“I’m so glad you’re back,” he spins and heads on over to Noah’s car.
“Wait, where’s Angel?”
He turns, walking backward. “Left with your sister and Vi. Something about—actually, I can’t remember, but the girls will drop him off.”
I nod, although I’m unsure what that’s about, but whatever. “Night, Kai.”
He shoots me a wink and hops into Noah’s car.
I shut the door behind me and head up the stairs, knowing Josie’s up there.
“Josie.” I enter her room but go still. She’s sitting on the side of the bed, holding the tiny notebook I gave her yesterday. “Jarvis suggested I do that. I’m no poet, so everything I wrote is probably really sappy and corny. Maybe even sad and desperate, so beware.”
She quietly chuckles and pats the spot next to her. I happily take my seat and circle my arms around her, resting my chin on her shoulder.
“Hi, Josie. It’s April 19th.”
She starts reading and I close my eyes, prepared to cringe.
“Another day without you and it REALLY sucks. I hope you know, if you decide to take me back (and I’m going to work my ass to make that happen), I’ll never let go of you. I shouldn’t have lost you in the first place. Really hate myself for that and I hate what I said. I didn’t mean it. I swear, I didn’t. But I don’t regret begging and getting on my knees for you. I’ll do it again (you know I’ve never been opposed to begging). I miss your face. I really miss holding you. I miss your voice. I miss your smile. I never told you this, but these tiny fireworks always go off in my chest when I see you smile. I can visualize them being shot up, making that little whistle-like noise all while getting really excited about it happening. And when I lock in on your lips, they go off. That’s just what your smile does. I’ll leave what your brown eyes do to me for another day.
I’m so happy you’re here!
With A LOT of LOVE, Garcia
Okay, that day I wasn’t too bad. I was home with my parents and mentally doing a bit better.
She sets the notebook down on the nightstand. “I hope you know I’m getting asked to get buried with this. Fireworks? I do that to you?”
I nod and she looks over her shoulder up at me, eyes flooding with a range of emotions. “You do. All the time. You okay?”
Her cheeks flame. I swear, she’s so cute. “Oh yeah, I’m…processing and trying to remain calm. You sometimes—allthe time—overwhelm me, but in a really good way, I promise,” she quickly adds, making me smile hard. “I didn’t understand it, but Jarvis said I have an avoidant attachment and that my fight-or-flight is very trigger happy. All of this—you—spikes this need to either fight you because my brain is trying to sabotage that this isn’t real, or run and hide because I don’t want to hear that it wasn’t.”
“Your feelings are valid, but I want you to know this is very real.” I tip my head down and kiss her shoulder. “But on the days that it doesn’t feel like it is, I’ll be here to remind you. I promise.”
She sinks into my hold before she bolts up. “Oh, I almost forgot.”
I laugh, amused, as she hurries to her desk, opens one of the drawers, and pulls out what looks like a Post-it. “What’s that?”
She stands between my parted thighs and hands it to me. “I never got back to you about names and what we’d do.”
My brows furrow in confusion until I read the paper.
Sage(D)
Taryn(J)
Professional baseball player
Swim coach
I burst out laughing. “You remembered?”
I hear the smile in her voice. “You said we needed names and secret identities. The names are still TBD, but they’re starting to grow on me.”
Wrapping my hands around her, I pull her back with me. I land on my back, and she lands on top, straddling me. “Wait, swim coach?”
“I think I’m going to take Monica’s offer. I’ll be a student assistant, but who knows, maybe one day a coach. I know it might mean that we’ll have to do long distance. Which is something we really haven’t talked about, but I want to if you do?”
