? DISCONTINUED ? Between the Perennial Blooms || Paul Lahote

Twenty Eight | Gardenia

"Sam said not to bring it up but I can't take it anymore. Someone has to say it," Embry whispered quickly. "And since they won't, then I guess I will." His hand latched around her wrist and he pulled her close as if to contain his voice from reaching any further than the small space between them. "Quil's a mess, Bay." He said. "Not even a mess — he's a wreck — an absolute shitshow! He doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep. Hell, he barely even phases out of wolf-form unless Sam makes him," Embry explained, staring into her wide eyes with wide ones of his own. "But it's killing him, Bay. It's killing him because he didn't mean to hurt you and all he wants to do is apologize but nobody will let him anywhere near you! I mean, Sam won't let him near Paul either, but that's only because he knows Paul will rip him to shreds the minute he sees him and we probably won't be able to hold him back if he does." Embry shook his head, seemingly fallen off track, and then latched onto her shoulders firmly. "But listen, what I'm trying to get at here is that I know you're scared — probably terrified, really — but you have to talk to him. It doesn't have to be today and it doesn't have to be tomorrow, but it needs to be soon. He can't keep going on like this." He said, worry clouding his dark brown eyes. "I'm scared he might do something stupid if he does."

"I-"

"You ready to go, baby?" Paul called as Bailey stared at Embry in bewilderment. Her lips parted around a wordless tongue and she simply stared at the boy who held her by the shoulders as her brain attempted to process all of the information that had been divulged so recently. Her larynx couldn't quite catch up with her brain and in that moment she stood absolutely speechless as Paul awaited a reply and Embry stared at her imploringly.

"I-"

"Look," Embry suddenly whispered, dropping his hands from her shoulders as he fished for something in his pocket. Eventually he pulled out what appeared to be a folded piece of paper that was stained and creased all over, and he thrust it into her hand urgently. "Quil wrote this a while ago and asked me to give it to you if I ever saw you. I haven't read it, but I think you ought to. Please," he said, flickering his eyes over her shoulder as Paul began walking in their direction. "Don't tell anyone until you have."

"Baby?"

"I-"

"Please," Embry begged, enclosing her fist around the note so as to hide it from view.

Finally, after so long of being speechless, Bailey swallowed around the dryness that had suddenly developed in her throat and nodded. "Okay," she muttered, squeezing her tiny fist around the even tinier piece of paper. "I'll read it."

And as Paul came upon them only to drape his arm across her shoulders with a wide, oblivious smile, Bailey made a second vow in her head. Not only would she not tell anyone about the note until she'd read it.

She wouldn't tell anyone even after she had either.

---

It was about thirty minutes after they had left the Uley household when Paul finally informed her of their surprise plans. 'It's a nice day outside,' he had said slyly, carrying her bridal style in his arms with his left bicep looped through her crutches as he walked along diligently. 'Nice enough to go to the beach...' And even though her stitches were still too fresh to get wet and the water still a bit too cold to swim comfortably, Bailey grinned at the thought of sand beneath her toes and the surprisingly cloudless sky making room for the sun to beam down on her cheeks.