true. I’m not a coward, I just know what he’s going to say and I don’t want that to be the answer. I want it to work out differently.
When Nova said she would talk to him, I got my hopes up. They’re still up. But the moment I approach him with this offer that hope dies and turns into reality. Maybe good, maybe not.
And maybe I’m just not ready for the end to happen so quickly.
Because this has to end. It has to. And I think we’re close.
“Wow,” Mercer says. “I wish I was privy to your thoughts right now. I bet there’s a hell of a battle going on up in that head of yours.” He walks towards me, eyes locked with mine. “So many conflicts inside you, Locke. I’ve always found your internal crusades intriguing.”