Down the road of memories

South of the border

Elle POV

I was so exhausted after my conference in Europe and Lee's wedding. I remember the next morning, Noah had to wake me up so we could leave the room in time to check out. Instead of going home, Noah bought us an all-inclusive week in Mexico. I told him that we could always take our week off at home. Noah replied that he wanted me to really relax without doing any cleaning, laundry or eating. And above all, that the hospital does not call me to tell me that there is a code orange and that I should come into work.

Despite my reluctance, it did me good to rest on the beach and do absolutely nothing. Noah had booked into a beachfront hotel in Puerto Vallarta. It was a completely different vision of Mexico than what I had had almost 4 years earlier when I came on a humanitarian trip to Tirjuana. I really liked the Mexicans' joy of living. But in my reality as a future doctor, I was confronted with the reality of fights between drug cartels and violence against women.

I was sitting on a lounge chair under an umbrella quietly reading a book while stopping a few times to look at the view of the small lagoon in front of me. Noah joined me at the same time, bringing me a Pina Colada. It's crazy how attentive he is and seems to want to accommodate my every desire since we got here!
- Thanks Noah!" I said to him when he placed my glass next to me.
- You're welcome, Shelly! I just want you to rest." he said to me as he sat down on the lounge chair next to me. "You worried me at Lee's wedding. You looked so tired.
- I was!" I said to him, sighing. "The timing was so bad to have to spend this important day after my crash return from Europe.
- I wish you could rest first." He said to me, caressing my cheek.
- But it was such a situation out of our control. That seems to be my lot with weddings anyway. At my father's wedding, I had just arrived from Vancouver and then left for Mexico a few days later.

Noah became very thoughtful when I talked about what happened after my father got married. I was surprised that he decided to talk about it :
- Lee's wedding naturally made me think about what happened between us at your father's wedding, Elle. I relived the helplessness and then the hope I felt that evening. I never thought even in my wildest dreams that you would tell me that you were on a break from Mark and that you would be ready to come back with me in 3 years. I know that despite the fact that we spent the night together that evening, we weren't officially back together. Even if for me, we were unofficially." he said to me, looking into my eyes as if to convey to me all the hope he had had that famous evening. "But for you Elle... what happened with Mark afterwards?

Flashback to Mexico, 3 years before the meeting in front of the Kissing booth

Never, ever, would I have thought that my reunion with Noah, after 3 years, would have happened like this. I knew that one day I was going to have to see him again. Our families are too close for our paths to never cross again. For the first few years, I wanted to tell Noah exactly everything he had put me through by breaking up so suddenly and then pushing me out of his life. Then recently, I wanted to show him that I had completely gotten over him... but ultimately, I wasn't.

I never thought he would tell me that he still loved me and that it killed him to know I was with someone else. And for me, I was also open to giving him my forgiveness and even reassuring him that his decision had positive effects.

When we kissed outside the hotel next to his jeep, I rediscovered that feeling of being put into orbit. The proof was in my mind, I was never truly in love with Skylar or Mark. They were my friends, my confidants, my accomplices... but they never made me vibrate like Noah managed to do during a conversation of less than 30 minutes.