Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Henry
P hoebe hadn’t taken her eyes off me until I began to wheel my case over to the coach, and then she’d looked away, her chin dipping to her chest as she ran a hand through her hair.
If she thought I’d leave without a real goodbye for everyone to see, she underestimated just how much she meant to me.
I had nothing left to hide now.
Andy hadn’t spoken to me properly for days apart from the odd grunt here and there, and Jace hadn’t hid the awkwardness he felt from being in the middle of everything, but Jace being Jace, he’d handled it the same way he handled everything: with badly timed jokes and a humour not everyone understood.
Now, though, we had a long flight to endure, where we couldn’t ignore each other, and I’d deal with all that once I’d said this shitty goodbye to the woman who’d made my time in Mykonos not just bearable, but the best two weeks of my formerly miserable life.
After throwing my case into the coach’s storage compartment, I came face to face with Andy. He glowered up at me, but I had no time for his shit. Anger rose within me that my supposed best friend couldn’t just be happy that, for the first time in years, I’d found some happiness of my own.
“Look at me like that all you want,” I told him. “When we get home, you and I have some talking to do. Until then, until we land… don’t you dare say a damn word about what I’m about to do next. You got it?”
He glared at me some more with no response, but I didn’t miss the slight swallow he fought to hide before I brushed past him to go find the one person who deserved my time and energy.
Phoebe tried desperately not to look as forlorn as she clearly felt, wearing her loose-fitting trousers and her pretty little camisole, the tan to her skin making her impossibly more beautiful than she’d been the first day I’d laid eyes on her.
Without thought for anyone else, I marched over to her with purpose, my hands finding their way into her loose, thick hair before I fisted the back of it and pulled her into me for a kiss so deep, I feared I’d drown in her.
I kissed her with every ounce of gratitude I had for the memories and every goodbye I never could say. With every part of me that wanted to tell her how I really felt.
She held onto my wrists, stretched up on her toes, and we lost ourselves in each other for the very last time.
But like every trip I’d ever been on…
Every book she’d ever read…
Everything good came to an end eventually.
When I reluctantly pulled back and let my forehead rest against hers, my hands cupping her neck, I whispered, “Another day of you, and I wouldn’t have been able to walk away. I can barely do it now.”
“Henry, I…” She trailed off. “I don’t know what I need to say, only that there’s so much of it, I can’t get any of it in order.”
“Shh. It’s okay. You don’t have to say any of it. I already know.”
I did. This thing between us hadn’t been planned or expected, but it had been perfect all the same, and I wanted more of it—more of her.
Goddamn it, I wanted all of her. But she had shit going on back home, and she’d made so many rules I’d already broken for her.
I didn’t want to force her to break more she wasn’t ready to break.
“Just tell me one thing,” I said.
“Anything.”
“Have I been better than Reed Easton?”
Her laughter broke free, and her eyes coated with tears she couldn’t quite hold back as one spilled over, rolling down onto her high cheekbone before falling down over her lip. “Yes.” She nodded enthusiastically, torn between sadness and elation as she stared up at me. “You win.”
“Good. You know how I feel about sharing.”
“I know.” Her smile fell, even though she tried to keep it alive, and her brows knitted together as another tear fell.
I hated to see her that way—hated knowing I’d brought even a second of doubt or sadness into her life with this goodbye.
“If I ask one last thing of you, will you do it for me?”
Phoebe nodded, swallowing down her emotion. “Yes.”
“Close your eyes for this, and don’t open them until you hear the coach pull away.”
She opened her mouth to say something before clearly thinking better of it and pressing her mouth into a flat line.
Another tear fell, and I brushed it away carefully.
Without argument, she carefully closed her eyes and released a long, weighted exhale, leaving me to whisper only one last thing in her ear.
“I’ll remember, Phoebe.”
Then I placed a soft kiss to her tear-soaked lips, and somehow, some way, I forced myself to let my hands fall from her skin before I turned to walk away…
Not knowing if she ever did look up to see me drag myself away, or if she kept those pretty blues of hers hidden, unable to watch our summer story come to an end.