“You trust me with your quiet place.”
“I do.”
“Why?”
He thinks for a moment.
Then shrugs slightly.
“Because I don’t want to be here without you.”
My breath catches.
The lake grows darker as the stars begin appearing overhead.
For a moment—
Everything feels perfectly still.
Then Boone gently reaches for my hand.
The warmth of his fingers sends that same electric pulse through my chest again.
“You know,” he says quietly.
“You’re doing pretty well at normal life.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
“What’s next?”
“Well…”
He leans slightly closer.
“…there’s another part of normal life we haven’t tested since we got here.”
I tilt my head.
“What part is that?”
“This.”
And he kisses me again.
Slow.
Warm.
Unhurried.
The kind of kiss that feels like it belongs exactly here—
On the quiet dock.
Under a sky full of stars.
