Page 101 of Mayflower

I feel her warm hands as they palm my face. Her lips barely touch my cheek then disappear. Then touch my other one. Then my nose. My chin. She’s kissing me, but her kisses are like pecks. There’s deliberate order to them. I feel the tip of her tongue on my skin and her warm breath as she chuckles through her nose.

I open my eyes and narrow them on her, on her white smile and the blues of her pretty eyes, shining with the sparkly reflection of the water and happiness and mischief. Her blonde hair is tied into a messy bun on top of her head. Callie is sunshine, the girl who almost never stops smiling. At least not around me.

“What are you doing, petal? You sneaky little thing,” I murmur.

“Licking water droplets off your face,” she says, then licks the tip of my nose.

She bursts into laughter, her trill lacing with the sound of the falling water and the parrots screeching in the jungle.

“Love you,” she says and goes for another lick, but I pull back and grin, then bring my palm to her cheek, and she closes her eyes and leans into it.

“It’s so nice here,” she says dreamily.

With you, anywhere.

We’ve come here a number of times with the rest of the gang, but it’s the first time we are alone. We came so that Callie could suntan topless, and we could take a breather from the rest of the people. But most of all, so I could ask her an important question.

I wanted to wait until we set up the picnic stuff we brought with us, the fruits and sandwiches and fizzling cocktails. But this moment is perfect. There are years between betrayal and scars, survival and grief, and now her and smiles and forgiveness and blessing and a new family, the one who helped us get through our worst. Our family is the size of the island. And throughout those years, Callie was the cause but also the guiding star, the anchor. My everything.

"Will you marry me?" I ask her softly.

I should go fetch my shorts, get the ring out of the pocket, get down on my knees, do it properly and recite the speech that I made for this occasion.

But the words just burst out of me.

Her eyes fly open and widen in surprise, hope, and reassurance.

I smile, not taking my eyes off her. “Will you?”

"Kai! Yes! Yes!" Her arms fly around my neck, and we hug and laugh, and I don’t need more words than this to make her feel important and loved. We’ve said so much to each other to reconcile our pasts that all we need is to be close to each other to ensure our future.

Callie pulls back, grinning. But the longer I look at her without words, stroking her hair, the more her expression changes. She bites her lip. Tears well up in her pretty blue eyes.

At first, I think she is emotional, though this proposal didn’t come as a surprise, really. We’ve talked about it before. I just wanted to make it official.

But her eyes are filling up with tears fast.

Oh, man.

"Callie?” I tip her chin, trying to make her look at me, but she shakes her head and presses her forehead against my shoulder.

“I’m so happy,” she says in a broken voice.

“Yeah? Try again.” She might be happy, but there’s something else bothering her. “What's wrong, baby girl? What is it?"

"It's just…” She sighs. "I wish my mom got to meet you. I so wish… yeah…” She runs her palm over my chest.

This is the feeling I never stop relishing—her gentle touch, the constant casual brush of her fingers as if she’s always making sure I’m real.

"I told her about you back then, you know.” She finally lifts her face, a little smile on her puffy lips. I am an asshole because those lips already give me a wicked idea. Except my girl is upset now, while I thought we would be laughing and hugging and maybe getting naked to celebrate our engagement.

“She watched you on TV during your state finals. I told her so much about you. I just… Everything that happens to us, I constantly think… how I wish I could call her, tell her how happy I am, how amazing you are.”

I can see a sob coming and a possible breakdown. I won’t have it. Not now.

“Callie, hey, hey, hey, shhh.” I wrap my arms around her, pulling her tighter against my chest.

Memories about our families spill out of us at random times, and though it’s been several years since the Change that stole our loved ones, the memories still hurt so bad sometimes. We deal with the bad moments on our own. It’s the happy ones we wish we could share with the ones who are not here, still feeling guilty for being the ones who made it to the sunny side.

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