Glancing at the paper, I mentally acknowledged it was, indeed, a local number. And I resigned myself to the fact of his new residency. “Okay. Um, Noah and I need to go.”
There weren’t any “nice seeing you agains” between us or “nice meeting yous” between the men. The fact was, I hadn’t even introduced them. Although, I was pretty sure both guys understood each other’s role in my life. There was only silence as Noah opened the passenger door for me and then walked around the car to get into his side. Leo stood once again against the gallery wall, with his hands shoved into his front pockets.
As we drove farther away, the image of my ex in the rearview mirror got to the small point in a perspective drawing known as the vanishing point. Even though I could no longer see him, I knew he was not gone. I could definitely sense him … and I wanted that to go away, too.
Like a near savage, I tore out the elastic band holding back my hair and flung it out the window. It was cathartic but not what I needed most. “Noah … hand.” It came out part demand, part plea, as I extended my left arm in his direction.
Silent until then, he looked over at me, paused for a beat, and then spoke softly but directly. “You didn’t want it a few minutes or so ago.”
Oh, man. In addition to the unnerving feeling of the unexpected encounter with Leo, I was emotionally toppled knowing I had, unwillingly, hurt Noah. “I’m sorry. It wouldn’t have gone over well with him, but, believe me, I did. You have no idea how mu—” As I started the last word, his hand encapsulated mine protectively, as if we were on ice and I was in danger of falling down a hill at the same time.