Page 144 of Remember Us This Way

I drive on auto-pilot careening through the morning traffic until my tires screech to a stop outside Zoey’s home, and then I’m running.

My feet pound against the pavement, sending me flying toward the front door when I grasp the handle and throw it open. I’m up the stairs in seconds, and just as I reach her bedroom door, I pause, terrified of what I’m about to see.

The door is open, and I hear Erica’s muffled cries, but when Zoey’s pained tone fills the room, it puts me back into motion. “Where’s Noah?”

“I’m here, baby,” I whisper, striding through the door and taking her in.

Those green eyes I love so fiercely are dull, quickly fading as Hazel lies in bed with her, the two of them snuggled in close. Zoey’s parents hover on her other side, and as I walk in beside her bed, Hazel pulls out of Zoey’s arms, giving me space.

“Come on,” Erica sniffles, her hand on Hazel’s shoulder. “Let’s give them a minute.”

Zoey’s eyes don’t leave mine, and I can only imagine what she’s seeing there. Pain. Despair. Agony. Heartbreak. Emptiness.

Zoey’s family walks out, but I hear them hovering by the door, not wanting to go far as I climb right into Zoey’s bed, pulling her into my arms and holding her to me, struggling to keep myself together. She doesn’t need to see me break. I need to be strong for her. I need to give her the strength so that she can pass on with peace, knowing that I’m going to be alright.

“I’m sorry,” she cries.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Zozo.”

“I . . . I think . . . I think it’s time,” she tells me, her voice breaking.

“I know,” I say, holding her even tighter, my hands gently brushing over her skin, desperately trying to soothe her. “You’re going to be okay, Zo. I don’t want you to be scared.”

Her tears soak into my shirt, and they destroy me as the grief doubles down, constricting around my chest like a vise. “I’m terrified,” she whispers. “I’m not ready to let you go.”

“You won’t. I’m going to be right here, holding you the whole time. I’ll never let you go,” I vow to her, my voice trembling. “And then when you close your eyes and feel peace come over you, Linc will be waiting. He’ll guide you through.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I know so,” I promise her. “He’s going to watch over you until I get there, but just know that when I do, I’m going to run to you, Zo. I’m going to run so fucking fast, right back into your arms, and we’ll be together, just as we were always meant to be.”

She nods against my chest, reaching up to wipe her tears. “Not goodbye,” she whimpers. “Just see you later.”

“Exactly. It’s never goodbye.”

She takes gasping breaths, her crying making her even more uncomfortable, and I try to soothe her the best I can, but I’m breaking, feeling her beginning to slip away. She reaches back against her pillow before taking something in her hand.

She turns back to me, those fading eyes gazing up at me. “I want you to have this,” she says, taking my hand and dropping a long chain into it. Reluctantly pulling my gaze away from hers, I look down at my open palm and see the two rings that represent the short-lived marriage between us. They’re looped through the delicate chain I gifted her on her seventeenth birthday, and I instantly curl my fingers around it.

“Zoey, I—”

“Don’t,” she says. “I know what you’re going to say, and I don’t want them buried and forgotten with me. I want . . . I want you to have them. These are the most precious things I have. They represent you and me, Noah. I need you to keep them safe for me. Treasure them the same way you’ve treasured me.”

I nod, barely able to get the words out.

“I need you to be okay,” she begs me. “Promise me, you won’t fall into the darkness.”

“I promise, Zo.”

“And when you have kids,” she continues in a broken cry. “Will you tell them about me? About how much you loved me?”

My hold tightens around her slender body as I press my lips to her temple, terrified to let go. “Every day of my life,” I vow to her.

She whimpers, snuggling her face into the curve of my neck. “I . . . I love you, Noah.”

“I love you, too, Zo,” I say, hot tears welling in my eyes as I struggle to hold on. “You’re my bestest friend, right from the beginning. You’ve mesmerized me, held me captive for eighteen years, and been the other half of me. Just like you said in your vows, baby. We’re twin flames, and I promise you, no matter where you are or what happens next, I will find you. Don’t be scared, Zo. I’ve got you.”

I feel her nod against my skin, and as she starts to relax in my arms, my tears flow over.

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