My heart swells at the extra thought he put into this. I just expected to crawl into bed with him, curl up in his arms, and that would be that.
He flips on his bedroom light and flicks off the light in the hallway, stopping to look at me for a moment. “Are you okay?” he asks, concern filling his face.
“Yes, of course. I don’t want to be anywhere else right now.”
He puts a hand on each of my shoulders, looking me square in the face. “You look flushed.”
I’m sure that only makes more color scatter across my pink cheeks. “That’s because of you.”
His brow furrows. “What did I do? Did I do something wrong?”
I hold one hand up to cup his face, softly moving my thumb back and forth across his cheek. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Andrew. You have been so sweet and thoughtful, the perfect gentleman.” I hesitate beforeI carefully phrase my next sentence. “Maybe, for tonight, it’d be okay for you not to be.”
He frowns, looking confused. I look up at him through my lashes, and something on my face must finally register with him because the look in his eyes turns animal.
He sweeps me off the ground and lays me on the bed, still gentle Andrew, and it’s the perfect end to an already perfect day.
CHAPTER 27
Summer 18
Icheck the clock yet again. It’s 2:36 in the morning. I frown as I realize only two minutes have passed since I last checked the time.
I toss my covers off and sit up. I reach for my phone and am nearly blinded by the beaming light. I guess it hasn’t gotten the memo that it’s nighttime.
Without a second thought, I shoot off a text.
Me
Any chance you’re awake too?
Andrew’s response is instant.
Andrew
Yeah
I just finished up a project.
What kind of project? You already have something for school?
No this is more of apersonal thing.
Oooh a mystery!
Something like that haha
Do you want to come outside with me? I’d enjoy the company
Be out in 2
I grab a sweatshirt from my closet and tug it over my head before heading to the back door and stepping out into the cool air. With it being late summer, it never really gets cold here, but it does get into the mid-sixties at night, which is cool enough to cover me in goosebumps without the warmth of the beating sun.
I see a shadow moving on the Martins’ lawn. Then I hear Andrew’s voice whisper, “Come here.”
He pats the spot next to him and then leans back down on what appears to be a small blanket sprawled across the grass. I join him silently. When I lie back and gaze up, I’m surprised to see so many stars floating up in the sky. It looks like he turned the back patio lights at the Martin residence off, but I wonder what it would look like without the lights from our cabin or the little specks of light still glimmering from other homes around the lake.
We lie in silence for a while as I get lost in the stars. They’re gorgeous, and they remind me of my grandpa. Part of me wonders if he’s up there now. He used to say he wanted to be a star in the afterlife so he could help bring light to the dark and keep a watchful eye on me. I wonder if he’s proud of me, if I’ve done everything he hoped I would by this time in my life.
