Eventually we slow down as tiredness takes over and our kissing becomes slower. The passion is still there and, fuck me, there's so much love each time our lips meet.
Sky lies beside me, but his arms don't let me go, and I swear I fall asleep with his lips still pressed against mine.
* * *
The looming review is constantly on my mind. Even the celebration at the end of our week at the restaurant is bittersweet.
The kitchen team baked us a cake, and we’re allowed to take home the large wooden restaurant sign that says Maple Sky.
To Sky's home, I mean. This place isn't my home, even though I've rearranged the kitchen to how I like it, and Sky didn't say anything. Quite the opposite. When he couldn't find something the other day, he seemed pleased to have to ask me where it was.
He hasn't repeated those words since that night, and I haven't said them back, even though I know I couldn't be more in love with Skyler West if I tried. I think I always have been.
But I'm terrified of saying it. I don't even know what I'm waiting for, but the invisible force that's stopping me isn't letting go.
Instead, I take extra shifts at the bar, and I spend hours with my dad on the phone to lawyers in Paris, trying to figure out how to get away from Pierre.
Maybe that's it. I need to completely cut ties with Paris before I can move on.
I've decided to stay in Vermont, even though I haven't told Sky.
So that's where we are.
Waiting for something and doing nothing.
I spend every night with Sky, but I haven't moved any of my clothes to the cabin. My parents haven't asked me any questions, and even Luke has kept to himself.
There are so many unsaid things, and they’re all so loud in my head and my heart that they may as well be a crowd with megaphones all pointing in my direction.
I love Sky.
I’m staying in Vermont.
I don’t know what I’m doing with the rest of my life.
Working right across from the restaurant is torture. Every night we get some diners spilling into Vino after their dinner, so I overhear how great the food is and how nice the new hosts are.
The production team couldn't have picked a more diverse set of contestants.
One team ran a grill with one single item on the menu, grilled steak, but they have over one hundred different sauces to go with it. I can see how that would be popular with the diners.
There was also a vegan restaurant, and toward the end of the competition, a team doing upside-down dinners where you start by having dessert and end with the appetizer.
While I doubt that the format would stick, it is definitely giving local people and visitors something to talk about.
Sky is confident about our efforts in the competition, but we were the first to go, and our week now feels like a million years ago.
Filming stopped last week, and we're getting the results today. There's a party at a secret location that only the contestants have been told about and sworn to secrecy because the show starts on TV this week.
Sky comes out of the shower, and my breath catches at the sight of him. And not because he's my giant, muscly Superman. No, my breath catches because today he's already done six hours of work at his parents' farm, packed his maple syrup to take to the stores he supplies tomorrow, and he still has a calm, happy smile when he looks at me.
"What?" he asks when he catches me staring.
Today his life could change for the best, and I think that for the first time in my life, I want to ask for something. I want my chance with Sky. My happy ever after.
My heart is beating so fast, I take a deep breath to steady it.
He drops his towel and puts on his underwear before stalking over to me. He holds my hands and walks backward until his legs hit the bed and he sits on it, taking me with him.
