“Have you seen Brady? Is he okay?”
I shake my head, telling him no. “His mom said he’s okay. I just got here.”
“You came to my room first?”
I nod quickly, nerves shooting across my stomach. What’s there to be nervous about? He’s never been afraid to let me know his feelings. Why do I suddenly feel so shy?
“Was my room on your right or your left?”
I give him a perplexed look. “Why?”
“It’s been proven that right-handed people are more likely to make a right turn when given both opportunities. So was I on your right or left?”
My tongue darts out to wet my lips that have gone dry. “Left.”
Triumph lights up his eyes. “So your sub-conscious knows something you don’t.”
I shake my head.Here we go.“My conscious is aware.”
Finn blinks. “Aware that…?” The unsaid end of his sentence hangs in the air.
I take a deep breath and reach across the bed, winding my fingers through the fingers on Finn’s good hand.
“Aware that it’s you I’m in love with.” I can hardly believe these words are mine. My voice shakes as I speak. “I love Brady, I really do, but it’s you whose room I ran to first, without pausing. Before, I couldn’t choose because I wasn’t forced to. We had been in our situation for so long, it was easier for me to stay there and avoid hurting either one of you. But when I got here, my whole body went into auto-pilot, and the panic overtook all the reason. I didn’t think. I acted. And I came in here.”
Finn’s hand squeezes mine. He grins rakishly. “I always knew you would choose me.”
I laugh, but I hear the sound as if I’m standing outside my body. I still can’t believe what’s happening. My eyes narrow playfully. “For someone so certain, you fought pretty damn hard.”
“Quit talking and kiss me.”
“Is it allowed?” I glance at the door, thinking maybe a nurse will come in and yell at me for being in here. “Your face is bruised. Are you hurt besides your arm?”
“Woman, if you don’t get your lips on mine in the next three seconds, I’m going to get out of this hospital bed and alarms will start going off at the nurse’s station and then it will feel like a party in here.”
I grin and lean closer until my hips are flush with the bed rail. I’m afraid to touch him, afraid I might hurt him, so Finn takes the lead. He lets go of my hand and cups my cheek. I bend down, and he brushes the tip of his nose against mine.
“I lied,” he murmurs. “I was so damn scared you wouldn’t choose me. And a life without you, Lennon? I couldn’t see it. In my mind are pictures of what my life is supposed to look like, and you’re in every one of them.”
“Kiss me,” I whisper. A few minutes ago, I thought my heart would burst, but now it’s swollen with all the love rushing through it. And I want more love, more kisses, more everything from Finn.
Finn kisses me sweetly, delicately, as if I’m made of porcelain. Nothing like our kiss in the lake last night. It’s another side to him, and it makes me look forward to learning what other sides have been hidden all this time.
Our kiss deepens, his tongue invades my mouth, and the beeping on his heart rate monitor increases in tempo. I smile against his lips and he chuckles. With another chaste kiss, he pulls back and looks with annoyance at the machine.
“Can we turn that off?” he asks.
“No way,” I say in my most stern voice.
I can tell he’s contemplating ignoring me. Finally, he decides to listen and nods at the little table in the corner. “Those are things that were in my pocket during the accident. Would you mind going to grab me something?”
“Sure.” I walk to the small pile on the table and look down. “What is it I’m loo—” My hand reaches out, snatching up a small fake ruby and holding it up between us.
“Is this what I think it is?”
He nods. “I took it from your room that final summer. It’s been my good luck charm ever since. It goes everywhere with me, and it was in my pocket today on the drive. I like to think it saved us from what should have been a much worse accident.” Finn squeezes his eyes, and I realize I know nothing about today’s car accident. He opens them and looks at me. “I want you to have it again. Keep it with you and remember that it’s a promise my heart made to yours when we were seven.”
My fingers curl around the cheap plastic. “I love it just as much today as I did the day you gave it to me.”
