Chapter 39
Sabine
Ididn’t think it was possible, but Gwen looked even more beautiful than when I’d last seen her—and far more mystical.
Her hair almost skimmed her shoulders, but her bangs were just as blunt as the deadpan expression she quickly schooled her features into.
Still, I saw the flicker of nerves in her eyes and knew she wanted to bite her lip.
I wanted to bite it too . . .
That probably would’ve been a hotter thing to say than, “Hi.”
Why, Sabine? This was your time for a grand gesture!
“Hi,” she replied, adorably tucking her hair behind her ear.
Faith just watched, gobsmacked, her eyes darting back and forth between us.
When I didn’t say anything, Gwen said, “What are you doing here?” She cleared her throat. “I mean, are you visiting for the festival or . . .”
“I’m moving back,” I replied.
“What!” Faith gasped, then quickly caught herself. “Sorry. I’m not a part of this. I’ll go tell Billy you got bitten by the tooth fairy or something.”
She quickly disappeared, darting toward the ice cream counter.
Gwen eyed the alley behind me with raised eyebrows, and I silently nodded. I appreciated the shadows and avoiding the prying eyes of onlookers. Gwen’s willingness to talk made hope flare in my chest, but when she turned with her arms crossed tightly, my stomach sank again.
“So, is it just going to be weird and awkward between us now?”
“I hope not,” I said sheepishly.
“Why are you even back? I thought leaving this place was the dream?”
My cheeks burned. “I was wrong.”
“The city not all it was cracked up to be?”
“Not really,” I admitted. “But I think I could’ve grown to like it . . . with the right people there with me.”
She frowned, crossing and uncrossing her arms before finally settling on wringing her hands. I noticed her bracelet was still on, and it made my heart twinge. Gwen caught me looking at it.
“I’m sorry, Gwen,” I said. “I’m sorry I took my bracelet off. I’m sorry I ended things with us. I’m sorry I hurt you. I . . .”
“You’re sorry?”
I rubbed the back of my neck anxiously.
“I know how it sounds, but . . . the truth is—” I took her hand and removed her bracelet. “Apologies don’t really mean anything without actions. I know it doesn’t mean much now, but I made this for you.”
In her palm, I placed a new friendship bracelet. One I’d braided and rebraided a dozen times before I’d decided it was good enough. I needed it to be perfect.
“What is this?” she asked, eyeing the looping tan cords and turquoise and amethyst gemstones.
“You’ll know when you put it on.”
She eyed it warily. “It’s not going to turn me into a toad, is it?”
I chuckled. “That’s not my kind of magic.
” I looked her up and down, shaking my head with the restraint of trying to hold in all of my stampeding thoughts.
“Goddess, I missed you. You might not want to hear it, but it’s true.
I missed your humor and your cunning and your beauty and your warmth,” I said, getting choked up.
“I’m so sorry I took them for granted. I know we only knew each other for a single summer, but I fell head over heels for you between one heartbeat and the next.
So fast. So undeniably. You are truly something special, Gwen, and I’m so sorry I ruined things. ”
“I happen to have great affection for ruined things,” she retorted with a half grin.
My chest warmed. “I was wondering, now that I’m back . . .”
“Yeah?”
Oh, the eagerness in that question. It lit up my insides like fireworks.
“Well, I was wondering if I could maybe take you out on a real date?” I held my breath, unable to bear the silence.
“Have you gone apple picking yet? Or maybe we could go out to dinner at Trattoria Occulto? Or . . . you might want me to just leave you alone, which is totally understandable. I know it’s a small town, but I will find a way to make it not awkward, I promise, and—”
“I don’t know if I’m ready to forgive you,” she cut in, and I nodded, all of the shiny fireworks in my stomach instantly snuffing out. “But I really want to go apple picking, so I guess that would be okay. Maybe we take it from there?”
“Okay!” I echoed with so much relief that I thought I might collapse.
“What does this do?” she asked, putting the bracelet on.
All at once, her eyes went white and she gasped, and I knew what she was seeing: memories. Not hers, but mine. The first moment we met, when I caught her sneaking into Dagmar’s cabin, she and Faith laughing together, our first kiss, when she won the archery competition . . .
As she saw my memories, she got to feel what I felt in those moments, got to know that my heart had truly been hers from the moment I’d laid eyes on her.
When her vision cleared, she rocked back on her heels, her chest heaving. “You . . . you loved me?”
“I did,” I said. “I still do. And I know you might never forgive me, but I promise I will try every day to earn it anyway because you deserve that, Gwen. I won’t make being in this town awkward for you, and if it is, tell me.
I’ll leave again because you belong here.
This is your home too.” My hands shook as I forced myself to say everything in my heart.
“I am forever grateful that you chose to stay that day at camp. Grateful that I got to know you and spend the best summer of my life with you and—”
“Oh my goddess, please stop talking,” she said with a laugh, stepping into me. “Just shut up and kiss me.”
Flinging my arms around her neck, I let out an emotion-limned chuckle and inhaled her familiar scent.
I’d rehearsed this moment so many times, but nothing held a flame to the real thing.
Our mouths met, and stars burst behind my eyelids.
She held me tight around my middle, bringing our bodies flush together.
She was real, and she was everything I’d missed about home and about the person I got to be when I was in her arms.
She pulled away and looked into my eyes with tears clinging to her lower lashes. “Fuck it. I love you too.”