99 Pictures of My Sister and My Fiancé Chapter 14

She was gone for eight years. Logan waited for eight years.

He didn’t know if she’d ever come back. Didn’t know if she’d even look at him if she did.

But he waited. Carefully. Quietly.

Until his assistant finally brought him good news. “Mr. Hughes-airport security thinks they spotted Ms. Clark.”

Logan shot up from his chair.

The elevator was too slow. He ran down the stairs.

Fifteen floors. By the last two, his legs were shaking.

He was afraid he’d get there too late and she’d be gone again.

The highway wasn’t too crowded.

GPS said forty more minutes. It felt like forever.

He had so much he wanted to say. Eight years’ worth of words saved up.

He was afraid she’d walk away as soon as he said them. Afraid she’d say “I don’t care anymore.”

Even more afraid she wouldn’t want to see him at all.

He started thinking-what should the first words be?

Welcome back?

I’m sorry?

I missed you?

No. What he owed her couldn’t be paid back in one sentence.

He didn’t want to admit it, but after he’d chased her down and won her, someone else had slipped

into his line of sight without him even noticing.

And after that, he’d never once asked her, “Do you want this?”

Even so, she’d held his life together. Kept his family happy. Dealt with his relatives. Remembered every date he forgot.

She wasn’t brilliant. But she was steady. Real.

There were deals that were about to fall apart-and she’d sat across from clients, cup after cup of coffee, just talking. And by the end, they’d say, “Your fiancée’s got way more sense than you.”

She never bragged about it. Never showed up at his office to make him look good.

She held down the home front. Let him run without looking back.

And back then, he just thought–that’s how it should be.

He never asked, “Are you tired?”

Even when he let her down in the end, she didn’t scream. Didn’t tear anything apart/Didn’t say one

bad word about him to anyone.

She just quietly gave his things back and disappeared from everyone’s life.

Even her leaving was graceful.

The lights in the tunnel flashed across his face. Light, dark, light, dark.

He started wondering again-eight years. What did she look like now?

Did she still love BBQ ribs? Did she still sit by the window and stare at nothing? Did she still love

that old song?

Before he knew it, he was in Millbrook.

He knew she’d come back to see her uncle and aunt.

He waited at the village entrance for three days.

Then he saw her-a figure dragging a suitcase, walking up the dirt road.

She was thinner. Tan.

Her face was calm.

Like she was thinking about something. Or nothing.

Her pace was unhurried. Like there was nowhere she had to be.

Logan got out of the car and stood in the middle of the road.

Nora looked up and saw him. She stopped for a second. Looked at him.

“You’re back,” Logan said. His voice came out rougher than he expected.

“Yeah.” After a moment, she said, “How have you been?”

Logan almost laughed.

How had he been?

He’d waited eight years. Thought about her every single day. Kept their wedding house empty for

eight years. Gone everywhere she might have gone.

He wasn’t fine.

Not even close.

But he nodded. “Alright.”

They stood on the dirt road. The sun stretched their shadows long.

Logan didn’t know what to say.

All those years of saved-up words-gone.

“The last eight years-you-”

“I went a lot of places,” Nora said. “Iceland. New Zealand. Turkey. Learned to dive. Got my

certification.”

“You used to say you wanted to watch the sunset on a beach,” Logan said.

Nora smiled a little. Very soft. “Yeah. I did. It was beautiful.”

Another silence.

Logan opened his mouth. Sorry. I missed you. Can we try again?

But the words got stuck.

“Nora.” He said her name.

She looked up.

“I’m sorry.”

Three words.

When he said them, his eyes went red.

“I didn’t take care of you. I made you feel like nothing. I should’ve asked. I should’ve listened. I

should’ve-”

He couldn’t finish.

Nora listened quietly. Then looked down at the shadows on the ground.

After a moment, she looked up and smiled. “Logan. I don’t blame you anymore. Really,”

“I thought a lot over these eight years.” She spoke slowly. “I used to think I wasn’t good enough. Not smart enough. Not pretty enough. Not interesting enough. That’s why you… but then I figured out-it wasn’t my fault.”

She looked at him. “You didn’t put me in the most important place in your heart. And that wasn’t my

fault either.”