Chapter 20- Emma
Where's Galen? It's been two and a half hours since he left. I hope he's okay. I wonder where he went. I had spent the past two and a half hours doing some bonding with Cora and clearing things up with Cole. We were actually starting to feel like a family again. If only Galen was here. Cole and I were finished packing but I still didn't know where to go. If I don't figure something out we'll be homeless. I can't let that happen to Cole. I have to figure something out… My thought was cut off by the sound of the door opening. Galen came in with take out from a diner. I started to get up but he motioned for me to stay so I sat back down. He sat on the floor in front of the couch and got out the food, handing each of us something. Cora and Cole immediately started eating and I started taking small bites. I was honestly too nervous and stressed and scared to eat but I nibbled on my food, knowing I should eat something.
"I'm sorry I was gone longer than I said I would be." I looked at Galen and he smiled. "There were a lot of things to take care of and it took a little longer than I expected."
I nodded. "It's fine." I looked away and pushed my food around the tray. "Where did you go?" I tried to sound somewhat uninterested but I was really curious as to what he had been doing.
"Let's just say you don't have to worry about where you're going to go anymore."
I blinked and looked at him. "What?"
He smiled. "I got you a place. It will be ready by morning and a moving van will be here in the morning as well."
I blinked again, completely shocked. "You...you got me a place?"
He nodded and bit his lip. "Under one condition…"
"And what would that be?"
He took a breath. "That you let Cora and I stay with you."
I slowly nodded. "Okay…" He smiled and started eating. Once we were all done eating Galen took Cora back to George's house so she could pack and be able to go to school tomorrow. It was getting late so I told Cole he should go to bed.
"Don't you need me to stay home to help with the move?"
I shook my head. "Galen will take care of it."
He nodded and headed to bed. He paused and looked at me. "You still love him don't you?"
I sighed. "Go to bed Cole." He sighed and went to bed. I went and sat on the couch, wondering if Galen was coming back. Well it's only 9, I guess I'll give him until 10 or so. No more than 10 minutes later there was a light knock at the door so I got up and opened it.
Galen was standing outside. "Sorry, I didn't know if you were asleep and if I could just walk in or not."
"It's fine, come in." I closed the door and went back to the livingroom, sitting on the couch.
Galen followed and sat next to me but not too close. "You look tired, you should go to bed."
I was silent for a moment before speaking. "Why are you doing this Galen?"
He blinked. "What do you mean?"
I sighed. "This, everything. Being here and talking to me and getting me a place and wanting to live with me and-" I realized I was ranting and paused for a moment to calm down. "And acting like you still care about me, like you want to be with me, like things will work out between us."
Galen reached for me but I moved away. He sighed, hurt. "I do still care about you and want to be with you, I never wanted to leave in the first place. I think about you every day. I've missed you so much and almost came back several times but I didn't think you wanted anything to do with me. And you can shift now, things will be better."
I shook my head. "All because I can shift doesn't mean that things will be any different. I still want to live on land."
"And that's fine. But things will be better. You'll be able to understand my longing for the sea. You'll have that longing too and we can go swimming together. Our only problem was a lack of understanding. We're meant to be together Emma. Please, can't we give this another shot?"
I looked at him and saw the longing in his eyes, the same longing I've been feeling. Maybe it was time for me to stop denying that I still have feelings and that I want to be with him. I slowly nodded. "Okay, we can try."
He smiled. "Really?" I nodded and he moved closer so we were touching. This time I let him and didn't moved away when he reached for me. He hugged me and hugging turned into holding and holding somehow turned into us cuddling and next thing I knew we were laying on the couch kissing. After a while we stopped and he just held me until I fell asleep, at peace in his arms.