He Thought I’d Stack One More Stone, I Threw the Last One Away Chapter 08

He Thought I’d Stack One More Stone, I Threw the Last One Away Chapter 08

After the wedding, Stone Creek settled into a long, quiet stretch.

Every morning before sunrise, Elias would be out chopping wood. The thud of the axe echoed, so

steady, and somehow I caught it every single time.

He’d make breakfast and leave it under a lid to stay warm, then head out to lend a hand around

town.

Little by little, I pieced together what he’d done with all those years.

He was the one who’d mended the stone path at the town line. He’d patched the roof on Ms.

Higgins’s place.

The winter the snow shut the mountain in, he carried grain to every house in town, one sack at a

time, and lived on stale bread himself for half a month.

Whenever folks in town spotted him, they’d stop to call his name, and there was respect in the way

they said it.

When my mom came by to visit, she sat in the yard and watched Elias split wood.

She watched a long while, then said, out of nowhere, “You’re yourself again.”

“What?”

“The way you were before you turned eighteen.”

I knew what she meant.

No more waiting by a phone that never rang.

No more reading between his words, no more bracing every time Chloe walked in.

The days were quiet. Quiet enough to hear my own heartbeat.

Julian showed up two weeks later.

He didn’t knock. He just stood out under the oak tree, a ways off.

I caught sight of him when I stepped out to water the pots on the porch. He’d lost weight, a lot of it,

and his suit hung loose and empty on him.

“Hazel.”

His voice came out hoarse, and he took a couple steps closer. “Can we talk?”

I took a step back. The small motion stopped him cold.

His eyes searched my face, his lips working, and in the end all he got out was one line. “I sent Chloe

away.”

I didn’t answer.

“I had the company transfer her somewhere else. She’s not coming back.”

“My mom went home too. I told her if she ever touches your things again, she’s not welcome under

my roof.”

He pulled in a breath. “I know I was awful to you. I always figured you’d just wait for me.”

“Every time you got mad, I told myself you’d be back by morning. Every time you said you were leaving, I told myself it’d blow over in a day or two.”

“I get it now. Hazel, just give me a chance…”

“I don’t care.”

His words started tumbling out. “I don’t care about some small-town wedding. Come back, and

we’ll do it right.”

“Whatever you want, I’ll give you. A wedding, the gifts, everything I owed you and never gave…”

A laugh slipped out of me. “You don’t care?”

He went still too.

I looked at him and set the watering can down at my feet. “But I do.”

“I care about every single time you took her side. I care that you locked me in a cage for a whole

room to stare at.”

“I care that you came to Stone Creek year after year, stood in the courtyard next to mine, and never

once walked through my door.”

The color drained out of his face, bit by bit. “Hazel…”

“When you say you don’t care,” I asked him, “did you really believe that if you never gave me something, no one else could either?”

“Elias gave me wedding gifts. He gave me a wedding.”

“He gave me a home where I never have to wait for anyone.”

“He doesn’t have to tell me he doesn’t care. Because when he first found me, your name wasn’t

even in my story yet.”

Julian stood there with nothing to say.

I bent and picked the watering can back up. “Julian, go home.”

“I don’t hate you for any of it anymore. Not because I forgave you.”

“Because I just stopped caring.”

I turned away.

Elias was standing at the door. I didn’t know how long he’d been there, watching quietly.

He came to me, lifted the can out of my hands, and took hold of my hand instead.

His hand was warm, rough with a thin layer of calluses.

Behind me, the voice finally broke.

“Hazel!”