“I want to live with you because I hate saying goodbye or being interrupted,” I tell him honestly. “I want to be alone with you. Really alone. We’ve, uh, never had that.”
We don’t even have it now. Any minute, Cash is going to return from the restroom.
“We had that last summer,” Wilder returns.
“Barely,” I say, laughing softly.
I don’t find it even remotely funny, but if he rejects the idea, it’ll sting.
“You don’t think it’s too fast?” Wilder asks me.
My heart dips. Too fast? It’s been a year.
Maybe it is too fast.
Maybe I’m trying to push something that’s not ready.
I spent years waiting for Cash to make a decision about our future—about me.
I don’t want to waste any more time.
“I know I love you,” I say. “You can tell me we have all the time in the world to live together or to go to New York, but I’ve been there. I’ve waited and told myself I was just biding my time.” I pause and swallow hard. “But I have a lot of regrets about the time I spent waiting. I don’t want that with you.”
He nods. “You’re right.”
“I am?” I say, my voice cracking at the end.
Wilder smiles, then kisses me.
But it’s interrupted.
By Cash.
And his unwelcome presence.
“I think we should stop at a historical marker,” he announces as he slides into the booth across from us. “We could add it to the bucket list.”
“No,” Wilder and I say at the same time.
“Once the bucket list is set,” I begin.
“You can’t change it,” Wilder finishes.
Cash holds up his hands in defense. “Fine. Don’t add it to the bucket list. But I want to see it.”
“See what exactly?” I ask him.
He holds up his phone and Wilder groans.
“A tower?” Wilder lets out a long sigh.
“It could be fun,” Cash offers as I look at the name of the historical marker. Desert View Tower.
“Yeah,” I try to sound chippy. “Looks cool. We can stop there.”
“I’ll pay and we can head out,” Cash says as he hops out of the booth and heads to the front of the diner with his card in hand.
“I want to be alone with you,” Wilder grumbles as his fingers find my bare thigh and he squeezes lightly.
