My story in this book is called Just A Little Too Late
When Sujo Crane's past calls her home, she has to make the decision of staying with her past or moving on and marrying her future.
Excerpt
Sujo Crane looked at the beautiful white dress that was placed in the corner of the room. In another month she would be Mrs. Sujo Monroe. She wiped a tear from her cheek.
“Sujo, are you there?”
“Yes, I’m here,” Sujo said. She had been on the phone with him for over an hour. He had been explaining the accident and the details of the funeral. She felt she was still in shock over the news.
“Please, say you’ll come,” Jason Beckman said, “for Gerard.”
Sujo let out a loud sigh. “I’m really busy with the wedding and all. I just don’t know if I can make it.” She knew she wasn’t being all that truthful; there was really nothing else to do for the wedding. It was going to be a simple affair with family and friends. Neither she nor Mark was into big weddings with all the crazy details that went along with them. So there was really no details left, she knew in her heart the real reason was she wasn’t sure if she could handle facing Jason again after all these years. She thought she had closed that door to her heart but when she picked up the phone and heard his voice, emotions of the past came to the surface.
“Too busy to come to an old friend’s funeral. That doesn’t sound like you…the old Sujo I knew would drop everything for a friend.” Jason paused and then said, “Hell, bring what’s his name too…just come.”
“His name’s Mark Monroe.” Sujo looked over at the wedding dress again. She remembered the day she tried it on. It fit perfect, no alternations needed at all. It was as if it was made for her. Not a thing was wrong with it…just like Mark. She wasn’t the type of girl to like perfect. She was the girl who liked the quirky side of life. She was the girl who did the opposite of her friends, never fitting into that perfect mold. So it was surprising to her and everyone else that she went for the perfect guy who always did everything right and had his…their life planned out perfect for them down to the day they would start trying to have kids.
“Sujo, you and Gerard were the best of friends. Hell, sometimes I wondered if you two had something going on behind my back.”
Sujo smiled when she thought back to the three of them together. They were young and had no cares in the world. She thought they would always be close, but Jason changed all that.
“Gerard was always there for me.”
“Remember when I gave you that ring? I think he was actually happier than you were. He said we were meant to be together.”
“Don’t do this, Jason.” Sujo felt the tears starting to run down her cheeks again.
“We were great together. Please come. I need you. I don’t want to bury our friend without you.”
Sujo tried to look at the dress again but her eyes wouldn’t move that way, instead they looked at the old photo album she had lying on the bed in front of her. She ran her finger across the picture of her and Jason and Gerard together on the beach. It was during spring break in her first year of college and Jason had called and convinced her into coming down to where he was working and spend her vacation with him, and Gerard had a new girlfriend he wanted her to meet. She ran her fingers along the picture and outlined Jason’s blond, wavy hair. It was on that beach where Jason took back the ring he had given her and said he never wanted to marry her. He wanted his freedom and didn’t want to be tied down. She went home broken-hearted but knew if she gave him some time he would change his mind and call her and say he was sorry for the mean things he said. He never called and her heart finally healed and she moved on...or so she thought.
“How’s his wife?” Sujo asked as she ran her fingers through her hair.
“She’s heartbroken. You’d like her, she’s nice.”
“I knew Gerard would settle down and find someone nice,” Sujo said. She loved Gerard as much as she had loved Jason at one time, just in different ways. Gerard was her sounding board when things were going wrong with her and Jason. He never took sides, he just listened.
“And me, did you think I would ever settle down and find someone nice?”
“No.”
“As I recall I had the chance to settle down and I had found someone nice. It was you.”
“I’m not going down memory lane with you.” She had learned to hate this man for what he had done to them. Did he really think after all this time she could just make idle conversation without feeling something?
“I loved you, Sujo. That’s the memory I have and I live everyday regretting the decisions I made but at the time they were right for me.”
She wondered if his words were true then why didn’t he ever come and find her or call and say how sorry he was. She had to wonder if Gerard hadn’t died would she ever have talked to him again. “That was the problem it was never us with you. It was always just you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s in the past, nothing to be sorry for. My life is great. I love being a nurse and in a month I will be married to Dr. Mark Monroe. My life is complete.” Sujo shut the photo album and pushed it to the corner of the bed. “I’ll come to the funeral.”
“Great. I can pick you up at the airport.”
“No. I’ll rent a car,” Sujo said. “I’m coming for Gerard and nothing more, Jason.”
“Of course,” Jason said. “I’ll see you in a few days.”
Sujo said goodbye and hung up the phone. She wondered if going back home to the funeral was the best thing to do. She wondered what if that night on the beach had gone different, where would they be now? Would they have settled down, played the grown up life, jobs, kids and all that stuff that goes along with being grown-ups? Jason was the wild boy all girls wanted but none could seem to catch. She nearly had him but lost her grip on him and he ran away. From what she had heard from other friends, he was still the wild boy and no girl had caught him yet.
Sujo slid off the bed and wondered how Mark was going to take the news when she told him she was going back home. Of course she would invite him to come along but in her heart she knew she didn’t want him to. She not only needed to bury her friend but she needed to make sure that all the doors, windows and any other port that her love for Jason could seep through was locked and sealed, never to be opened again.
