I shake my head and take a step back. Take a deep breath. “I want to talk to you, like for real. Not just fun easy stuff. I want to tell you the total crap going on in my life right now.”
“Okay…” he says, his head tilting to the side. “You can just tell me anything, Sophia. You don’t have to ask first, or like, warn me or whatever.”
“It’s kind of a big deal, though. I don’t normally share my feelings, and all that stuff.”
Declan smiles, this cute grin that makes my knees weak. “I guess I believe that. You are a little stone cold sometimes.”
“Yeah. I have to be. It’s how I was raised. And well… you’re not just some trust fund kid at a party that I’ll never see again.”
“I’m not a trust fund kid at all,” he says.
“No, you’re not. You’re real. You’re kind. I like you, Declan.”
“I like you, too.”
I grin. And then all the problems in my life come slamming back into my subconscious, only momentarily blotted out by Declan’s adorable smile. I can’t get rid of them forever. My problems are too big for that.
I heave a sigh and sit on the bench, patting the place next to me for Declan to sit. “My mom called. She wants to pull me from school.”
“This close to graduating?” he says, sounding incredulous. Like he thinks that maybe I’m playing a stupid joke on him.
“Yep,” I say, my voice dry of any emotion. “She and my dad are moving to Africa for a while and she wants me there, too. I told her I’m not going, but… my mom always gets her way.”
“Wow… that’s… that’s not good.”
“I know.” I reach over and put my hand on top of his. “I don’t want to leave Shelfbrooke. Well… maybe Icanleave Shelfbrooke,” I say with a chuckle. “But I don’t want to leave you. Or Belle. Or even my Aunt Kate. I like it here. I like being around you guys. And even if I go with my parents for a year or two, how will I find you again? You and Belle will have moved on to college and have all new lives.”
“You would have a new life too,” he says, staring at the ground. “I guess we just weren’t meant to be.”
“No… don’t say that.”
“It’s true, though.”
My fingers close over his. My teeth dig into my bottom lip. “I hate this. I don’t want to go.”
“When are you leaving?”
“I don’t know. I hung up on her.”
“Well, let’s make the most of the time we do have,” he says softly. His fingertips are rough, calloused from hours spent tending to this very garden, but I love the feel of them on my cheek. He tips my head up until my eyes lock on his, and then he presses his lips to my forehead.
“Come here.”
I slide over closer to him, and he wraps his arms around me. I fit so perfectly against his chest, and it’s hard to imagine my life going on without having Declan next to me. I hate my parents for doing this to me. I shouldn’t be hauled around to wherever they want me to go, looking pretty like their perfect daughter. I am far from perfect. I arrived here as a spoiled brat who took everything for granted. Now the only thing I care about is right here at this stupid school.
And I’ll have to leave it.
We sit like this for a long time. Until the sun dips below the garden walls and blankets the sky in shades of gold and amber. Then my phone rings.
I reach for it, seeing Belle’s number on the screen.
“Hello?”
“I’m ready to come home.”
“Tonight?”
“Yeah. Is that okay with you?”
