Jake stared at her for a moment before shaking his head. “I know you’ll always love me. That deep down in your heart there will always be a place carved out for you and me and what we shared.” He paused and watched as she took her lower lip between her teeth to keep it from trembling. “Cara, you need to listen to me. It’s time you realize you can love me but all I am now is a memory. A memory that can come along for the ride of your future, but never be the center of it.” He placed their joined hands over her heart and together they felt her heart beating. “That hearts alive you just need to set it free.”
A lone tear slid down her cheek and she swore she saw his eyes fill with tears too. She slowly raised her other hand and placed it over his chest, over the tattoo that he had of her over his heart, she closed her eyes and waited to feel the beat that matched hers. It never came.
“It doesn’t beat anymore.” He said softly. “Yours does though, and until it doesn’t give it to the man whose heart will beat for you.”
“I’ll always love you, Jake.” Cara said through her sobs of realization.
“I know you will.” He smiled and leaned into her, pressing his lips to her forehead. “I’ll always be with you, watching over you, loving you and I’ll always be happy for the two of you.”
They were silent for a moment before Cara spoke again. “I wonder if the roles were reversed if you’d feel the same way I do. If you would be apprehensive to fall in love and take all those chances again. The same chances you and I took and then to add insult to injury fall in love with my sibling.”
Jake sighed. “I’m not saying what you’re feeling isn’t natural. I’m not saying to forget you and I ever happened. I am just asking you to open your heart and mind to what’s staring you in the face.” He shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t make a difference to me that it’s Luke you’re going to be with or some stranger, that’s a lie, I prefer it to be Luke. At least I know he will take care of what he has. I won’t worry so much about you or him for that matter.” He scratched the top of his head before cocking it to the side while he studied her for a moment.
“What?” She said, feeling uncomfortable under his gaze, which was ridiculous because this was Jake, the one person she always felt most comfortable with.
“I think it just dawned on me, that, you’ve changed. You never used to question my suggestions, always went right on along with whatever I said.” He said with a crooked smile. ‘My Cara is all grown up.”
“I’m hardly grown up, but maybe I have changed.” She shrugged her shoulders and looked out towards the ocean. “I hurt a lot of people after you died, mainly Luke.”
“You hurt yourself the most.” He said and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, bringing her into the crook of his arm. “I’m sorry we never really had a fair shot.”
“I’ll never regret a single moment of what we had.” She said softly against his chest.
“Me neither.” Jake said before kissing the top of her head. “We were the shit.” He said with a chuckle.
“We completely were.” She smiled before lifting her chin to look at him. “You’re right. There is no promise for tomorrow. I’m so scared of loving again, but I think I’m even more afraid of living without it.”
“Just let it happen, babe. Let the cards fall wherever they may. You worry too much about what people think. I’ve always told you to hell with what everyone else thinks, it’s just you and me… Well now it’s just you. Follow your gut and stop worrying so much.”
She stopped listening after he said it was only her now. The simple words were so final, so true. “You’re really gone.” She whispered.
“Bitch of thing, isn’t it?” He chuckled to himself.
“Thank you.” She whispered, knowing there wasn’t a need to explain to him what she was thanking him for. Jake knew better than anyone, all the reasons Cara was thankful towards him. She would be forever grateful to him for everything he’d ever done for her. He rescued the young girl she once was and he never stopped. Even in death, Jake rescued Cara, only this time from her own conscience. She glanced over at him, studying his angelic profile, before she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek. Letting go was hard, moving forward was scary, but in that moment, all that vanished. For just one moment they were just Jake and Cara again.
“Love you.” She whispered against his skin, closing her eyes, at the simple touch of lips to skin.
“Love you back,” He said softly, staring at the black waves as they crashed along the shore.
Cara’s eyes fluttered open and she instantly sat up startled. There was no sand beneath her only the mattress she had fallen asleep on. She looked out towards the open doors that led to the balcony. The beach, the waves, seeing and feeling Jake, hearing his voice, it had all been a dream, quite possibly a beautiful dream that had set her free.
Chapter Twenty Four
Luke emerged from the cool water, pushing back his hair from his face as the sun kissed his skin. His daughter’s laughter echoed around the pool area of the hotel.