I pecked his lips. “Well, I don’t want to stop looking at you.”
“Then don’t.”
I let my gaze wander over his strong jaw and the long column of his throat. From one side of his shoulders to the other.
To his tattoo.
The words along his collarbone I hadn’t seen clearly until now.
Steam curled between us as I leaned in, brushing my fingers over the dark script. His skin was warm from the spring, and the ink stood out in sharp relief.
I traced the letters slowly, my breath catching as they came into focus.
To the river and back
My heart stumbled.
For a second, I thought I’d misread it—the steam and fading light playing tricks on me. Then I leaned closer, squinting, and there it was. Every letter exactly the same.
“To the river and back,” I whispered.
When he kept quiet, I pulled back enough to look at him. “Cormac. We have the same tattoo.”
He nodded. “We do. Kinda crazy, huh?”
I couldn’t stop tracing the letters, each one matching mine. “When did you get this?”
“A few years ago.” He cleared his throat. “It was my first.”
He glanced away, like he was embarrassed, but I refused to be deterred.
That morning, in the kitchen with his grandparents, I’d asked him about his tattoo. He’d been vague, but I’d remembered his explanation. “You said it was a reminder. What is it a reminder of?”
He lifted his hands out of the water to cup the sides of my neck. His thumb stretched, pressing beneath the corner of my jaw before coming to rest on my fluttering pulse.
“Tell me,” I whispered.
“The good times. Thebesttimes. No matter what happened, I lived it. I felt what I felt and carry it with me.” His eyelids lowered, his gaze going hazy and distant. “What we had might’ve ended, but I didn’t want to forget it, so I put those words where I’d always see them.”
“Mac.” My forehead fell against his. My chest ached so deeply, I thought it might be close to cracking. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry I didn’t take better care of us.”
“We both made mistakes. We were kids, Zara.”
“We’re not so old now.”
“You’re right. We’re still young, but we’ve learned a lot.” His thumb stroked my throat, gentle and steady. “The good thing is, we still have time to set it right.”
Blinking, I lifted my head to stare at him. “Set it right,” I whispered. “That’s what my dad said before I came here. I thought that’s what I was doing in Sugar Brush. And it was partof it, for sure. But it’s also you. I needed to fix things with you. To set it right.”
His jaw rippled as he looked back at me. “I think we’re on our way, don’t you?”
“Yeah, Maccie. We really are.”
He was holding back. I felt it. But for now, this was enough. Knowing he hadn’t crossed me off his heart when things had gone wrong. Affirming I was in there the same way he was in mine.
For once, we had time.
And I intended to make the most of it.
