14. Kate
An hour later, I’m still in my work dress, but my toes are in the sand. For lunch, I’m sharing a lukewarm Sundrop and family-size bag of peach rings with Aiden out of a plastic grocery bag. And I wouldn’t change a thing as we sit side-by-side on an old beach towel watching the ocean waves. Except, maybe, the fact that it’s been eight years since we last did this.
“Do you think we needed it?” I ask, glancing over at him.
“Needed what?”
“Those years apart.”
He snags another peach ring and, with his elbows propped on his knees, stretches it between his fingers as he considers my question.
After a long minute, he shakes his head. “I wish the answer was no, but I think we did.”
I lay my head on his shoulder. “Me, too.”
“We were so young back then,” he laments, his voice carrying a hint of nostalgia. “We had some growing up to do—at least, I did. Not that what we had wasn’t real. You don’t get any more real than the feelings we had back then. But if you hadn’t left, I don’t know what would have happened. Other than that I would have blamed myself every day for holding you back.”
“Why didn’t you ever reach out? After I finished my degree, you must have known.”
He scoffs, and his chin dips. “Donna made it a point to mention your graduation. On more than one occasion.”
“Then why?”
He looks off into the distance along the horizon where the ocean meets the sky. “I thought about it, believe me. But by then, I figured it was too late. Figured I’d lost you.”
“Thank you,” I murmur, laying my hand on the sun-kissed skin of his rock-hard thigh.
He presses a kiss to my hair. “For what?”
“For sacrificing your happiness for me.”
He tugs me over, so I’m cradled in between his legs, my back tucked up against his chest and his arms wrapped around me.
“So I’m forgiven?”
I giggle and weave my fingers between his, marveling at the size of his calloused hands. “Oh, I didn’t say that.”
Aiden nuzzles my ear, and I squirm and wriggle against him, fighting a smile. “Tell me what I need to do, and I’ll do it, whatever it is.”
He means it. But then again, Aiden always meant everything he said, which is why I believed him that day, despite everything in our relationship that screamed our future was together. Which, looking back now, I guess it was. It just took longer than we thought to get here.
I lean my head back against him and look up at the puffy white cumulus clouds dotting the sky. There’s still so much to talk about, to catch up on. And so much to figure out between us. But now that the truth is out, now that we’ve both confessed how we feel, there’s no doubt in my mind, things between us will work out. Because neither of us, it seems, is willing to let anything come between us ever again.
“Well,” I start, turning my head to press my lips to his stubbled jaw. “You can start by making up for lost time.”
“Deal,” he says, leaning down to kiss me as if we have all the time in the world.