Noah's Guide to Catching a Cat ✓

Epilogue

Noah Delaquer is fourty one years old with Clover on a beach near North Carolina. The ocean is gently brushing on the back of his calfs. He's splashing a two year old boy that looks exactly like him when he saw from the corner of his eye a woman with dark hair on the beach. 

She looks too familiar.

Noah's not sure. 

He takes his son back to Clover. "Give me a minute," Noah doesn't wait for her response because he's chasing the figure. The closer he gets, the more he's certain that it is Nadine Shaw.

She looks almost the same as he remembers her. She must know he's following her because her pace doesn't change, she doesn't turn around to see if he's following her and from the sandy dunes of the beach, she's making her way to the thin forest where they might be alone.

And sure enough she stops there, her eyes meeting his when he steps in.

"Nadine," Noah says, breathless.

"Noah," she says.

The words are achingly familiar. He almost remembers her saying it all those years ago.

"I waited for you." Noah says first, "Till I was thirty-eight."

"I know," Nadine says her tone miserable. "I'm sorry."

"Why did you leave?" Noah asks.

Nadine closes the distance between them. Her eyes are the same as Noah remembers as she studies him. "You've put on weight," Nadine says playfully.

"You look the same as I remember," Noah's voice is gruff. He's angry, he's upset but most of all he's surprised to see her. "Did you marry?"

She smiles not a full one but a quirk of her lip, "I didn't."

'Why?" Noah asks.

"I love you," She says.

It sends aches through Noah's heart, "That's not fair of you to say."

"I know," Nadine says, "I knew Clover liked you."

Noah closes his eyes, "Nadine..."

"I know, you didn't cheat on me," Nadine says. "It's unfair of me to think you'd wait for me."

"Why did you leave?"

"I wanted to have my freedom," Nadine admits, she looks away from Noah. "I had it, that's why I came back, I came back on your wedding day, when you were 39, I missed you by a year."

"I'm not sorry," Noah lies.

She smiles because knows he's lying. And while he can't admit it, not to her for Clover's sake it made her a little happy that he does regret it. 

"Your parents hate me, they told me to wait for you." Noah moves towards her touching her arm because he's a little stunned. "I didn't have anything to go on but their word when they told me you wouldn't marry and I should wait instead of marrying her, had I known you came then I... things would have been different."

"You didn't know. I probably should have called."

"I'm sorry." Noah says. "I didn't think you'd come back."

"I wish I came back sooner." Nadine takes a step back. She doesn't want him to regret anything, not with the proximity between them and the desperate urge to kiss him even though he has a child.

The silence settles in. Noah's at a loss of words to say. He always is. 

Noah looks at her, "Will I see you again?"

Nadine smiles, "Why wouldn't you think so?"

"I don't know," Noah says, "I looked for you everywhere but I could never find you when you left."

"I didn't want to be found."

And she didn't. Noah remembers. She deactivated everything. He worried for the first five years that she was kidnapped till her parents visited him and told him that she's contacted them and she's fine. 

Where was she?

Europe.

And it hurt him. It hurt him so much he couldn't breathe. 

And he relied on Clover. He spoke to her for years about Nadine till slowly they got closer and closer and in a fit of loneliness, Noah kissed her. She almost made him forget Nadine. 

And somehow, things started happening fast, and faster till he's in the hospital startled with a baby boy in his arms. 

And he never believed he'd see Nadine again till now.

Against his better judgement, he wants to kiss her. He wants to hold her. He wants to be with her again. But he's not going to. 

Because he promised to stay with Clover now.

And she's too late to stop everything else that followed.

And Noah knows he'll never trust her again. 

"I should head back," Noah says.

"You should," Nadine agrees. She doesn't move away. They're standing so close it's making Noah's heart race like it did when he was twenty four. 

But he's forty one now. 

"I'll see you," Noah says. Because he knows he will, and he'll always regret not waiting longer for her. 

THE END

AN

And it's a wrap! There's a lot more magical elements at play in this story in the details if you've spotted them. 

hint: it has to do with numbers!

I wrote this story in four thousand words for my creative writing class and recently stumbled upon it again and I fleshed it out a little more for all of you. Thank you so much for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed this little Novella and that it made your day a little brighter. 

In reality, love doesn't always win. There needs to be trust, faith, communication to make a relationship successful. It's also not a one way street. It works both ways. When you lack these ingredients things tend to turn sour. 

Some of you have been sharp enough to spot that Nadine isn't exactly who she says she is, or that her actions are a little bizzare and you were right. While Nadine did like perhaps love Noah, she was using him and hoping that once she's ready to settle down, he'd be there for her. But life doesn't work like that, and he has every right to move on with his life. 

Anyway let me know what you think of 

NOAH

NADINE

CLOVER

MADAM PURR

CLAY

NOAH'S PARENTS