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His other hand moved from her face and around her shoulder as he tucked her close, his palm grasping the back of her head. The feel of his hands on her made her burn with a desire so fierce, she immediately wanted more of him. She raked the hair at his neck and deepened the kiss, slipping her tongue inside his mouth. He groaned at her advance, his fingertips bruising into her skin as their kiss seamlessly moved to the next level. A kiss that was needy and consuming.

Shelly wasn’t sure how long she’d been kissing him, but at some point, their lips slowed and his grip on her loosened. He pulled away so he could nibble on her bottom lip, then pressed his forehead to hers. She blinked her eyes open, but his dark lashes remained closed, his breathing steady.

She wanted to say something, but she wasn’t sure where to start. What did one even say after an irrevocably life-changing kiss?

“Tell me,” he finally whispered. He blinked his eyes open and leaned his head back. The hand he had on her neck was now playing with her hair.

“Tell you what?” she whispered in a daze.

“Can Kevin Costa kiss like that?”

“Oh my god,” she replied, moving back so she could slap his arm. “You are still such a brat.”

Jake laughed out loud, and Shelly couldn’t help but beam at him. The last time she saw Jake, when he lost the woman who centered his world, he was a shell of the boy she once knew. Seeing him like this, hearing him laugh, reminded Shelly of all of those memories of laughing along with him. In the back of Hernandez’s truck. On the band bus. During lunch at camp. After practice in the band room. Potluck dinners and bonfires with their group late at night. She had so many memories with this man, and the kiss somehow made them all more precious.

Jake tugged on her jacket, pulling her back to him, and wrapped his arms around her. Holding her firm.

“This is crazy,” she admitted. “Right? This is absolutely insane? You and me, together? After all this time?”

“No.”

She felt her heart plummet, wondering if maybe she had it all wrong. For her, that kiss was earth-shattering. But what if Jake changed his mind? What if it didn’t mean the same to him?

Jake scanned her face, and she wished she were better at hiding her emotions. Or maybe Jake was simply a master at reading her after all of these years.

“My Shelly,” he murmured, a smile gracing his lips. “This isn’t insane. For me, this is the most right thing in the world.” He dipped down, his lips grazing against hers as he spoke. “For me, it’s always been you.”

jake

Finding Shelly’s address in the pocket of his trousers was a stroke of luck. When he finally got around to picking up the things in his old room, he’d tossed those pants in a basket destined for the washing machine, and the small slip of paper tumbled out and onto his carpeted bedroom floor. He still hadn’t let himself imagine the alternative. Would it have made it through the wash? Would the water have blurred the ink, making it illegible to read? Without Shelly’s new address, would he have even remembered what that slip of paper was for? Or would he have thrown the soggy wet note in the garbage, losing his chance with her completely?

Jake couldn’t think about that possibility, because if he hadn’t been graced with that small stroke of luck, he wouldn’t be here. Sitting at Salt & Shell back in the only town that ever truly felt like home, watching Shelly down a dozen oysters in the dead of winter with a dorky smile on his face.

Before losing his mother, Jake didn’t think too hard about life after death. He liked to believe that she was in a better place and that she watched over him from time to time. She would certainly be disappointed in how he’d handled the past six years. And yet, Jake felt deep in his gut that what unfolded was some kind of divine intervention straight from her. A small present from Mom, reminding him that there was so much to look forward to.

Shelly placed her last oyster shell in the shaved ice with a satisfied smack of her lips. She took a sip of her white wine and eyed him. “Want to tell me how you got the balloons into my classroom?”

Jake grinned. “It’s a secret.”

“I literally heard you tell Hernandez that you had Rachel help you with the delivery.”

“Damn,” he mumbled. “Well, I called this stationary store in your town that also does balloons.”

She rolled her eyes. “Rachel owns the shop.”

Jake grinned. “A lucky coincidence.”

“You are full of luck, Jake Talbot.”

“You have no idea,” he grumbled. “After I spoke with Rachel, she was able to get me in contact with the janitorial staff at your school. They let her into the classroom and…”

“The letter?”

“I drove it to her yesterday morning.”

Her mouth fell open. “So you drove two hours to meet Rachel and she didn’t tell me?”

“She said it was the only way she would do this. She wanted to meet me in person and approve.”