“I meant it, Sera. I like you. I don’t want to just be friends. I don’t want to pretend anymore.”
I take a deep breath. “I like you too, Luke, but—”
“No, nobuts.” He moves his stool closer to mine, the metal legs screeching against the concrete flooring. I put my hand on his chest, to keep him back a little, so I can say what I need to say.
“My heart is failing. I have a long road ahead of me. Likely more drug trials, possibly another surgery, and I’ll just get worse while I wait to climb the list.” I sigh. “It sucks. I could barely get out of bed last year, and I was miserable to be around. I was lucky already. I don’t know that I’ll get lucky again, and you deserve to be having fun, to be with someone who’s going to be able todothings with you.”
“I don’t care. I’m tired ofnotbeing with you, so can we just…can we just try? Can you give us a chance?”
He looks at me with that stubborn expression that tells me I’m going to lose this fight. And that feels like winning. I feel my bottom lip shake and my breath catch.
“I can’t promise you anything.”
“You don’t have to. I want to be with you for as long as we have.”
“Are you sure? Because—” But before I can say anything else, Luke stands up and pulls me to him. I wrap my arms around him, pressing my face to his chest, breathing him in. Salt and soap and just…Luke.
“Of course I’m sure,” he whispers into my hair.
My heart soars. “Me too.” I’ve never been more sure of anything. I pull back and look him in the eyes to make sure he can see how much I forgive him—forgive us. “No more secrets between us.”
His eyes go watery, and he nods. I lean into him.
“I’m scared,” I say. It just comes out. Honest and quiet. “I’m scared one of us is going to get hurt. And…I’m terrified of what’s going to happen with my heart.”
Luke takes my shoulders and holds me away from him, looking into my eyes. “Me too,” he says. “But how I feel about you is worth it.We’reworth it.” His eyes drop to my mouth and back up again. There are a thousand ways I can stop this. And one very big reason I should. But I can’t push myself out of his orbit anymore. I stand up and capture his top lip with my mouth before I can change my mind. He sucks in a breath as he cups my face in his hands, kissing me back slow and soft. My fingers tangle in his hair as his lips press into mine, steady and sure. He slips his tongue into my mouth, gentle and warm. I feel light as air. I try to memorize the shape of his mouth. His hands travel down to my waist, then up the back of my shirt, and I shiver as he pulls me closer. The contact burns throughme, and I feel my toes curl. He tastes like salt and sun and summer. He gives me another small kiss before we take a breath, his forehead hot against mine, like we’re sharing a sunburn.
A breeze blows through and startles a wind chime hanging in the corner of the studio, but we don’t jump. Something about this isn’t startling at all. Nothing has ever felt so perfect and so right.
Luke nuzzles into my neck, then leaves a quick trail of kisses back to my flushed cheeks. “We’re good at that,” he says, and I grin in agreement and kiss him again.
I forget everything that’s happened in the last two years and just live in this moment, where there’s no place we aren’t connected. Luke pauses and pulls away, looking around. I’m about to complain when he lifts me up and spins me quickly around. I laugh as he puts me down gently on the edge of one of the big drafting tables behind us. He frames me with his arms.
“Sera Watkins,” he says, grabbing my hips and holding me to him, “will you go out with me?”
I answer him with another kiss.
“Good,” he says against my mouth. “Then this is going to be the best summer of your life. Okay?”
I smile. “Okay.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Sera
For the first week of this very new situation, we take it slow, or, well, as slow as we can. Luke drives me to work on Wednesday, and we sneak out to the Beach at the End of the Universe that evening. It’s sweltering, so we go in the ocean. I stand in the shallows up to my waist, careful to keep my monitor dry, as Luke swims short laps out and back, never straying too far from my side. Things are still tender, but other than that, it’s like old times. Except now, when I get the desire to brush his hair out of his eyes, drop a kiss on the corner of his mouth, or lay my hand on his chest—I can. The sun is just beginning to sink toward the canal when I catch him staring, his eyes shining.
“What?” I wade a little deeper and tip my head back carefully so just my hair gets wet. Luke swims in closer.
“I’d like to take you out this weekend.”
“We’re out now.”
“On a real date, Sera. The way you’re supposed to.”
“I don’t think we’resupposedto do anything,” I tease, though I like the idea. “But sounds fun.”
“Great. I’ll make a plan, you just show up.”
