They left the bookstore with a small stack of novels and two cups of coffee from the shop next door. Chase drove while Savannah sat in the passenger seat, her bare feet resting on the dashboard, flipping through the pages of her new book.
“You're actually gonna read while I drive?” Chase teased, glancing over.
She smirked, tilting the book just enough for him to see the text. “You should be honored. I don’t let just anyone distract me from my books.”
Chase laughed, reaching over to squeeze her thigh. “I’ll take it.”
And as they drove down the open road, chasing nothing but time, Savannah realized something terrifying.
She wasn’t just getting lost in the adventure.
She was getting lost in him.
And she didn’t want to be found.
34
Almost Forever
Thedaysslippedthroughtheir fingers like grains of sand—each one falling faster than the last, slipping away before they had the chance to hold on.
Too fast. Too fleeting.
Time was cruel, relentless, dragging when you wanted it to pass, but racing when all Savannah wanted was for it to slow, to stop, to freeze in place and let her stay here, wrapped in him, wrapped in this.
But time didn't listen.
Time didn’t care.
It never did.
Three days.
Three days until she had to pack up and leave Wrightsville Beach. Three days until she’d return to Asheville, to the life she had built, the life she had always been so sure of.
But now?
Now, that life felt hollow.
Three days until Chase would wake up alone.
Three days until she wouldn’t be wrapped in his arms at night, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of his breath, feeling the warmth of his body curled around hers, safe in a way she hadn’t even realized she craved.
Three days until she would step into her car, drive away, and leave this behind.
Leave him behind.
Neither of them acknowledged it out loud.
Saying it would make it too real, too final.
So instead, they let the silence swallow the truth.
They pretended.
They made those three days count.
They kissed longer.
