Six Years Read Online Free

Every day, even. I bet that he looked at every new photograph of the only woman he ever loved. I bet that he looked at her life now, her family maybe, the man who shared her bed, and that he stared at them the same way he stared at the photograph in his wallet. I don’t have proof of any of this, just a feeling, but I don’t think I’m too far off.
    Like I said before, we all have our own brand of crazy.
    “What are you trying to say?” I asked him.
    “I’m just telling you that that whole ‘them’ stuff is over now.”
    “Natalie hasn’t been a part of my life in a long time.”
    “You really believe that?” Benedict asked. “Did she make you promise to forget how you felt too?”
    “I thought you were afraid of losing your best wingman.”
    “You’re not that good-looking.”
    “Cruel bastard.”
    He rose. “We humanities professors know all.”
    Benedict left me alone then. I stood and walked over to the window. I looked out on the commons. I watched the students walk by and, as I often did when confronted with a life situation, I wondered what I’d advise one of them if they were in my shoes. Suddenly, without warning, it all came rushing in at once—that white chapel, the way she wore her hair, the way she held up her ring finger, all the pain, the want, the emotions, the love, the hurt. My knees buckled. I thought that I had stopped carrying a torch for her. She had crushed me, but I had picked up the pieces, put myself back together, and moved on with my life.
    How stupid to have such thoughts now. How selfish. How inappropriate. The woman had just lost her husband, and prick that I am, I was worried about the ramifications for me. Let it go, I told myself. Forget it and her. Move on.
    But I couldn’t. I was simply not built that way.
    I had last seen Natalie at a wedding. Now I would see her at a funeral. Some people would find irony in that—I was not one of them.
    I headed back to the computer and booked a flight to Savannah.

Chapter 3
    T he first sign something was off occurred during the eulogy.
    Palmetto Bluff was not so much a town as a gigantic gated community. The newly built “village” was beautiful, clean, nicely maintained, historically accurate—all of which gave the place a sterile, Disney-Epcot faux feel. Everything seemed a little too perfect. The sparkly white chapel—yep, another one—sat on a bluff so picturesque it appeared to be, well, a picture. The heat, however, was all too real—a living, breathing thing with humidity thick enough to double as a beaded curtain.
    Another fleeting moment of reason questioned why I had come down here, but I swatted it away. I was here now, thus making the question moot. The Inn at Palmetto Bluff looked like a movie facade. I stepped into its cute bar and ordered a scotch straight up from a cute barmaid.
    “You here for the funeral?” she asked me.
    “Yep.”
    “Tragic.”
    I nodded and stared down at my drink. The cute barmaid picked up the hint and said no more.
    I pride myself on being an enlightened man. I do not believe in fate or destiny or any of that superstitious nonsense, yet here I was, justifying my impulsive behavior in just such a manner. I am
supposed
to be here, I told myself. Compelled to board that flight. I didn’t know why. I had seen with my own two eyes Natalie marry another man, and yet even now, I still couldn’t quite accept it. There was still an innate need for closure. Six years ago, Natalie had dumped me with a note telling me she was marrying her old beau. The next day, I got an invitation to their wedding. No wonder it all still felt . . . incomplete. Now I was here in the hopes of finding, if not closure, completion.
    Amazing what we can self-rationalize when we really want something.
    But what exactly did I want here?
    I finished my drink, thanked the cute barmaid, and carefully started toward the chapel. I kept my distance, of course. I might be horrible and callous and self-involved, but not