He Crossed the Ocean for Her, Never 90 Miles for Me Chapter 06

He Crossed the Ocean for Her, Never 90 Miles for Me Chapter 06

By the time I saw Julian again, fall had settled over Philadelphia.

Maple leaves blanketed the entire street.

When he stood up and waved to me, I just stared for a second.

It was the first time he had ever been the one waiting for me.

Before, I had always waited for him-for class to end, for his workday to be over, for a text back, for

him to turn around.

Now I sat across from him.

He had cut his hair a little shorter, and he looked more worn down than before. Faint shadows lay beneath his eyes.

His first words came in that same familiar tone.

“I heard you’re with that guy now?”

I said nothing.

He slipped right back into lecturing me.

“Leah, even if you’re trying to get away from me, you can’t just date some random guy. You have no idea who people really are. What if he’s not who you think he is—”

I cut him off.

“Julian, I’ve already seen what real cruelty looks like. I’ve seen it in you.”

He went still.

A gust of wind rattled the trees outside.

I didn’t think he had anything left to say to me. After all, in all the years we’d known each other, he

had never once started a conversation with me on his own.

When we were kids, Mrs. Mercer once told him to take me to the amusement park.

He shoved forty dollars into my hand instead.

“Go find something to do. Don’t come looking for me until dark.”

I spent the entire afternoon sitting outside the school, watching one kid after another get picked up by their parents.

I didn’t dare go back until it was completely dark.

Years later, whenever I thought about that afternoon, it felt like the clearest picture of our entire

relationship.

“But Julian, I get tired too.”

My voice was quiet.

“When Mrs. Mercer used to talk about us getting married, I was the first one to say no.”

“Even then, I couldn’t imagine building a life with someone who didn’t want me around.”

“Would home ever feel like home? Would I ever get to live my own life?”

A bead of condensation slid down my glass and pooled on the table.

“But then you asked if we should give it a try, and I said yes.”

I looked at him.

“And somehow, trying became six years.”

His eyes suddenly turned red.

It was the first time I had ever seen anything that looked like regret in them.

“Six years, Julian. I wasn’t truly happy for a single day of them.”

I looked at the man sitting across from me.

He was still as handsome as he had been at sixteen.

But somehow, everything about him that had once felt so sharp had finally lost its edge.

I smiled.

“But I don’t blame you anymore. I’ve seen you at your worst, and it doesn’t matter to me anymore.”

“You said we should go back to being family. Fine. That’s all we are now.”

I stood.

“If you love Caroline, then treat her well. Tell her the truth. Tell her everything.”

“Don’t leave her in the dark the way you left me.”

Julian opened his mouth, but whatever he wanted to say never came out.

I turned and walked away without looking back.

That night, after I showered, I found a whole string of messages from Caroline.

There were photos of her dinner and a chubby cat she had spotted on the sidewalk.

I thought for a moment, then sent her the recording from that afternoon.

Me: [Caroline, listen when you have a chance. If you need anything, call me. I’m here.]

She replied almost immediately.

Caroline: [Okay.]

The next afternoon, Mrs. Mercer showed up at my door carrying a large insulated container. /

She headed straight for the kitchen.

“Leah, I made your favorite chicken noodle soup. Eat it while it’s hot-”

Then she looked at me, stopped, and suddenly wrapped her arms around me.

“Seeing you all grown up and finding your own happiness… I can’t tell you how happy that makes

me.”

Tears welled in her eyes.

“I just… didn’t want to let your mother down.”

“Before she died, she held my hand and said, ‘Please take care of Leah for me.’ So I promised myself I’d look after you for the rest of my life…”

My throat tightened.

I had always known that Mrs. Mercer and my mother had been best friends.

I was only seven when Mom died.

Mrs. Mercer had loved me fiercely all these years.

She baked my birthday cake from scratch every year

When the weather turned cold, she knitted me scarves.

She felt more like family than my own father did.

But she had never let me call her Mom.

Now I understood.

She had wanted me to marry Julian so I would have a place in her family that was unquestionably mine, instead of always feeling like I was borrowing one.

Nhugged her tighter.

“Do you know something? When I was little and you wouldn’t let me call you Mom, I used to whisper it to myself under the covers anyway.”

She went still.

“But now I want to sayit. You’ve been my family for years.”

I sniffled.

“Mom.”

Mom’s face crumpled as she nodded again and again through her tears.

“Yes. Yes. Thank you for calling me that.”

I held her hand.

Somehow, that fall felt warmer than any before.