Down the road of memories

I Will Never Not Love You

Elle POV

I was leaving for my conference in Vancouver and Lee came to pick me up this morning to take me to the airport. I hadn't had much opportunity to be alone with my best friend lately. Between my shifts, the time Noah and I wanted to spend together to catch up, and the time Lee spent planning his wedding with Rachel, we have accepted that we are busy. I was reveling in the moment sitting in the passenger seat of my best friend's Mustang, trying as hard as I could to forget the reason I had to ask Lee to be my driver. But this one didn't let me do my innocent thing :

- So, do you want to tell me why you suddenly need me to be your driver this morning, Elle?" he asked me, raising his eyebrows. "Why isn't Noah driving you to the airport? Where is he this morning?

- At work... I think." I said to him in a nonchalant tone while looking out the window.

- You think? But what happened?" he said to me as he start the car to head towards the airport. "I've noticed that Noah has been very preoccupied since we got back from New York. As if his mind is continually analyzing a few things in his head.

I sighed heavily before saying to Lee :

- From what I understand, he has a big case at work which is giving him a lot of difficulty. This has been bothering him for several weeks, so much so that I feel like I'm no longer living with the same Noah but a replica of Flynn, the high school brawler.

- Oh yes! I know this guy well! I lived with him throughout my adolescence. He was so boring!

Lee still managed to get a smile out of me.

- Yesterday, I couldn't take it anymore and I asked him to tell me what bothers him so much. He replied that he could not talk to me about it because he was bound by professional secrecy.

- A classic lawyer's response!" Lee said dismissively.

- Of course, I burst out and told him not to play this game with me since I was as bound by professional secrecy as he was and that did not prevent me from telling him about the difficulties I experience with my patients. He told me that even if he told me about it, I wouldn't be able to understand." I said to Lee and tears came to my eyes despite myself.

- It reminded you of what you experienced during his first year at Harvard." He said, looking at me with compassion.

I nodded before telling him :

- He told me that I probably couldn't understand the difficulties he was experiencing at college. I felt that he was moving away and at the same time he seemed to be getting closer to Chloe. Yesterday, there were so many possibilities that popped into my head. Is he cheating on me with one of his colleagues?" I said to Lee before a tear escaped my eye.

- I couldn't believe such a thing, Elle. I saw what Noah was like during the 6 years you were separated. And everything he put in place and made as a sacrifice for you to be together again. I can't believe that after he managed to get you back and ask you to marry him, he would drop everything for one of his nasty colleagues?

- I went to bed last night, leaving our conversation on hold. He never came to bed with me. This morning, I found the bed in the guest room in the basement unmade and he had already left for work.

- What a big asshole!

- Finally, I was happy to leave for Vancouver! I need to take a step back from this whole situation.

- Did you tell him that you were going to a conference?

- I told him when I was asked to be a speaker but I haven't told him again for several weeks. Let's just say we haven't spoken much in recent weeks." I told him ashamed, looking at my hands.