When Stars Fall [EBOOK and PAPERBACK PUBLISHED]

4. Wyatt - Present Day

The door opens in a whoosh. Her blondish-brown hair flies around her face, partially obscuring her expression. I'm ten years late, but I'm here. That's what matters.

She pushes her hair out of her face. Her brown eyes shoot daggers at me. It's not exactly the response I'm hoping for but expecting her to jump back into my arms is likely too high of a bar.

"You saw The Late Show?" Her expression tells me she did but best to be sure.

"You're a jackass, Wyatt. What the hell was that?" Her eyes go from angry to sad in a heartbeat. "To talk about Isaac like that..."

"If Isaac was here, he'd wonder what took me so long." That's the truth. Talking about him isn't the first thing I thought she'd call me out on, but it is definitely one of them.

Her laugh is humorless. "I stopped wondering that almost ten years ago. I hope you have your return flight booked for tomorrow morning."

"Excellent. I can spend the night here." I take a step toward the door.

"That is not what I meant, and you know it."

"Ellie." I use the voice designed to make her knees weak.

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare, Wyatt. You lost the right to say my name like that when you let me walk out the door of our house."

"I'm here to make that mistake right." I put my hand on the doorframe and lean closer to her.

She inches back and doesn't open the door any wider. "Doing all of this so publicly seems like the way to make it right? I have a life now. One that has nothing to do with you. Nothing." She sighs. Tension radiates off her.

I expected her reaction, sort of. Part of me hoped a herculean effort would have her falling back into my arms. Eight of our ten years apart are a blur. Time has probably moved differently for her.

"You can't just snap your fingers ten years later and expect me to come running." She leans her temple on the thick wooden door.

Her posture catches my breath in my throat. She looks like the girl I fell in love with all those years ago, the one I followed around like a lost puppy. Until she left, then I was just lost. "I'm clean now. Let's talk. If you have such a great life without me, it can't hurt to let me in."

Indecision floats across her face and then she steps back from the entrance. She leads me from the side door, through the spacious galley kitchen and back into a large open room with high ceilings, wooden beams poking through. Everything is decorated in creams and greys. She wasn't such a fan of neutral shades when we lived together. Off to the right is a bar. Does she keep it stocked? "Nice place." Suddenly, I'm not sure what to say. My plan worked, I'm here, with her. How do I plead my case? Maybe I should have made a list or come up with a list of concessions.

Ellie gestures to one of the couches, her posture stiff. I perch on the arm rest, and she sits opposite me. Something buzzes, and I pat my pocket. I frown when I find it. Turned off. The buzzing isn't me.

Ellie holds up her phone, and her home screen streams with new messages. It looks like the stock exchange.

"Oh," I say. "That's..." How do I finish that thought? Apologize? I'm not actually sorry. The attention is what I wanted. She used to hate the madness, the insanity of people's curiosity.

"Yeah." Ellie puts her phone face down on the coffee table between us. Her phone buzzes non-stop, and the glass table amplifies the sound. She's put it there on purpose.

Watching her in person is surreal. I spent years devouring anything I could get my hands on that let me see her. Magazines, movies, interviews, commercials—if she endorsed it, I bought it. Any other woman who entered my life was always second best and ended up walking out on me. I let them all go. Ellie's the first one I have ever chased. I should have gone after her harder years ago.