Despite my words, I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her close to my chest. “Good thing I’ll risk death for a chance to dance in the rain with you.”
So, we danced. Barefoot, spinning slowly in the shallows of the lake like we were the only two people left on earth. The rain was cold, but she was warm. For that fleeting moment, I believed she was my forever.
Because she had to be.
There was never going to be anyone else.
I wouldn’t allow it.
When I close my eyes, I can still see her that night. Her eyes shined with raindrops clinging to her thick eyelashes. She blinked them away by lowering her lashes for a few seconds, and then she kissed me.
It was the kind of kiss that you can feel in your toes. My knees weakened, as every breath was stolen from me. All that remained in my body was the pure adrenaline coursing through my veins. With the rain slanting sideways on our faces, and lightning crashing over the lake, our pounding hearts sealed themselves to each other.
I blink out of my memory, but before it fades, I use it as ammunition and fire off, “Do you remember the last time that lady yelled at us. She was worried we’d get struck by lightning, and told us to go inside, but we couldn’t stop dancing.”
Koren’s expression shifts into something soft, something real. I’d struck something deep.
“I don’t understand what happened.” Her words fade, as her head slowly shakes back and forth.
I take a few steps toward her. She doesn’t back away. At the bottom of the porch steps, I stop. Maybe I’m a sucker for punishment. Seeing her out here under the moonlight brings back so many memories, bleeding into the present. She hasn’tscreamed for me to get out of her yard, which tells me how she’s feeling.
I know her.
“If you’d wanted me,” she says, voice firm, “you would have fought for me.”
There’s that statement again. She knows why. She is the one who left.
Rolling my lips in, I hold back a scream that wants to list every time I dialed her number and never heard her voice. Each missed call left a stain on my heart I’ve yet to erase. I’ve always fought for her. How dare she even say otherwise? She’s the one who got what she wanted.
Another memory slams into me, and I relive it.
We were on the dock, watching the sun go down until it was just us and the stars, not much different than tonight. She swung her legs over the edge, teasing her toes with the waves. I sat beside her, my hand resting on her leg, half amazed she let me do that.
“I’m rethinking my internship,” she said, head down, facing the water.
It came out of nowhere, and I was instantly confused. “That’s all you’ve talked about for weeks.”
Her eyes stayed on the dark water. “It’s different now. I actually have a real shot at going. Before, it was just a dream. What if I get in, and I have to leave you?”
“You don’t have to be afraid of leaving me. I’m not going anywhere.”
She looked up, searching my face. “Why don’t you ask me to stay?”
My throat tightened. “I thought about it, but it’s your dream.”
“Is that all?” she whispered, turning away again.
I cupped her cheek, turning her face back to me. “I’m not going to be the guy who asks you to give up on your dreams,” Isaid, voice hoarse. I wasn’t quite sure where she was going with this, but I knew she’d been anxious about something all night. “I want to be the guy who stands with you, cheering you on as you chase those dreams.”
“What if you’re one of my dreams?”
That was all it took.
My lips crashed into hers, and I kissed her like she was already my wife. When we pulled apart, I held on to her. “I love you,” I said. But in that moment, I knew it was more than love. Our souls were fused. I’d spend forever loving her.
Her voice now snaps me from the memory. “Why do you keep doing that?” I focus on her. Her eyes are narrow, and she’s got one hand on her hip.
“Doing what?”
