The Life of Anna, Part 5: Emerged by Marissa Honeycutt Read Free Book Online Page A

to take it off, even though Devin wasn’t around to make her
wear it. “He meant the world to me,” she said softly. Alex had
saved her.
    “I’m so sorry.”
    “Thanks.” She sighed. “You must think I’m
silly, hanging on to him for so long.”
    “Sometimes people leave such a deep imprint
on our hearts that they never go away.” Hugo gave her a sad smile
and the pain showing in his eyes made her wonder if there was
someone who had made him feel the same way.
    Maybe that’s what it was. Alex had touched
her in such a way that her heart was permanently altered. Did
moving on...
really
moving on...betray his love? Betray her
love for him? It had been four years. Perhaps it was time to really
let him go. Letting him go didn’t mean she didn’t love him anymore.
It didn’t mean that he hadn’t touched her; Alex had touched her
unlike anyone else had. And that was okay.
    She smiled up at Hugo, her chest lightened by
the thought. “Thanks.”
    “For what?”
    “What you just said. It...made sense
suddenly.”
    Alex would want her to be happy. He’d told
her that many times. And now that she was free from Devin...maybe
she really could leave her past behind her and start over.
*****
    Anna lay in bed later that night, pensive and
rubbing the indentation on her right ring finger. When she’d
returned home from rehearsal that afternoon she’d decided it really
was time to move on, and she removed her wedding ring for the first
time ever. She had kissed it and put it in her new memory box, next
to Alex’s wedding ring. It was a bittersweet moment.
    Hugo had taken her out to dinner and a movie
and she’d had a wonderful time. He was sweet and funny and a
“normal” man.
    When he’d walked her to her apartment door
that night, she didn’t invite him in. She reminded herself she was
under no obligation to sleep with him. They’d only known each other
for a week and normal, free people didn’t sleep with each other so
quickly.
    But he had kissed her.
    Anna touched her mouth, remembering the
feeling of his soft lips on hers. He’d tasted of the popcorn they’d
gotten at the movie. The kiss was gentle, tentative even, and made
her head spin a little. He hadn’t pressed himself against her or
done anything other than hold her hands. Strange, foreign, but
exhilarating.
    She smiled and drifted off to sleep.
*****
    It was the room again. Anna hadn’t seen
it in months. But it was different; it was empty. The bed was
stripped down to the mattress. The bookshelves were cleared off.
Alex was gone.
    Anna’s eyes snapped open in the dark room.
Alex was gone? How could someone be gone from a dream? But there
was no doubt about it. No one lived in that room anymore.
    Maybe that was a sign that she’d made the
right decision; that she’d finally let him go. She didn’t need him
in her dreams any longer.
    The thought was bittersweet.
    Alex would always be in her heart, but she
could move on now. Her mind had released him.
*****
    Anna went for a walk late Sunday morning and,
after she’d eaten, found herself at the library. There was
something about the big white marble building that soothed her
whirring mind. She had finished the book she’d borrowed the
previous week and wandered around the third floor until she found a
section on ballet. She settled down on the floor between the
bookshelves and pulled one of the picture books into her lap.
    “You can check those books out, you
know.”
    Anna looked up to see an older, wiry man with
thin gray hair and wire-rimmed glasses looking down at her.
    “Or we have more comfortable chairs over
there.” He motioned behind him.
    Anna smiled shyly. “I know...I just...it’s
quiet here.”
    The man chuckled. “Yes, it can get a little
noisy on the weekends. People don’t seem to understand what quiet
means anymore.”
    Anna smiled. “I can imagine.”
    “You were just here last week, weren’t
you?”
    Anna’s eyes widened and she flushed. “Yeah. I
liked it so much I