“You did?”
“I did. And if you want to, or if you have time, I want you to help me with it.” She pulled a paper out of her back pocket and held it in front of us. “Wanna read it?”
I nodded my head, not trusting my voice anymore. Something heavy was sitting on top of my chest, something else was scraping all over my throat, and holding it down was getting harder and harder.
She placed the paper in my hand. “Read it.” I opened it up, unfolding the piece like it was the most precious thing on the earth, and wiped away the tears still coating my cheeks.
Sophie’s Bucket List
Go skinny dipping
Dance in the rain
See Northern Lights
Visit Grand Canyon
Ride on a motorcycle
Have sex in public
Have breakfast in bed
Get a tattoo
Attend a music festival
See Colosseum
“This is—”
“Is it too much? Do you think we can do it?”
I stood there, staring at the fucking paper. A paper… that’s what we resorted to. A paper with her final wishes.
A paper that I wanted to crumble and throw into the pond, because my brain wasn’t anywhere near rational thoughts.
“Noah?”
I cleared my throat. “We can do this, darling. We will do everything you wanna do.”
“Really?” Her face lit up with the question and I couldn’t stop myself from claiming her lips again.
I closed the distance between us and placed a hand beneath her chin, lifting her head up. “Really.”
My body burned from the need to take her away and hide her from this ugliness, but I could do none of those things. I couldn’t rob her of her time with her parents and her other friends.
So I put my hand on the back of her head and pressed my lips against hers, tasting the saltiness from our tears, from our pain, from the anguish tearing our world apart. But I made a promise, and this was one promise I intended to keep.
Years ago, I vowed that one day, this beautiful girl with the prettiest smile and the brightest eyes would be mine. Now I vowed that if these were the things she wanted to do, we would do them all.
I would do anything to put back the smile on her face.
19
SOPHIE
I woke up with a start,my heart beating erratically in my chest, until I remembered where I was.
