He chuckles, and I don’t know when that became my favorite sound in the world. All I know is that I want to hear it all the time, to be the cause of it. “Missed you too,” he says.
“I wanna go ice skating with you again,” I say.
“That was fun. My ass is still sore where I took that fall, though.”
“Mine too.”
When he laughs, I can’t help joining in.
I need to know what happened that day.
My humor fades, my smile falling from my face. “Lyall?”
“Aye, love?”
I swallow hard, hoping I won’t regret this. “Can you show me what happened that day?”
There’s an audible hitch in his breathing, and for a long moment, he’s quiet.
“Never mind, you don’t have to. I just—” How do I ask why he didn’t go with me?
“You deserve to know,” Lyall says, voice heavy and reluctant.
“If it’s going to hurt you, I don’t want to.”
“Time has stolen much of the pain. What hurts the most is being the only one who knows the truth of that day and not being able to tell my brothers.”
His confession makes my chest hurt. “Then show me the truth, Lyall. Tomorrow.”
“I will,” he vows. “But, Soren…”
I wet my lips, heart skipping. “Yeah?”
“No matter what you see… just remember that I’ll always come back for you.”
I believe him. I do.
I want to swan dive into love with this man and trust he’ll catch me. I’m sick of being scared. No matter what happens tomorrow, I’m not letting him go. A part of me knows he’s it. The one I’ve been waiting for.
All I need to do is let down my walls, and let Lyall in.
Lyall’s worried.
I can see it in the stiff set of his shoulders and the furrow in his brow that doesn’t disappear even when he smiles at me. It’s a ghost of his usual sunny smile, barely touching his eyes.
“Hey,” I say, reaching out to him.
He opens his arms and pulls me in, holding me to his chest for several long seconds. I run my hands up and down his strong back. His shoulders loosen when he sighs into the crook of my neck.
“We don’t have to do this,” I tell him. “You could stay. There’s no reason for you to have to witness it again.”
Lyall shakes his head. He pulls back and squeezes my shoulders, giving me a smile that softens the worry wrinkling his forehead. “I’ll be there, love. Just… can we do something fun first?”
I’m more than up for that. “Sure.” There’s a vendor selling ice cream nearby. “Ever had ice cream before?” I ask, taking his hand and leading him to the cart.
He gives me a bewildered look. “Ice and cream? How does that work?”
“It’s frozen cream and sugar, basically.”
