Cloudy with a chance of heartbreak

The gift

Katie's POV

I felt Lucas' eyes searing into me as I walked up to meet him on my porch. He had probably misread my farewell with Noah and was doubting my commitment.

I grabbed his hand to pull him inside but he resisted and walked over to sit on the bench on our porch instead.

I reluctantly followed and sat beside him. He sighed deeply.

"I can't compete with him can I?" He said so defeatedly I wanted to cry.

"You don't need to Lucas," I looked at his beautiful side profile as he watched the gentle waves slowly roll into the shore beyond the dunes.

"It's like you said, he was my first big love so saying goodbye was hard, but I don't doubt my decision," I assured him.

He looked at me and smiled but his eyes still looked so sad.

"Katie, are you sure you want to come back to Perth with me? I really want you to, believe me I do, but I also don't want to feel like I'm tearing your heart away from where it really belongs."

I grabbed his hands in mine and squeezed them gently.

"Lucas, I'm so sorry I have put you through all of this and I totally get why you are having doubts about my feelings but believe me, I want to be with you."

He pulled my hands up to his lips and gave them a feather light kiss.

"I promise I will make sure you never regret your decision," he smiled warmly at me and I pulled his head towards mine for a kiss.

"I'm going to go grab our bags and order a taxi," he informed me. He leapt up from the bench and headed inside while I sat a little longer and inhaled the warm salty sea air.

I stood up to join Lucas when the small palm tree in my yard triggered a long-forgotten memory.

It was beside that tree all those years ago that I had offered God my most prized possessions to make my mum better.

I smiled as I remembered burying a shoebox of trinkets while Noah faithfully watched on.

Suddenly, I had an overwhelming urge to retrieve my belongings and take them back with me to Perth. I had loved that locket my parents gave me and it belonged around my neck, not in the ground.

I walked over to the tree, estimated where I had performed my childish burial and began digging with a piece of bark I found on the floor.

I only scooped up about five inches of dirt before the bark hit something hard. As a child, I thought I had dug a pretty deep hole. I smiled at my naivety.

I swept the sand from its surface so I could raise it from the ground but soon realised it wasn't the shoebox I had uncovered.

I pulled out an extremely sandy skateboard. I recognised it as Noah's immediately. I recalled him telling me he lost it when I asked why he had stopped skating. How did it end up here?

I was about to fill the hole I had made when I noticed something else was buried there. I grabbed the bark and began brushing the soil from its surface. My shoebox of belongings was still here after all.

I was digging it out when I heard footsteps coming up beside me. I looked up to see Lucas watching me, concern etched across his features.

"Katie, what are you doing beautiful?" He asked before kneeling down beside me.

"I made an offering to God when my mum was sick. I asked for him to make my mum better in return for my favourite things. I guess I want those things back now," I wiped the sweat from my face with my forearm and he smiled.