Chapter 35
“I’m sorry I wasted most of our day crashed out on your couch.” I still don’t feel one hundred percent. Whatever bug I caught, I’m not going to complain. I’d rather be tired and achy than running a high fever and puking my guts up every hour.
Elizabeth angles her head, and I get a great view of her gorgeous sage-green eyes. “You needed the rest. Just think—we get to sleep in all next week.”
She gives me a suggestive grin and I catch it by pressing my lips to hers. Kissing Elizabeth is my favorite hobby. I love how dreamy her eyes get whenever I kiss her
“I’m most definitely looking forward to that,” I agree.
I hope Mom and Dad won’t pitch too much of a fit and will be okay with me staying over at Elizabeth’s as much as Daniel will allow me. I’m sort of on probation with Mom for flying to Spain. Since Dad knew about it, Mom is punishing him by making him do all the laundry for the next month.
Fallon’s dad was able to (mostly) smooth things over with Mom, and I added in an extra touch of emotional manipulation by telling her about Elizabeth getting her memories back.
Elizabeth is like a daughter to her. My parents adore her and know how badly I want to be here for her, especially after seeing me so depressed the past couple of weeks when Elizabeth was gone.
We’re sitting on the hood of my car; Elizabeth’s back is to my front.
Her arms are bent, and her hands are curled around my forearms where they are locked together over her chest. I wrapped the blanket I keep in my car around us, trying to stave off the cold, late November temperatures.
We’re parked up on the hill. My quiet place.
The place where she and I danced under the stars after our first date.
Unlike that night, the trees that were once covered in green leaves and sheltered buzzing cicadas are now barren as winter approaches.
“It just occurred to me,” Elizabeth says, her breath frosting into a cloud in front of her. If the weather forecasters are correct, we should see some snow later this evening.
“What did, baby?”
“This Thanksgiving and Christmas. It will be the first holidays without Mom and Dad,” she comments sadly
I turn her in my arms, making sure to keep the blanket secured tightly around us, and cup her face with one gloved hand. “Oh, sweetheart. Ann and John will always be with you.”
I move my hand to place it right over her heart to show her where her parents are and where they always will be
Elizabeth’s smile wobbles. “You always know exactly what to say.”
I dip down at the same time she stretches up. Our chilled lips quickly warm with our kiss. Elizabeth slides her hands around to my back and lays her head on my shoulder.
“Thank you for loving me, Ryder. I honestly don’t understand why you do, but I’m so grateful for it.”
I don’t offer her simplistic platitudes because she’s in an emotional state about her parents at the moment, so I give her a simple truth instead. “There has never been a second of my life since I was nine years old that I didn’t love you.”
I feel her hands clench the puffy fabric of my winter coat. “God, you and your words. You make me melt every single time.” After a pause, she says, “I had a nice talk with Jayson after my non-run with Julien this morning.”
“You did?”
She nods her head on my shoulder and the static electricity created by the friction lifts a few wisps of her hair into my face. I try to smooth them down, but they stick to my gloves.
“I thought it went well. He asked if we could hang out tomorrow. I said yes. I hope that’s alright. If you don’t want me to go, I’ll cancel.”
Elizabeth and I are going to have to get past all this uncertainty. She’s afraid of hurting me again, and I’m afraid of losing her. I grip her waist and push her back an inch. I need her to not only hear what I say next, but to see the seriousness in my face when I say it.
“I trust you. You don’t need my permission to hang out with Jay. He stopped by to see me the other day before school.” With everything going on, I hadn’t had the chance to tell her about that.
Her eyebrows arch up. “Oh?”
“Yeah. He wanted to apologize.”
Her brows inch higher as she gawks at me. “That’s just…that must have been hard for him to do.”
I lightly flick her nose with my finger. “It was a good moment. He said he missed our friendship. It was a good talk. It’s like I told him, we both made mistakes.”
Elizabeth picks at some imaginary lint on my jacket.
“I want you and Jayson to be close again. I miss seeing the two of you together. Until that night,” —she doesn’t have to say which night because I know exactly the one she’s referring to— “you guys were inseparable. I hope that you can get back to that again.”
“We will,” I assure her. Jayson has already extended the first olive branch. He and I have a strong foundation of love and brotherhood to rebuild our friendship with. I have no doubt that we will.
I tug her winter hat down to cover her ears more securely against the biting wind. She smiles and goes up on tiptoe to kiss me.
“I love it when you do little things like that,” she remarks. “I love how you always take such good care of me. I would take those small, nondescript actions over a bouquet of flowers any day.”
“I’ll still give you flowers. It’s a boyfriend’s prerogative,” I explain. I would give this girl the world.
An impish gleam sparkles in her eyes. “You know what a girlfriend’s prerogative is?” Elizabeth grins up at me. I can sense the change in her from solemn to sultry. It makes my head dizzy and my heart pound.
I swallow hard. “No. What?
“Get in the car and I’ll show you,” she whispers, pushing me towards the Hellcat
Best skip day ever.