Under the Cypress Moon Read Free Page B

Shylah in her eyes but couldn't.  His head down, fighting to lift it, Mark couldn't find words.
    "What is it, Mark?  Why are you so nervous?  Come on.  Out with it," Shylah retorted, laughing.
    "I... uh... I..."
    "You?  You what?"
    "I have something to tell you, to ask you, to... I don't even know."
    Shylah, now very puzzled, cocked her head and cleared her throat as if to question Mark further.
    "I... I guess I have to just let it all out.  I can't stand it one bit anymore.  It's killing me inside!"
    Now, Mark had Shylah's complete and undying attention.
    With another sigh, Mark opened his mouth again and tried to speak.  The words, however, were as fleeting as his courage.  "Shylah... ummm..."
    "Mark, you know, you're kinda confusing me here and makin' me a little nervous.  I'm sorry, but you gotta get the words out.  You've known me pretty much all my life.  Why are you all of a sudden so shy?"
    Mark knew that he couldn't leave yet, and he couldn't walk away.  He couldn't stop the conversation.  He couldn't change the subject.  It must be done.  He would have to find words or fall over dead.  Either one sounded pretty good to him.
    "Ok.  Here goes," Mark began again. "Shylah, I'm crazy about you!  I can't stop thinking about you.  I think about you when I wake up in the morning and when I go to bed at night.  You're my every thought, my every hope.  I can't get one moment of peace from it all, except when I sleep, and that's if I don't dream about you."
    "Wow," Shylah choked out.  She had never had any man be so incredibly sweet to her before.  She didn't know what to say.  She didn't want to hurt Mark, but she wasn't sure that she could be with him, for a number of reasons.
    Shylah always thought that Mark was good looking, a sweet guy, a cool guy, smart, funny, and fun to be around, but she had rarely entertained any notions of anything more than friendship with Mark.
    Shylah knew that she had to have some answers now, but she was so afraid that she would hurt Mark's feelings, would leave him broken, maybe even damage his friendship with T.L., though she was worried that if she said yes, and things didn't work out, that she would hurt their friendship far more than what she could simply from giving Mark a rejection.
    "Mark, you know you mean a lot to me.  You always have.  You and my brother have been friends for so long.  My brother loves you.  My parents love you.  We all love you.  And I do love you, Mark.  I just don't love you the way you think you love me."  Shylah almost could not believe that she had just spoken these words.
    Mark, holding his  head low, not knowing how to raise it or how to speak, found his one moment of strength and opportunity.  Jerking his head up high, staring intently into Shylah's beautiful brown eyes, he stammered out, "Think?  I don't think I love you, Shylah!  I know I do!  You are everything I've ever wanted.  I don't know why it took me so damn long to figure that out, but I want you in ways that you cannot even imagine!  I would give up absolutely everything I have just to have you for one day!"
    "Really," Shylah asked.  "You'd give up everything for me?  You'd give up  your company, your big house, all your money, your fancy trucks and cars, everything?"
    "YES!"
    "Mark," Shylah came back.  "I... I don't know what to say, what you want me to say."
    Mark knew the answer and felt defeated, utterly and completely defeated in every conceivable way.  He had tried, and he lost.  He poured out his heart, and it mattered not.  He did not hate Shylah, and he knew that he would still love her and desire her with every fiber of his being, but it could not be and could not matter to anyone but him.
    Mark nodded a bit as if to say that he understood Shylah's unspoken words.  Getting up from the table, he wasn't sure how he could even look at the woman he loved.  He wondered if it would affect his friendship with Shylah's brother.  Even if it