Chapter 254
The picture shows my back, with Noah’s hand resting on my lower spine. It was probably taken while I was admiring the necklace, but what I don’t remember is his hand being there at all.
Was I so absorbed that I didn’t even notice where he’d placed it?
“So,” Mom says sharply, her eyes burning with anger, “the trip you mentioned was with him? You were with him that entire time p>
“Lilly was there, Mom,” I reply quickly. “She’s the one who invited me. I didn’t even know Noah was coming until the last minute p>
“Then how do you explain this?” She waves her phone in my face. “You told me it was a one-time thing, yet this photo tells a very different story p>
Anyone who doesn’t know me wouldn’t guess it’s me in the picture, but those who do would recognize me instantly, even without seeing my face.
“It’s not like that,” I insist.
“Then what is it?” she snaps. “Because from where I’m standing, that looks like a pretty intimate photo of a very cozy couple.” The sarcasm in her voice cuts deep.
“I swear, it’s nothing like that,” I say. “I was admiring a necklace and he just made a comment about it p>
I leave out the part where Noah actually bought the necklace. Mom would lose her mind if she knew.
She doesn’t hate Noah, not exactly, but after everything he put me through, she can’t stand him. Not even as the son of one of her friends.
“That looks like more than a comment, Sierra,” she says, tossing the phone onto the couch. “That looks like a possessive man staking his territory p>
I almost laugh at how absurd that sounds until the memory of his reaction at the club flashes through my mind.
I reach for her hand, squeezing it gently. “Mom, I’m telling you the truth. There is nothing going on between Noah and me and even if I wanted there to be—which I don’t—that ship sailed a long time ago. You don’t have to worry p>
She exhales slowly, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. “I just don’t want to see you broken again,” she says quietly. “You’re my baby girl, and watching you like that nearly destroyed me. You barely had the will to live, Sierra p>
My heart stutters.
The memories come rushing back. Those dark, endless days when I wasn’t really living at all. When I spent my time rotting away in bed.
I pulled through, but there was a time I truly believed I wouldn’t. I thought the heartbreak and pain would never end. That it would be my constant companion until my dying breath.
No one ever tells you how hard it is to pull yourself out of that kind of heartbreak. No one prepares you for the sleepless nights. For the hollowness that settles deep in your soul. For the hatred and self-blame. For the doubt. For the shattered self-esteem. And no one warns you about the scars that remain even after you’ve healed.
I went through all the stages of grief, some lasting longer than others, and let me tell you, it was pure torture. Acceptance was the hardest part of all. Accepting that Noah never loved me. That he toyed with my feelings. It was hard to accept that after everything we went through, he still chose Chloe.
Mom’s hand tightens around mine, pulling me back to the present.
“I just don’t ever want to see you in that place again,” she says softly. “I won’t survive it if you go back there. I won’t, Sierra p>
“Mom p>
“I watched you break, my love,” she continues, her voice trembling. “It was the hardest, most painful thing I’ve witnessed in all my years. I was there when you picked up the shattered pieces afterward, and I never want you to go through that again. I don’t want history repeating itself p>
I lift my hand and wipe the tears sliding down her cheek.
I didn’t realize it then, but I do now. When I was breaking, I wasn’t breaking alone. Watching me fall apart broke Mom and Lilly too.
“I doubt there’s a world in this vast universe where Noah and I end up together,” I tell her gently. “So you don’t have to worry so much. I learned my lesson the hard way p>
“Still…” she murmurs.
“Mom, let it go p>
She sniffles. “I just worry, especially when it concerns Noah p>
I offer her a small smile. “What if I told you I was seeing someone p>
Her eyes snap to mine, wide with shock. Even the tears frozen on her lashes seem to pause.
“Are you serious?” she asks, disbelief replacing the fear.