Saving Forever - Part 2 by Lexy Timms

laptop and sent Julie an email, plus replied to all work-related messages. After that she decided to walk around the perimeter of the property to see if the place was as big as it seemed to be. She left a note to let Elijah know where she might be.
    Dusk had settled when she got back inside of the house. No one was in the kitchen or main rooms when she returned. She found a nice lounge chair by the indoor pool and worked on the Valentine’s Day website photos. When she started yawning more times than breathing, she shut the computer. Time for bed. She checked her watch and wondered if Elijah had returned and just fallen asleep in his room already. Hopefully he had. It would be better to leave him be and let the poor guy rest.
    She headed up the stairs, past his closed door and on to her room at the end of the hall. She slipped in and closed the door quietly.
    “Oh crap!” She caught her breath and nearly dropped the laptop when she noticed Elijah sitting at the foot of her bed. “You scared me.”  She set the computer on the desk to charge. “You alright?”
    He smiled, swaying a bit as he spoke. “You know me, calm in a crisis.”
    Charity pressed her hands on the small of her back. “Have you been drinking?”
    Elijah’s eyelids fluttered and he held his hand with his thumb and pointed finger slightly apart.
    Just a little. “And you’re upset.” Charity sat down beside him. “Probably not the best combination for tomorrow.”
    “Upset? That would mean I have to care and I don’t care.” He stared at the ground in front of him, his lips pressed tight together in a thin line.
    Men! What was the benefit of faking tough? “Why do you have to act like you’re not bothered?” She rested a hand on his shoulder.
    He leaned into her and sighed. “My father and I weren’t close. I basically ran from here and barely looked back. Tomorrow I have to put on my doctor’s face and go through something which I don’t want to be here for.”
    She brushed her lips against his hair. “You want to be here. Pretending you don’t only makes you think it’s easier. It’s not. You can’t turn it off.”
    His eyes grew shiny but no tears escaped.
    Her heart broke at his inner struggle and she could feel her own eyes fill. She blinked the wetness away. “I-I know. I tried. Six years ago.”
    The way he looked at her, his pain and hurt struggling unsuccessfully to stay hidden behind his eyes, brought her back to losing her mother.
    It was her turn to stare at the ground and for the first time in a long time, she let the shield down and the memories flood back in. “A lifetime ago, I was in my first year of residence and loving it. It’s just over six years now, but sometimes when I let myself think about it, it feels like yesterday. My mom had been sick with a cold or something for a while.” Charity played with a lock of her hair before tucking it behind her ear and folding her hands into her lap. “Looking back now, I should have realized the winter before that something was more wrong. She never complained, never even showed signs of being sick. Maybe that’s why I missed it. Or maybe I was simply too caught up in my own life to notice.” She sighed; the guilt still weighed heavy. “When she called, I was annoyed because I didn’t want to talk to her but when she started to cry I knew something wasn’t right. She was a strong, beautiful woman who matched my father in stature and brains. All she asked was for me to come home.” Charity sniffed. She felt Elijah’s arm go around her shoulders. She was supposed to be comforting him, not the other way around. She straightened but he kept his arm on her. “Mom had cancer and I went home to help her. She didn’t want some nurse she didn’t know or end up in some hospice. She wanted me and to be home. My father was too caught up in his own doctor life of saving other people to be around while my mother lost her hair, her strength, her will, and finally her