“Hey!” He almost tumbled as he wrenched open the door and jumped inside my car. My hands flew out to steady him, pulling him up to my chest.
Cupping his face in my hands and sliding my fingers under his beanie to bury them in his beautiful curls, I took his mouth in a deep, slow kiss.
Noah exhaled softly when I backed away, cheeks flushed and eyes blinking open.
“Hey,” he repeated, sounding dazed.
“Hey.” I swallowed. “Ready?”
“Uh-huh.” He huffed, biting his lip to stifle his grin.
I love you.
“Good. Buckle up, Puppy.” With one small peck on the tip of his nose, I let go of him, waited until he’d strapped himself in, and then steered the car back on the road leading north.
“I’m really excited to go away with you.” His hand dropped to my thigh, squeezing me once.
“Me, too.” For a split second I looked over at him, resting my hand on top of his.
“Where are we going?”
“Well, we have one more thing on our bucket list, don’t we?”
“The seaside?So just let me be beside the seaside! I'll be beside myself with glee,” he sang, jumping up and down a little in his seat.
“The seaside,” I affirmed and couldn’t help but grin at his outburst. I loved his singing voice and enthusiasm.
It’s infectious.
“You’re the best, Lew. That’s such a wonderful idea.” He leaned across the middle console to rest his cheek on my bicep.
We drove in silence until we reached our destination.
It was a beautiful little cottage, nestled between dunes with nothing between us and the sea but sand and coarse dune grass.
“Wow, that’s gorgeous. Can we go for a walk right now?”
“Anything you want, Puppy.” I parked the car and pressed a kiss on his brow.
Once we’d bundled up in two of my hoodies and our matching APEX winter coats, we took hold of each other’s hand and marched off in the direction of the shore.
Again, we were silent.
Silence with Noah was never uncomfortable, but today it felt loaded with unspoken words and things we had to look at before the weekend was over.
The shells buried in the wet sand crunched slightly under our soles, the salty wind tugging at our clothes, drawing us closer together. Noah huddled under my arm, seeking my warmth, and my heart threatened to burst with a weirdly painful mix of love and sadness.
We found a dry spot in the shelter of two high dunes and sat down to look out over the vast water. The beach was deserted, and it felt as if Noah and I were the only two people left on the planet.
It would be enough. As long as I had him, I’d be fine.
“Watching the sun set over the sea makes my heart sing. You know, I forgot how beautiful it is here.”
“I think that’s normal. Sometimes you can’t appreciate the beauty of the things you see most often,” I muttered, picking up a shell and turning it over in my hands. “Not until you no longer have them around.”
“Yeah.” The tone in his voice made me look up. A smile that neither reached nor erased the sadness in his eyes pulled at the corners of his lips.
Then he inched closer, bringing our hips together, slung his arm around my thigh, and rested his chin on my propped up knee. “Thanks for bringing me here, Lew.”
