Melissa: A Hathaway House Heartwarming Romance by Dale Mayer (good book club books txt) 📕

a sense of calmness and a sense of rightness filled her inside that she stared up at the blue sky and took several long, slow, deep breaths. She didn’t know how to describe it to him, but it was a sense of release, letting go, like an inner tension slowly dissipating, something that she’d hung on to for a long time that she suddenly put down on the ground beside her. Then as she slowly straightened up, she could feel everything so weightless, so fresh, and just so free. She stared at the sky and wondered.

She looked at him and said, “I don’t even know if I can describe what just happened.” And she tried to explain.

He reached across and gripped her fingers. “I understand,” he said. “It’s awesome.”

She smiled and felt tears in the corner of her eyes. “And why now tears?” she said, half laughing, half crying.

“It’s a release,” he said. “And not just women cry.” He gave her a gentle smile. “Women are often teased for crying, but men cry too.”

“Well, I’ll be crying for a minute here,” she said, as she brushed her eyes several times, as this massive wave of emotions ruptured and sent difficult feelings aside. But, at the same time, she could see the emotions as they dissipated from her system, almost with a thankfulness.

“As you see this,” he said, “remember to thank it for being there for you. It was a defense mechanism. For a long time, you needed it. Now you don’t.”

She looked at him. “Was I really supposed to say thank you for that?”

“Yes,” he said with a decisive nod. “Be grateful, and that will give you an avenue to a whole new world.”

She closed her eyes, and, as the emotional waves pounded through her, she mentally whispered, Thank you for being there. Thank you for helping me get to where I am right now. I am grateful. It seemed strange, but, at the same time, an even bigger part of her felt refreshed and delighted with it all.

By the time she was done, she reached out, lifted a hand, and saw it was almost trembling. “Wow!” she said and reached up with her sleeve to wipe her eyes. “Dennis didn’t put any napkins or tissues in there, did he?”

Just then Shane handed her several napkins to wipe her eyes with.

She blew her nose and sat here for a long moment. “I feel old and yet young at the same time.”

“Good,” he said. “That’s called being reborn.”

She turned and smiled at him, seeing him beside her once again. “And I also realized why I slowed my healing,” she said. “I’m still uncomfortable telling you about it, but maybe it’s because all this just happened that I’m feeling brave.”

“So tell me,” he said, sitting up to stare at her intently.

She gave a self-conscious smile and said, “Well, if I improve at the rate I should be improving,” she said, “I would be doing so much better, so much faster, that my end date would be coming toward me very quickly.”

“Ah,” he said. “And you were afraid of what comes after that.”

She shook her head. “No,” she said softly. “That wasn’t it at all. I mean, and it makes sense, that it would be because I don’t have a job. I don’t have a career. I don’t even know what I want to do although …” She turned her head to look back in the direction of the vet clinic. “I was wondering about talking to Stan about training to be an assistant in the vet clinic.”

Shane looked at her in surprise. “That is a great idea,” he said. “You could sit some of the time, stand some time, work with animals, be in a field that you would really love.”

“I think it would be,” she said. “I don’t know what money would be available for retraining or how long the training itself would be, but I think it’s something I would like to do. Maybe at least work in the reception area and give it a try first.”

“I like the sound of that a lot,” he said. “That’s really a huge step, but that’s not the reason you just discovered.”

She took a slow, deep breath. “No,” she said. “Because essentially, when I get to the point where I’m strong enough, and I’m leaving, heading into whatever this future of mine is, I’m leaving you behind.”

Shane finally heard the words that he wanted to hear. He squeezed her fingers gently, tugged her slightly, and saw she was leaning forward too, coming his direction. Then he pulled her into his arms, where he just held her.

She started to cry again, this time soaking his shirt, and he just held her. This was definitely one of the moments to let her release all the tension and the stress inside. He rocked her gently back and forth, loving the time, the peace, the serenity with just the two of them.

Woof.

And Helga.

“And you still don’t say anything,” she whispered, hiccupping.

He waited for her sobs to ease back a bit before he said, “I was waiting for you to be able to hear me,” he said with a note of humor.

She smiled, wiped at her eyes again, and said, “I feel like a baby. I never cry like this.”

“So. It’s good,” he said. “This is the release you need.”

“Maybe.”

She tried to sit up, but he wouldn’t let her. Now he said, “I’ll respond because I’ve been waiting for you to say something like that for a long time.”

She looked at him in wonder.

He looked down at her, smiled, and said, “Yes, I could have said something to you. But, in my position, where I was a caregiver, somebody working to get you back on your feet, I didn’t want to influence your emotional levels by showing you just how much I did care. And I was also waiting for you to show me that you cared enough to find something that you wanted to ask for.”

She