“No,” he agrees, sucking in a harsh breath. “Can you come up hereso I can kiss you?”
The moment I push upright, Oakley’s mouth is on mine. It’s hard, and it’s tender, and it’s all the things I know us to be. There’s a lot that can be said with a kiss.
I love youmight just be my favorite yet.
Chapter 32
Oakley
Wendy waits as I take a seat at the kitchen table, her hands clasped primly behind herself, a stern expression on her face.
“All right,” I say. “I’m seated. Now, are you gonna tell me what this meeting is about?”
“In time,” she says simply.
I raise an eyebrow, battling a smile at this seventeen-year-old who texted me earlier to schedule a time to meet and who’s now standing in front of me very much like how I imagine her father stands in front of his classes each day.
Good grief.
Lawson was right, wasn’t he? She’s here to threaten me.
“My dad is a good guy,” Wendy says.
There goes my other eyebrow. “You realize I’ve known him longer than you, right?”
“You gonna listen, or are you gonna give me attitude?”
“Jesus, there’s two of them,” I puff out. “I’m listening.”
“Good,” Wendy says, placing her palms flat on the table, her hazel-brown eyes searing into me. “My dad is the best person I know. If anyone deserves the world, it’s him. Which means if you ever leave this town again without him by your side, there won’t be a rock you can hide under where I won’t find you.”
I stare at her, flabbergasted. “Good Lord, Wendy Darling. Who the heck taught you to speak that way?”
“Prob’ly you,” she shoots back. “Seeing as I’ve known you just as long as my dad. You realizethat, right?”
I huff, crossing my arms as a smile stretches across my face. “If you’re trying to scare me, it won’t work.”
Wendy steps back from the table with a huff of her own. “I’m not trying toscareyou, Oak. I’m trying to tell you I love my dad. And I love you. And I don’t think either of us would survive if you took off again. If this isn’t…if it’s not…”
I’m up and out of my seat in an instant. Wendy doesn’t try to stop me from pulling her into a hug, but she’s stiff in my arms.
“Wen… Do you know why I left Darling?”
She sniffs. “For Stevie.”
“Not just that,” I tell her, my voice hoarse. “I left because I was trying to make a life for myself that didn’t revolve around your dad.”
She pulls back some, looking up at me.
“He’s been the center of my world for as long as I can remember. My first memories include him. Most of them after that, too. Your dad… He’s the goddamn gravitational center of my whole freaking existence, and I thought I had to escape that, at least a little. Because how foolish would I have been to devote my life to my best friend?”
Wendy’s eyes are glassy, and I run my knuckle along the top of her cheek to catch an errant drop.
“I love your dad and everything he’s ever created, including you. I never thought having him love me back was an option. Not when we were young and single still. Not while he was married to your mom. Not after that. Not until…suddenly it was. There’s not a single thing that could pull me away now, you hear?”
“You promise?”
In answer, I hold out my pinkie. After a long second, Wendy curls hers with mine. “I promise, Wen. I’m not leaving either of you. Not ever again.”
