“Okay then! Pancakes!” he announces as he begins pulling out the box of pancake mix, followed by milk and eggs from the fridge.
I rustle around for the pan and bowl, knowing by now where the Martins keep most of the items in their kitchen.
Andrew turns on some music and dances me around the kitchen a little as the pancakes sit on the stove cooking. He pauses briefly to flip them and then always returns to me, pressing his lips to mine, placing his hand on my lower back, or caressing my cheek.
Things are so great right now. I don’t want to mess with another happy memory by talking to him about being apart. I know I need to make an effort to talk with him about things. I’ve learned from the past that sometimes other things can get in the way, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m scared or that I don’t know how to broach the subject. Nope, I’m going to do it. I need to tell him how I feel. Andrew will make everything better.
Andrew serves us each a plate of pancakes and pauses the music, so we can actually talk during our meal.How did he learn to always be so thoughtful like that?
Taking the silence as my moment, I begin, “Andrew?—"
“My parents?—”
“Oh sorry. What’s up?” I nod my head in his direction.
“My mom and dad want to have a family dinner when they get back tonight, so I won’t be able to spend the evening with you, but don’t make plans for tomorrow night.”
“Yeah? What’d you have in mind?” I can’t help the excitement growing inside me.
“I’ve been trying to think of things I’ve always wished I had the guts to do, and I got an idea. Would you be okay if Brendan tags along for this one? He was kind of the inspiration for this.”
“Of course!” I insist.
“He’s promised to be on his best behavior.”
“I didn’t have a choice then, did I? You already talked with him about this.”
He laughs uneasily. “Well, I had to get the low down before I dragged you into the plan.”
“What’s your plan?”
“It’s something that will challenge us both, but we will be proud of ourselves for doing it.”
“Will you tell me?” I prod, between bites of fluffy pancake.
“Would you still do it if I did?”
“Touché. Can we please not do anything that will make me fear for my life?”
He bursts into laughter. “Em, I promise I won’t do anything that will put you in danger. I’d be lost without you.” He bends down to press a kiss to my hairline, my hairline which is currently matted down with dried sweat from our run.
I try to hold up my hands to stop him. “Sweat! Be careful!” I urgently warn him, but he kisses me anyway.
He pulls back and shrugs. “I don’t mind a little sweat. I’m sweaty too.” As if to prove a point, he leans in and kisses my sweaty head again.
His insistence on kissing me, even when I’m a gross, stinky mess of a human being warms my heart. We’re going to be completely fine when the time comes to say goodbye. Nothing can touch us!
CHAPTER 30
Summer 19
“Tell me how your night went,” Dani says with a smirk before raising her camera to her eye.
I watch her carefully set up her subject, a shaded tree stump across the street from our house, and wait for the shutter of the camera before I respond. I know better than to interrupt her process. Dani is an amazing photographer, but she’s very particular about how she takes each photo. I have no clue what she sees in a tree stump, but I know when I see the final photo, with all of the right edits and angles, I’m going to feel some sort of connection to that inanimate object.
Her camera flickers, and I respond. “There’s not much to tell. He made me breakfast after our run this morning, blueberry pancakes. Normally he makes me scrambled eggs.”
She pulls her camera down and glowers at me. “You’re so full of shit, Emma! Tell me what happened. I know you didn’t go over there and go straight to sleep.”
